Coming home more comfortable for Happ
A year into his Major League Baseball career and Ian Happ of Mt. Lebanon is already an old pro. The Chicago Cubs center fielder was back in town May 28-30 for a three-game fray against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.
“Coming to Pittsburgh is always special because I grew up coming to this ballpark to watch (the Pirates) play. It’s also always nice to see so many family and friends come out to the games,” said Happ, who among his special guests during the series included his mother, Mary Beth, his former high school coaches, Patt McCloskey and Jeff Donati, and the parents of one of his closest teammates, Luke Hagy.
“This year though is a little bit more relaxed, as the routine of going to all of the different ballparks and seeing different people I know is more of a normal occurrence,” Happ continued. “However, it’s always special to come here, and I really appreciate all of the people that came out to see me and the Cubs.”
Because of a slight shoulder injury, Happ saw little action in front of the hometown fans. In the opening game of the series, a shutout win, 7-0, for the Cubs, on May 28, he pinch hit in the seventh inning and struck out. Happ tagged a double, drove in a run and scored once in the Cubs’ 8-6 win on May 29 against the Pirates. He did not play in Chicago’s loss, 2-1, to the Pirates on May 30.
Happ is on course to exceed his rookie numbers when he batted .253 with 24 homers and 68 RBI. Currently, he is batting .249 with 21 runs scored and 19 RBI. With seven doubles, one triple and eight homers, including the first of the MLB season this year, his slugging percentage is .504.
Happ acknowledges he has learned a lot during his first full season in the majors. His education, however, is ongoing.
“I feel as if I’m continuing to learn the process of consistently putting together good at bats and using the information they give us in the scouting report,” said the 23-year-old slugger. “It’s all about consistency, and I feel as if I’m getting better at learning the strike zone as well as pitchers’ tendencies.”
As his skills improve with the club, his popularity has grown, too. Happ already has a bobblehead in his honor.
Licensed by the Chicago Cubs and MLB, the figurine commemorates his first career hit, a home run May 13, 2017, against the St. Louis Cardinals. The bobblehead features Happ in the Mother’s Day uniform that the Cubs wore for the occasion.
“That was pretty cool,” said Happ of the bobblehead. “The guys always get a big kick out of seeing themselves.”
Happ has appeared as a guest forecaster on the Weather Channel. The clip went viral on Twitter, allowing fans and friends from around the world to see Happ in a different light.
When McCloskey joked, “I thought you smushed it,” Happ immediately responded, “I was locked in.”
After the pair enjoyed the laugh, Happ noted the experience was a lot of fun.
“It was really interesting to see how much work goes into an operation like that,” he said. “I was surprised at how much reaction I got from all of my friends about being on TV in that capacity.”
For most of his life, Mt. Lebanon residents and Western Pennsylvania baseball fans have recognized Happ for his prowess on the diamond.
In four seasons as a Blue Devil, he batted .449 with 33 doubles, 12 homers and 65 RBI. He set many standards and only one has been broken. Matt D’Alesandro shattered his single-season mark for stolen bases when he swiped his 18th this spring.
When Happ learned of the achievement, he reacted in a positive manner. He sent D’Allesandro an autographed base taken from Wrigley Field. On the dusty bag, Happ wrote “Congratulations, Matt…Records are made to be broken” and then signed the base, which has a Chicago Cubs plate attached to the side.
“So glad there are still thoughtful and caring people on this earth,” said McCloskey’s mother, Carol. “That just personifies what kind of person Ian Happ is. What a great guy to take the time to do something for a kid he never met.”
After high school, Happ never met a baseball he couldn’t hit for the University of Cincinnati or in the Cape Cod League. In three seasons with the Bearcats, he batted .338 with 25 home runs and 107 RBI. He garnered an All-America acclaim, was a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist and gained Conference Player of the Year laurels. In the Cape Cod League, he was a two-time all-star.
As a result, Happ became rated as one of the best prospects.
In the 2015 June Amateur Baseball Draft, the Cubs selected Happ. Within two years, he made his major league debut on May 13, 2017, at St. Louis where he socked a homer in the seventh inning for his first major league hit. He also homered in his first-career game at Wrigley Field on May 16 versus Cincinnati. Happ, who smashed his first round tripper on Father’s Day last June 18 at PNC Park, went on to hit 24 homers, the third-most by a rookie in Cubs franchise history and the second-most ever by a switch-hitting rookie in the National League.
Home runs and batting averages mean little to Happ unless they add up to victories for the Cubs. His objectives for the remainder of the season are to help Chicago make a run for a pennant.
“We have a really well-rounded team again and we’re all about the long grind of making it through the regular season and having another shot at the post season,” he said.
“The organization has been good about giving me a lot of opportunities. I’ve been seeing the ball really well recently and I just want to continue to contribute to help the team win in whatever role they ask of me.”