Sidelined with hamstring injury, Happ confident he’ll be ready for Cubs’ season opener
The Cubs have made it through the first half of spring training in relatively good health.
Patrick Wisdom (quad) and Nick Madrigal (hamstring) are battling for playing time at third base, but they are both sidelined at the moment with injuries that do not appear to be serious.
Neither player is as important to the Cubs as Ian Happ, who has been out the past week with a strained left hamstring.
Happ is the Cubs' plug-and-play left fielder.
Appearing in 158 games for the second straight season in 2023, he hit .248/.360/.431 with 21 home runs and a career-high 84 RBI. Happ also won his second straight Gold Glove.
With three weeks to get ready for the season opener, Happ is confident he'll be in the starting lineup when the Cubs go on the road to play the reigning World Series champion Texas Rangers on March 28.
“Plenty of time to get ready for Opening Day,” Happ told reporters at the Cubs' training camp in Mesa, Ariz.
Happ started taking batting practice Wednesday, but he's not going to rush to get back playing in Cactus League games.
“It’s going to be a slow process,” Happ said. “It's just spring training, not going to push anything. It’s not about the total number of at-bats, it’s about seeing the ball and just clipping a couple the way that you want to. Once I do that, I feel really comfortable.”
When he is back in the lineup, new Cubs manager Craig Counsell has to decide where Happ is going to hit.
Last season, former manager David Ross took plenty of heat for leaving Happ in the critical No. 3 spot. After getting off to a hot start batting third, Happ cooled off in July and August, hitting .214/.315/.428.
The switch-hitter was dropped to No. 6 in the order and Ross later started hitting Happ out of the leadoff spot.
Spring training is a time to experiment with different lineups, and they typically aren't locked in until the end of camp.
Still, it's worth noting Happ played four exhibition games before the hamstring injury and was at the top of the order in three of them. He batted second in the other game.
Given his ability to draw walks — Happ ranked fourth in MLB with 99 last season — and make contact, batting leadoff make sense.
Over seven seasons with the Cubs, Happ has hit leadoff in 91 games.
“The mindset to be able to lead off every single day, day in and day out, is super-impressive,” Happ said. “For me, I try to get on base for the guys behind me and see what happens.”
Happ, who is entering the second season of a three-year, $61 million contract, should be good to go for the regular season and be the Cubs' regular left fielder.
In Happ’s absence, Owen Caissie has been getting a longer look in left.
Ranked No. 47 on Baseball America's Top 100 prospects list, the 21-year-old outfielder was acquired in the 2020 trade that sent starting pitcher Yu Darvish to the Padres.
Caissie, a left-handed hitter, spent the entire 2023 season with Class AA Tennessee and slashed .289/.399/.519 with 22 home runs and 84 RBI.
In 10 Cactus League games this spring, the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Caissie is 10-for-20 with 3 doubles, 1 homer and 6 RBI.