Cubs News: Ian Happ has arrived as a ‘seasoned veteran’

Chicago Cubs’ centerfielder Ian Happ’s consistent performances at the plate have him looking like a seasoned veteran All-Star while the Cubs reap the benefits.

What a difference a year can make. We’ve all been watching the growth and development of Chicago Cub Ian Happ since he took the field in 2017. That was the year of sluggish play by a Cubs team that had just won the World Series.

Here comes this young, blond-haired, utility player, drafted out of the University of Cincinnati and starts out with 92 hits, 24 home runs, 17 doubles and 68 RBIs in his first major’s outing! Fans and teammates were blown away.

In 2018, Happ’s BA dropped as those hits and RBI’s and homers all started to dwindle, and in 2019 Happ was sent down to Triple-A, where he took the time to work on his swing and approach at the plate. Happ knew he had all the ability pieces of the pie; he just needed to do a little re-arranging.

Happ also took the time since his hiatus in 2019 and COVID-break to dig into his craft in a more modern way: he played baseball video games. Old-timers like me are hesitant to credit Playstation with making better ballplayers. Still, more and more younger players are seeing the game with new eyes and credit the subtle nuances of the video game for improving hand-eye coordination.

So what a difference a year can make as now the Cubs are singing a new song and getting, well you guessed it, ‘Happ-y.’

Chicago Cubs: Singing a new song

Young fans won’t remember the Partridge Family theme song but are undoubtedly adept enough to look it up on Google; it’s called, “Come On Get Happy! The Partridge Family”.

My kids had not even heard of it until we were in Los Angeles in 2018 and saw the Cubs take on the Dodgers. Although the Cubs lost the game, Happ had gotten a hit and brought in a run during that game, and after a few Dodger-beers,  I had gotten a small congregation of Cubs fans to sing along with me:

“Travelin’ along, there’s a song that we’re singin’

Come on, get HAPPY…”

Every time Happ came up to bat, which was about four times that game, we all got to our feet to serenade the much appreciative Dodger-fans. This is, of course, is sarcasm as Dodger-dogs and all kinds of food products flew down our way during our performance, and we were feeling the heat.

As I said, the Cubs didn’t win that particular contest; in fact, losing 5-7 to the Dodgers, as I recall, everyone walked away knowing that a future Cub-star was in the making, and it wouldn’t be long until everyone was singing his song.

Even to this day, I can’t help feeling Happ-y every time he comes to bat. With all the recent success for Happ as of late, there’s PLENTY to be happy about at the plate and in the outfield as well.

Chicago Cubs: The stats don’t lie; they make you happy

So how good is Happ doing in this short Covid-19 season?

Right now, he has his highest batting average of .313 and best OBP ever at .439. Happ has brought in 12 runs in 21 hits and 13 RBIs. Happ’s already sporting five home runs this season, which is tracking to beat his mere 11 last season, although I didn’t expect him or many Cubs for that matter, to be swinging for the fences this season.

This year the Cubs seem to be about team offense as opposed to individual heroes. While no one is opposed to dingers from any player coming to the plate, there appears to be a philosophy in the way the Cubs are just trying to get on base. It seems evident that they want to load the bases with low to no outs putting incredible pressure on opposing pitchers and teams as a whole to try and keep them stranded on base.

That’s why you are seeing so many Cubs get stranded during innings because the Cubs have been taking a team approach to the offense, and for the most part, it has worked. So you may not see too many more dingers from Happ this season but more approaches that get him on base.

And when Happ gets on base, we all get Happ-y!