Chicago Cubs: Good things are coming in the second half

Heyward likes to turn it up a notch in the second half

Jason Heyward was awful in 2016. So awful in fact that I vote we throw out the statistics completely. If we do that, we can see that Heyward is a good second half ball player. In 2014, with the Atlanta Braves, Heyward slashed a solid .255/.342/.375 before the All-Star break. After, however, Heyward caught fire. In 56 second half games, Heyward slashed .298/.368/.399.

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Changing teams did not affect Heyward’s second half success. In 2015, now with the St. Louis Cardinals, Heyward hit over .300 in the second half of the season. That same season, Heyward recorded a .397 OBP in 69 games following the All-Star break.

As stated earlier, Heyward’s 2016 numbers serve as an outlier to the mean.

After enjoying much success the previous two seasons, Heyward’s 2016 second half numbers dropped off a cliff. The lefty slashed just .213/.270/.308 and hit three of his seven total home runs.

The fact that Heyward struggled so mightily in the second half of 2016 just means that he is due to break out in a big way this season.