Ian Happ

28-Year-Old OutfielderOF

Chicago Cubs

2022 Stats

AVG

.271

RBI

2023 Projections

AVG

RBI

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2023 Fantasy Outlook

Happ had an interesting season in that his homers came down, but his overall production increased. He reduced his strikeout rate by six full percentage points, and that certainly helped the 45-point imporvement in his batting average as that .271 final figure was the best in six seasons as a big leaguer. Happ also broke the 70 barrier in both runs and RBIs for the first time in his career. The .336 BABIP was the second-highest of his career and his expected stats are not very supportive of the achieved outcomes in 2022. His .305 average against lefties was the first time in five seasons in which Happy has hit above .250 against southpaws as the switch-hitter does most of offensive damage as a lefty. His approach at the plate would be better served hitting first or second in a lineup, but the Cubs primarily used him in the third spot of the lineup last season. That could change should the Cubs alter their roster this winter so be willing to adjust runs or RBI expectations accordingly. Read Past Outlooks

RANKS

#153

ADP

Overall

Dynasty

League Majors

Bats B

Throws R

40 Man Yes

Height 6'0"

Weight 205

DOB 8/12/1994

Born Pittsburgh, PA

College Cincinnati

Drafted 1st Rd 2015 CHC

Agrees to one-year deal

OFChicago Cubs

January 14, 2023

Happ signed a one-year, $10.85 million deal with the Cubs on Friday, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports.

ANALYSIS
Happ's deal with the Cubs means he avoided arbitration and will now be a free agent following the 2023 season. He slashed .271/.342/.440 in the 2022 campaign, while accumulating 17 home runs and 72 RBI. The 28-year-old also went 9-for-13 on stolen base attempts. He projects to start in left field entering the year.

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Batting Stats

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2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

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2021 MLB Game Log

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2020 MLB Game Log

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Batting Order Slot Breakdown

vs Right-Handed Pitchers

vs RHP

vs Left-Handed Pitchers

vs LHP

Left/Right Batting Splits

Since 2020

+11%

OPS vs RHP

2022

+1%

OPS vs LHP

2021

+21%

OPS vs RHP

2020

+28%

OPS vs RHP

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2020vs Left	.724	321	37	6	30	7	.261	.336	.387
Since 2020vs Right	.804	1086	125	48	136	12	.249	.338	.466
2022vs Left	.788	137	15	2	16	4	.305	.350	.438
2022vs Right	.780	504	57	15	56	5	.261	.339	.440
2021vs Left	.653	125	18	3	12	2	.213	.301	.352
2021vs Right	.789	410	45	22	54	7	.230	.329	.459
2020vs Left	.713	59	4	1	2	1	.250	.379	.333
2020vs Right	.915	172	23	11	26	0	.260	.355	.560
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Home/Away Batting Splits

Since 2020

+14%

OPS at Home

2022

+19%

OPS at Home

2021

+12%

OPS at Home

2020

+7%

OPS at Home

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2020Home	.839	700	79	27	85	5	.273	.360	.480
Since 2020Away	.733	707	83	27	81	14	.230	.316	.418
2022Home	.851	313	36	6	32	2	.308	.383	.467
2022Away	.716	328	36	11	40	7	.236	.302	.414
2021Home	.800	261	29	13	35	2	.246	.335	.465
2021Away	.716	274	34	12	31	7	.207	.311	.405
2020Home	.894	126	14	8	18	1	.243	.352	.542
2020Away	.833	105	13	4	10	0	.275	.371	.462
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Stat Review

How does Ian Happ compare to other hitters?

This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.

BB/K
Walk to strikeout ratio
BB Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
K Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
BABIP
Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
ISO
Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
AVG
Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
OBP
On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
SLG
Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
OPS
On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
wOBA
Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
Exit Velocity
The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
Hard Hit Rate
A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
Barrels/PA
The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
Expected BA
Expected Batting Average.
Expected SLG
Expected Slugging Percentage.
Sprint Speed
The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
Ground Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
Line Drive %
The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
Fly Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.

BB/K

0.39

BB Rate

9.0%

K Rate

23.2%

BABIP

.336

ISO

.169

AVG

.271

OBP

.342

SLG

.440

OPS

.781

wOBA

.341

Exit Velocity

89.7 mph

Hard Hit Rate

30.8%

Barrels/PA

4.4%

Expected BA

.239

Expected SLG

.379

Sprint Speed

23.2 ft/sec

Ground Ball %

46.4%

Line Drive %

20.1%

Fly Ball %

33.5%

Advanced Batting Stats

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Additional Stats

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Defensive Stats

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Batted Ball Stats

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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers

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Past Fantasy Outlooks

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

It was a tale of two seasons for Happ. There was the pre-trade-deadline Happ, who really struggled at the plate, hitting .180/.294/.326 with 10 homers and one stolen base over four months. Post-deadline Happ hit .288/.363/.581 with 15 homers and eight steals. There are no reports of him being injured to start the season, but signs point to him playing through something. He started the season by hitting for a .146 ISO and doubled it to a .293 ISO for those last two month. Not running was an indicator something was not right. Finally, he lowered his groundball rate from roughly 51% to 39% in those last two months. Besides his power being down a bit, his season-long stats were in line with previous years. On top of all the struggles, he did post a career-high nine thefts. If he did turn a corner over those last two months, there is significant upside.

Happ got off to a hot start in 2020 and never really looked back, as he put to rest any notion that he and Albert Almora would split time in center field. Happ ended up finishing with 12 homers, 27 runs, 28 RBI and an .866 OPS across 57 games. Encouragingly, the 26-year-old posted a career-best .361 on-base percentage and kept his strikeout rate below 30% for the second straight season. Happ spent a good chunk of his 2019 season in the minors working on making more consistent contact, and that decision looks brilliant in retrospect as Happ has been a different player since returning. Notable in 2020 was the fact that Happ virtually stopped playing the infield, making just two appearances at first base. He broke into the majors as more of a utility player but is now mainly an outfielder. Fantasy managers might like to see Happ earn eligibility at more positions and run a little bit, but they can't complain much about his recent production.

In 2018, Happ led off the Cubs' season with a homer on the first pitch. Last year, Happ opened with Triple-A Iowa where he toiled until July 26. The Cubs wanted Happ to work on contact. At the time of his callup, Happ sat with a .242/.364/.432 overall line, though he had registered a 1.059 OPS with five home runs, 17 walks and only 19 strikeouts in his last 20 games. Happ played a lot the rest of the season, setting personal bests in average (.264) and slugging (.564). More importantly, he reduced his strikeout rate from 36% to 25%. A dip in exit velocity with an increase in launch angle helped fuel power but conspired to drop his BABIP to a career-low .286. After last season's improved contact rate, Happ should be in the mix for a roster spot, at minimum as a super-utilityman. In just 58 games last year, Happ played at least five contests at first base, second base, third base and all three outfield spots.

Happ experienced a heavy dose of the sophomore slump last year as he failed to meet the expectations his bat established in 2017. His overall offensive production was still slightly above league average, but that is not how he was drafted. He was very helpful in OBP leagues as he jumped his walk rate nearly six percentage points to 15.2%, but his strikeout rate worsened (36.1%), which pulled down his batting average while his slugging percentage dropped over 100 points. The frustrating part with Happ was that he chased a lower percentage of pitches in 2018 than he did in 2017, but he struggled to make contact within the strike zone as pitchers kept him guessing on pitch type and location. He is much more effective against righties and the team has not hesitated to leave him on the bench against lefties, which cuts into his overall playing time. Happ lost his second-base eligibility, but gained third-base eligibility.

It is great when rookies come up and exceed expectations as Happ did in 2017, even if it was not in full-time duty. Happ was part of the outfield rotation as well as the second-base situation in Chicago as manager Joe Maddon likes to keep everyone involved. His rookie year saw him slug over .500, something only the likes of Kris Bryant and Billy Williams have done for the northsiders. With the great power came the great problems with contact as he struck out in nearly one-third of his plate appearances. The power comes nearly all from the left side (19 of his 24 homers game off righties), but he hits for a better average when put into the game to face lefties. Many rookies struggle at the big-league level when moved as quickly as Happ has been -- he had fewer than 400 plate appearances above A-ball. This kid is special and has more room for growth.

The ninth overall pick in 2015, Happ hit .296/.410/.475 in 69 games with High-A Myrtle Beach to begin the 2016 campaign, earning a promotion to Double-A Tennessee as a 21-year-old. Predictably, there were some growing pains as his walk rate fell by nine percent between levels, resulting in a nearly 100-point drop in OBP. Happ also saw a 60-point decline in SLG, but he made more consistent contact with Tennessee and the decline in numbers did little to dim his prospect star. This is a highly appealing skill set -- Happ is a switch-hitter with a quick bat, an advanced eye and more than a splash of both power and speed. The question has been; where will he play with Chicago? That was seemingly answered with a move to second base in 2016, although there's also a chance he never ends up calling Wrigley Field "home." Trade rumors have followed Happ and will for the foreseeable future.

The Cubs selected Happ with the ninth pick in the 2015 draft, and the former college star hit the ground running. Happ, who hit .369 with 14 home runs in 198 at-bats for the University of Cincinnati last year, finished his first professional year slashing an aggregate .259/.356/.466 with nine home runs and 10 stolen bases in 251 at-bats with short-season Eugene and Low-A South Bend. He started slowly in South Bend, but came on strong late in his run and finished with a strong walk rate with good power. With most of the strongest Cubs prospects getting promoted to the majors in the last couple of years, Happ may already be one of the best players in the Cubs' system. He's a good name to know for dynasty leagues, especially because he'll rise through the ranks quickly as a polished college bat.

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