Rather than looking at Jason Heyward’s 2018 campaign as pre-All-Star Game and post-All-Star Game, one would be better served looking at it through a different lens: pre-concussion and post-concussion. That’s obviously not how the Chicago Cubs drew it up in Spring Training, but that’s how things fell for Heyward this year.
After Heyward’s first two seasons where he slashed a combined .243/.315/.353, his eight-year, $184 million contract looks more than a little heavy. It looks like a colossal mistake, despite his 2016 World Series clubhouse speech and back-to-back Gold Glove Awards.
In 2016 he posted the worst offensive numbers of his career.