Happ stays, but is Schwarber done leading off for Chicago Cubs?
The Chicago Cubs don't need a baseball game to make news.
They made plenty of interesting news Saturday even as their scheduled game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field was rained out. The teams will make up the game on July 6 at 1:20 p.m.
The current series concludes Sunday, with Jake Arrieta pitching for the Cubs against Chase Anderson.
The first news from Cubs camp is that rookie Ian Happ will be staying with the big club for the foreseeable future. He was in Saturday's lineup even as the Cubs were set to activate Jason Heyward and play Heyward in right field.
The second piece of news is that Kyle Schwarber was in the lineup but not in the leadoff spot, where he had been for 35 of the team's first 41 games.
Ben Zobrist was scheduled to lead off Saturday. To hear manager Joe Maddon tell it, the machinations are all tied together.
"What I was looking at there, a couple things: Zo's been really good lately," Maddon said. "We gave him that couple days off, and he's come out of it real nicely. And Happ's the new Zobrist. In other words, he could protect (Anthony) Rizzo. The other component, I thought, we've talked about Kyle hitting a lot of balls into the shift. If in fact Zo can get on (base) a little bit more often, it might move that second baseman out of that spot.
"You look at Schwarber's batting average (.182) even Anthony's (.224), a lot of that is impacted by 'the shift.' Happ being here pretty much permits me to think that way and the fact that he's done so well, because I was always concerned about Zo leaving that (cleanup) spot. Just imagine that today, if I put Zo up there and Happ wasn't there behind Rizzo, what that would look like. I wouldn't feel as good about it. A lot of different little moving parts. I thought it made some sense."
The big question then becomes whether Schwarber will return to the leadoff spot any time soon or at all.
"He could be; it just depends," Maddon said. "The biggest thing is just to get him untracked a little bit, confidence wise. I started the shift several years ago, and a lot of your own guys hate you now, the fact that they're hitting into this positioning a lot. We'll see how it all plays out."
Happ makes an impact:
Happ is staying because he came up May 13 and made an immediate impact. In a small sample size, he is 7-for-21 (. 333) with 2 homers, 4 RBI and an on-base percentage of . 462.
"He's done a really good job, at the plate, on defense, on the bases," Maddon said. "He's - like a lot of our guys - not overwhelmed, and that's probably the most impressive part of it. He's acting like he wants to stay here and that he belongs here."
Happ has a feel for the game, which is difficult to teach.
"I've been playing baseball a long time, not quite at this level, but I think as you play a ton of baseball games, you get a lot of experience in the minor leagues," Happ said. "Just coming up here, it's a continuation of the growth process, just trying to learn every day and get a little bit better."
Maddon notices.
"They're fine," he said of the young players. "They're not overwhelmed. They're good. They're present-tense. They're not in that survival mode where they're just here, trying to not make mistakes, trying to not do something that brings attention to themselves in a negative light. They're here to try to help us win."
For Maddon, it's a matter of a young player going through stages.
"One, happy to be here," he said. "Two, survival: 'I like this. I want to stay here.' But you have to have that Stage 3 player: 'I belong here. I can do this.' I'm sure that some of our younger guys are maybe fighting that a little bit: 'I belong here. I can do this.' But I think it's a small percentage of their being. I think for the most part our guys are about winning first. And that's why they're here."
Roster moves delayed:
The likely corresponding move for Heyward will be for the Cubs to option infielder Tommy La Stella to Class AAA Iowa. The Cubs also are set to option reliever Pierce Johnson to Iowa and recall reliever Dylan Floro from Iowa. Floro was at Wrigley Field Saturday.
With the rainout, the Cubs didn't make those moves official, but they're likely to do so Sunday.
Twitter@BruceMiles2112