PITTSBURGH – Almost lost in the Cubs’ struggles in recent weeks has been the play of right fielder Jason Heyward.
In the field, at the plate, on the bases – check out the guy who suddenly looks like $184 million bucks.
“He’s just had a hell of a last 10 days or something like that,” manager Joe Maddon said over the weekend. “His whole game’s been elitish.”
It’s been longer than 10 days.
Through Tuesday’s loss in Pittsburgh, Heyward over the past five weeks is hitting .325 with seven homers, 18 RBI, a .570 slugging percentage and a .954 OPS.
He has doubled his season home run total in those 33 games, raised his batting average 36 points and raised his OPS 85 points – to .270 and .827.
“This is as good as we’ve seen him over this stretch since he’s had the uniform on,” Maddon said.
Heyward, who also spent the last several days in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh putting on a fielding clinic in right field, isn’t getting ahead of himself with half a season left, but he appreciates the best, extended run he’s had as a Cub.
“It’s cool, man. It’s great to help,” he said. “I can bring a lot to this team. And we trust each other. It’s good to be a part of that, be in the middle of this lineup and do what I can to be a part of it and give some other guys a chance to have some room for error.”
Heyward, who’s in the fourth year of an eight-year contract, already has matched his highest season home run total in six years, and his OPS would be his highest for a season since his rookie year in 2010 – never mind the kind of numbers he’s putting up during this five-week tear.
“The barrel of the bat’s on the ball,” Maddon said of the difference. “You’re not seeing the rollover. You’re seeing it hit everywhere. It’s been really crispy.”
And his play in the field included a double play from right field Saturday, charging a shallow pop and firing to first to beat the runner back to the bag. The next day he robbed the Reds’ Nick Senzel of a homer with a leaping catch at the wall.
On a rainy Tuesday night, he robbed Kevin Newman of a hit with a diving catch leading off the sixth inning, continuing to slide several yards into the right-center gap after the catch on the wet grass.
“It’s everything. His whole game,” Maddon said. “The catches, his at-bats – against righties or lefties, doesn’t matter. He’s just playing really good baseball right now.”
