Chicago Cubs: Ian Happ looks like the answer to second base woes

Second base has been a revolving door of sorts for the Chicago Cubs this season, but if recent trends are telling, the team may finally have an answer.

Heading into the season, the second base spot for the Chicago Cubs looked to be in good hands with Ben Zobrist, Daniel Descalso and even David Bote expected to get some time there. However, Zobrist had to leave the team due to personal reasons, Descalso is unplayable and Bote tends to struggle when he gets the chance to play every day.

The team tried Addison Russell at second base when he came back from his suspension. If you need to know how that went, consider the fact he currently calls Triple-A Iowa home. Robel Garcia knocked the cover off the ball for a few weeks before the league figured him out and dousing the fire in a hurry.

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If you’re counting, that is five players who have all gotten ample chances to win the starting second baseman for the Cubs, and none have been able to take it and run with it.

Recently, the Cubs bought Ian Happ back from the minor leagues. He saw a good amount of time at second in college and earlier in his career, but prior to starting this week, he hadn’t started a game there since 2017.

In Happ’s two weeks back with the Cubs, he has been worth 0.4 WAR, which is good for top 10 on the Cubs and is better than Descalso, Garcia, and Zobrist. This number is also better than fellow outfielder, Albert Almora.

By no means is Happ is a great fielder, but neither are any of the other second base options. The former first-rounder has the highest walk rate of any Cubs player this season. Granted, that’s come in small sample size, but it wasn’t even a full two years ago since this man led the entire organization in home runs as a Major League rookie. In 2017, he hit 33 home runs between Triple-A and the Majors. No other player had more than 32.

After the series against the A’s, where Happ went 5-for-8 with two home runs, including a grand slam and a double. The important thing is he did not strike out, which was the biggest issue with him in his young career. For a team like the Cubs with a lot of contact issues, not striking out should earn you a place in the lineup every single day.

He followed that up with a two-hit, four-RBI effort on Thursday against Cincinnati, continuing his recent surge at the dish. Happ enters Friday night’s matchup against the Reds boasting an otherworldly 1.111 OPS in 30 at-bats.

Defensive metrics can be flawed, and it may take a while to get accurate readings, but the metrics say Happ is a league-average defensive second baseman. With that kind of power and discipline at the plate, that’s something fans – and Joe Maddon – should be clamoring for.

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The fact of the matter is that the Cubs sent Happ down to work on his swing and fix his strikeout problem. The front office bought him back to the big leagues because they thought he addressed it. Maddon needs to trust Happ more because right now, he is the starting second baseman until he proves he’s not.

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