Chicago Cubs: It’s time to make a decision on Ian Happ

Former Chicago Cubs first-round pick, Ian Happ has played all year in the minor leagues. Since the start of July, he has been on fire and the team needs to make a decision on his future.

Ian Happ was the Chicago Cubs first-round pick back in 2015 and expectations were high for what he could do. Happ made his MLB debut in St. Louis in 2015 where his first hit was a home run. He played in 115 games during the 2017 seasons and put up some impressive numbers. Happ hit 24 homers and had an average of .253 for being his first time in the big leagues that’s pretty solid.

Then came the 2018 season where Happ struggled all year especially after the All-Star break. This was a disappointing setback after a strong rookie season. During that season Happ hit an awful .233 with just 14 home runs and 44 RBIs. Happ struggled with striking out. He struck out 167 times that’s a 36 % strikeout rate which was fifth highest in the NL for the entire year.

This was enough for Happ to be sent to Triple-A Iowa for the start of the 2019 season. This was a move that many Cubs fans were shocked when it was reported. Happ struggled to start the season in Iowa. During a stretch from the end of May to the beginning of June, he was awful.

Hitting .165 with only three home runs. This was disappointing to see because of the potential that we all know that Happ has.

Since the beginning of July, Happ has been on fire. In a 17 game stretch, Happ is hitting .322/.429/.661 with five home runs and 11 RBIs.

During this stretch, he is walking 14.5% of the time while striking out 26.3 % of the time. Ideally, you would like to see the strikeout numbers go down some more, but that is progress from what it was.

I think every Cub fan can agree that it is time to call up Ian Happ to the big league team. Especially with how much some of the current players on the big league team such as Albert Almora Jr. and Daniel Descalso are struggling.

There is another route that the Cubs front office could take with Happ, and that is to trade him before the July 31st deadline. Happ could be a big piece of a trade package to help the Cubs land someone via trade. But it’s time to do something with Happ either call him up to the Chicago Cubs or trade him and try to get someone that can help us achieve our ultimate goal in October.