Otto: Cubs' Heyward struggling, but there's still time

While hitting a round ball with a round bat square with the ball coming at 95 mph is extremely difficult, good hitters sometimes make it look easy.

Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant have made it look easy lately.

Unfortunately, it's never always easy.

For Jason Heyward, in his first season as a Cub, it hasn't been easy at all.

It has been a huge struggle for Heyward this year. His batting average sits at .225 this season, with 5 home runs and 32 runs driven in. This is his seventh season in the big leagues and before this season his lowest batting average was .227, which came in his second year in the big leagues.

He has hit well for his former teams, Atlanta and St. Louis, and there is no reason not to expect that Heyward will figure this out and start swinging the bat like he's done in the past.

The Cubs offense has been one of the best in the league without good numbers from Heyward. Wouldn't it be something if he jumps into this and starts swinging like he used to?

The struggle started almost immediately for Heyward this year. A right wrist injury in April that bled into early May certainly didn't help.

He also banged into the wall mid-May while making a tremendous catch in San Francisco, where he suffered a bruised right rib and hip on the play.

Hand and wrist injuries to a hitter are like arm injuries to a pitcher. They have the potential to really screw up a player's mechanics and timing.

If a player has minor soreness, they might change their mechanics in the tiniest way to protect the injury or soreness. A pitcher might drop his arm a little when throwing, to ease the pain. A hitter might adjust his timing. Or when he starts his swing, try to protect the injured area.

The injury eventually heals, but the hitter or pitcher has gone away from some of the mechanics that have made them successful. You tend to get lost.

From a pitcher's perspective, I can see that he just isn't driving the ball like he has in the past.

During the recent homestand, Heyward's swing looked slower, almost lumbering. On fastballs away, it looked like Heyward was trying to pull that pitch, instead of driving it the other way to left field.

As most hitters can attest to, that is easier said than done.

However, something is going to click with Heyward so he will again take that outside pitch and drive it to left-field. The answer might be a couple of days off that Joe Maddon has given him. That break can help a clear a player's head and allow him to get some extra work in with his swing.

I once asked Jim Thome, a player I believe is a future Hall of Fame member, what he felt like when he was swinging the bat well, and how he felt when he was struggling.

He said when he was doing well, he felt "handsy," with his hands feeling lightning quick. And when he struggled, he felt "bodyish," like his whole body was pulling the bat through when swinging.

For hitters, sometimes it's their mechanics, and other times it's simply a feeling.

With 40 games left in the regular season, there is still time for Heyward to find his swing or find that feeling that made him one of the better hitters in the league.

While 40 games isn't enough time for him to salvage an overall poor year swinging the bat, it is enough time to get right for a possible October, and that might be all that really matters.

• Dave Otto, a standout athlete at Elk Grove High School, pitched from 1987-1994 for four MLB teams, including the Cubs. A former baseball analyst for WGN Radio, FoxSportsNet and Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Otto also is a member of the University of Missouri Hall of Fame.