Defense has been an integral part of the NL Central-leading Cubs. From David Bote to Javier Báez, heading into Thursday’s game, the club ranked top 10 in defensive runs saved (link).

The team’s core of outfielders has also contributed to this all-around success, specifically with the lineup’s leading hitter, Ian Happ.

Happ has made a slew of fantastic plays across his 33 starts in the outfield this season, three of which happened in consecutive games during the team’s three-game series in Pittsburgh. On Tuesday, Happ robbed Erik González of an RBI base hit on a sinking line drive into the right-center gap. The next day he took away a hit on a deep fly ball to left-center field off the bat of Kevin Newman. In Thursday’s game, Happ made a nearly identical play to his Tuesday catch, diving in and to his left.

These two plays diving in mimicked a play he made in left field on August 15. Happ achieved full extension with his glove hand extended well beyond his body.

“That is not an easy play, coming from an infielder going to the outfield,” Marquee Sports Network analyst Ryan Sweeney said on Cubs Live! “Left field was the hardest of the three outfield positions for me to play because the ball slices to the left off right-handed bats.”

Even more impressive about Happ’s stellar defense is his recent transition from the infield. He started 14 games at second and third base in 2019. This season, he has exclusively played the outfield. And he sits tied for sixth in baseball among qualified outfielders in “four-star catches,” which are defined as plays with a 26-50% chance of being caught, the second-hardest bucket of plays that can be made in the outfield. The probability of a batted ball being caught is calculated based on similar batted balls relative to metrics like launch angle, exit velocity and direction (link).

A key component of Happ’s success in the outfield has been his reaction time. Statcast defines an outfielder’s “jump” as the amount of ground covered in the first 1.5 seconds after a ball is hit. In 2020, Happ has covered 1.4 feet more than the average outfielder in the first 1.5 seconds of a ball’s flight (link). 

With Albert Almora Jr. now in South Bend, center field is Happ’s job for the foreseeable future. His performance in the lead off spot has cemented his role in a Cubs lineup that has scored the 9th most runs in baseball entering Thursday.

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