Although Jason Heyward’s bat is going through a slump – partly because of some missed contact, and largely because of some really bad luck – he’s been showing off that his glove is just fine.[adinserter block=”1″]
And then last night, he showed off that the arm is more than fine with this game-saving throw:
Your browser does not support iframes.
Maybe the 4th inning is too early to say there was a “game-saving” play, but the score was 2-1 Cubs when Heyward set himself up perfectly for a catch and throw to the plate on a would-be game-tying sacrifice fly, and that was also the final score. So, yeah: game-saving.
The rocket throw got to the plate in a hurry, and kudos to Miguel Montero for receiving it well, and making a quick turn and dive to the right spot to nail Matt Holliday, who was trying to slide wide.
Heyward gave us a taste of that arm in Spring Training, and he’d actually shown it off earlier in the inning when he almost nailed Matt Adams at second base on what looked like a no doubt double (the throw was there in time, but it appeared to glance off of Adams’ leg as he slid in, so Addison Russell couldn’t make the tag). The guy is just so good out there defensively, and it doesn’t take long to see it manifest itself, whatever is happening with the rest of his game.
He’s an impact player, and he’s already helped the Cubs win games.[adinserter block=”2″]