Ian Happ sticking to the process as he tries to get on track at the plate, but results haven’t followed for Cubs outfielder

PHOENIX — The Chicago Cubs came into the season envisioning Ian Happ as their everyday center fielder and a regular in the leadoff spot.

More than halfway through the season, however, Happ still is trying to get into an offensive groove. The Joc Pederson trade presents an opportunity for Happ to earn more consistent playing time. He started in left field in the Cubs’ first two games after the All-Star break and is trying to turn around a performance that features a .184 average, .295 on-base percentage, .329 slugging percentage and 73 OPS+ through 78 games.

This is the worst stretch of Happ’s five years in the majors; he entered 2021 with a career .344 OBP and 115 OPS+. Cubs manager David Ross has expressed confidence in Happ getting on track. But while the switch-hitting Happ’s process and approach have generally been good lately, the results haven’t followed.

After getting a reset during the break, Happ is looking to compete every day, put together great at-bats and perform at the level he expects from himself. He went 0 for 3 with a walk and two strikeouts and hit into a double play in the Cubs’ 4-2 comeback win Saturday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“I think that I’ve shown that every year of my career,” Happ told the Tribune. “And that’s the goal is to be the player that I know I’m capable of and not what we’ve seen for the last few months.”

With Pederson gone, the Cubs lost their go-to leadoff hitter. Pederson filled the role 42 times, easily the most on the team. Ideally Happ would be in that spot, where he has hit the most during his career, but he hasn’t batted there since May 2.

Ross indicated Saturday that catcher Willson Contreras will get some run in the leadoff spot, where he hit in the first two games against the Diamondbacks. Ross likes what he has seen from Contreras’ “professional” at-bats, and he wants to keep some continuity there. Contreras collected three hits in Saturday’s victory, including a go-ahead two-run homer in the ninth.

Although putting Contreras at the top causes some reorganizing of the batting order, Ross doesn’t view that as a bad thing.

“It’s something you get to ride or (if) I see a problem that I don’t like, then we’ll adjust from that standpoint,” Ross said. “But looking around I didn’t see a lot of guys that stood out to me in that spot.”

Beyond whatever moves the Cubs make before the July 30 trade deadline, getting Happ right is an important subplot over the final 2 1/2 months. Knowing they can pencil him in as the starting center fielder and leadoff hitter for 2022 would be helpful going into the offseason, when he will be in his second year of arbitration eligibility.

It’s hard to project his role next year, though, given his production. And even if he turns it around in the coming weeks and months, it might not be enough to hand him a starting job.

Happ believes he needs to be more aggressive in some situations and barrel the ball better. Conversely, he feels he’s seeing the ball well and swinging at the right pitches, which numbers support.

Happ continues to walk despite his struggles; his 12.5% walk rate leads the Cubs and is above the league average. He also has been a little unlucky with a .233 Batting Average on Balls In Play (BABIP), well below his .327 career mark. His strikeout rate is slightly up from the previous two years, though lower than career-high levels, while his contact rate is nearly 5% higher than in 2020 and the second-best of his career. Happ knows the quality of contact must improve, however.

He’s trying to take a lesson from last year, when the short break between the end of the regular season and the postseason helped him. He went 4 for 8 in the National League wild-card series versus the Miami Marlins.

“They’re going to fall. It’s one of the things that’s great about this game is all it takes is a few days off and you can kind of reset,” Happ said. “That’s the hard part about playing every single day, coming to the park every single day, is that it is tough to kind of get away and get in that right headspace.”

Cubs hitting coach Anthony Iapoce said before the All-Star break that it’s a good sign Happ isn’t chasing pitches because that’s a strength of his game. One of Happ’s problems has been a propensity to hit the ball on the ground, evidenced by a career-high 49.7% ground ball rate.

“Early on he was pulling off the ball too much trying to get some pull-side lift instead of staying through the ball,” Iapoce said. “He’s really working on trying to hit hard line drives to left-center and center field because when you find yourself doing something and then you try not to do it, you do it more.

“If a guy’s hitting grounders, he tries anything not to do it, but then you still end up doing it, so you have to take your mind in practice and work on it.”

Trusting the process isn’t easy when the hits aren’t coming. Happ, a vocal mental-health advocate, isn’t downplaying how prolonged struggles can challenge a player mentally. It hasn’t stopped him from putting in daily work.

“This too shall pass, it’s just getting through that,” Happ said. “It’s really difficult mentally to stay with it and continue to grind through what is a really tough stretch. You’ve just got to take solace in cheering on your teammates and know that if you keep doing the right stuff, baseball will pay you back.”