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A season after Kyle Schwarber had to be sent down following a failed role as the leadoff hitter for the Chicago Cubs, it looks like manager Joe Maddon is pulling the plug on this year’s leadoff experiment a lot earlier.
Ian Happ has played in 13 games this season, starting 10 of them in the leadoff position and he has been atrocious. He has a strikeout rate of 47.2% and has only walked four times, while hitting .204. That’s been good enough for a dismal .264 OBP.
Starting with Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Cubs fans should expect to see a lot more of Ben Zobrist and Albert Almora Jr. leading off and a lot less of Happ.
Zobrist would have batted leadoff had he been fully healthy, Maddon said. Feels Almora Jr. a good matchup vs. RHP, might see less of Happ in leadoff spot.
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) April 19, 2018
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Zobrst has been dealing with some back tightness, but once he’s feeling 100% again he should be at the leadoff spot more often than not.
Yet, the Cubs aren’t just going away from Happ at leadoff, it appears as though the team is taking away more of his playing time too. However, that doesn’t mean a trip to Triple-A Iowa.
Maddon said Ian Happ and Chili Davis are working on some things. Will play a little less as they go about changes. Maddon backed him big time, praising his attitude etc.
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) April 19, 2018
That means more Almora in the lineup.
So, Cubs fans are pretty much getting what they’ve asked for after two weeks of games. Happ is out, more Almora and more Zobrist.
As for Thursday’s lineup, Maddon gave fans one more wrinkle, putting Javier Baez in the two-hole.
Would you believe us if we said we're playing baseball today?
Game preview: https://t.co/7e1DHYJEJP #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/q5WP7UX5bn
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 19, 2018
Baez is only batting .235 this season, but he’s slugging .667, hitting five home runs, three doubles and two triples. That’s 10 of his 12 hits on the season going for extra bases.
He’s been on fire on the current home stand.
Javier Báez current homestand (6 games):
.333/.360/1.042, 7 Runs, 2 Doubles, 5 HR, 12 RBI, SB
Batting #2 in the order today.#Cubs— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) April 19, 2018
So, let’s see if the offense can get some consistency and hopefully the Cubs actually play more than one game in a row.
