It’s the moments before the Cubs Convention, which means the Cubs executives are coming out of hibernation. When speaking with McNeil and Parkins on 670 The Score Friday afternoon, Theo Epstein mentioned that Ian Happ could get 500 at bats in 2020.
Epstein: "There will be more opportunities for younger guys this year. An example is Ian Happ who could get 500 ABs after he learned a lot last year."
— The Parkins & Spiegel Show (@ParkinsSpiegel) January 17, 2020
Don’t you love this idea? In an offseason where next to nothing happened to improve an 84 win team, Theo Epstein declares there will be more at bats for younger players in 2020.
Now, at face value, this is likely obvious to many fans. It is very likely that Nico Hoerner gets the nod at second base, whether at the start of the season or after a month or so after a minor league stint. If Theo is willing to consider Happ a youngster, then Victor Caratini will also earn more at bats as the team tries to keep Willson Contreras fresh.
But the biggest name will be Ian Happ.
In 2017, Happ won Cubs fans over with an incredible Spring Training. He didn’t make the team out of camp, but would find his way to 1060 Addison by May 17th of that season. He would go on to hit 24 Homer’s with an .842 OPS in his rookie season.
But his 2018 wasn’t as pretty. Well, that is after his first at bat of the season anyway.
He would go on to strike out 167 times and fans were split between Happ camps and Albert Almora camps. His bad 2018 resulted in him spending the first four months in Iowa in 2019.
He spent that time in Iowa because he has a dynamic bat. As a power hitting switch hitter, he is a guy the Cubs want in the lineup, and as a former first round pick, he was a guy that the Cubs couldn’t miss on.
So Happ spent most of 2019 in Iowa fixing his swing, and more importantly, limiting the swing and miss in his swing. When he finally came back to Chicago, he reduced his K% from 43 to 27% and increased his contact rate from 63 to 71%.
If that Happ is the Happ that we see in 2020 – this is the best thing that can happen for the Cubs.
If that is to happen, and if he maintains his 2019 success, it averages out to 39 home runs across 500 at bats. It averages out to 90 runs scored. It likely adds yet another potent bat to a lineup that includes Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Kyle Schwarber, and Willson Contreras. These are all guys that can (and likely will) hit at least 25 Homer’s, and several will hit 30 or more.
While he will likely see time at 3B, maybe 1B, left and right field, the projection of 500 at bats tells me he’s going to see the bulk majority of his time in CF and possibly 2B. There might be better defensive options in both positions, but there isn’t a better offensive choice. Which makes me think that the Cubs will likely look to mash, and not put as much focus on limiting runs from competitors.
Maybe this team will have a hard time limiting other teams from scoring, but they should be able to score a ton of runs in 2020.
