MEETING MR. RIGHT
Could Heyward’s bat finally be catching up to his defense?
This new right fielder for the Cubs is impressive. Not like the last guy. The last guy couldn’t hit his way out of an invisible fence.
The new guy looks confident, shows an odd ability to hit a baseball a long way on occasion and has a batting average that is not below average. When he digs in at the plate, you actually believe there’s a chance he’ll get a hit. It’s the strangest thing.
This might be a story of redemption. Or it might not be. The new Jason Heyward and the old Jason Heyward appear to be worlds apart. The problem is that it’s June and what separates those seemingly different worlds is only 2 ½ months.
But if you don’t allow yourself to believe in this now, there’s the distinct possibility you’re soulless. A .378 average the previous two weeks? A .328 average the last month? He has raised his average 50 points since coming back from a concussion May 18. This is fun stuff. Is it real? Or is this Henry Rowengartner breaking his arm and ending up with a turbo fastball, only to return to earth eventually? I don’t know, and I don’t care.
Last week, I was switching back and forth between the CubsPhillies game and one of the NBA Finals games in which LeBron James played the Warriors by himself, which was every game. I flipped to the Cubs just in time to see Heyward crush a fastball for a walk- off grand slam. There