Chicago Cubs outfielder Ian Happ was placed on the 10-day injured list today. Happ is being sidelined with an oblique injury that he suffered in Friday night’s game against the New York Mets. The veteran switch-hitter has dealing with some discomfort in the days since, missing the rest of the series in New York. Rather than wait for Happ to get back as soon as possible, the Chicago Cubs are putting the outfielder on the 10-day injured list and giving him a longer road to recovery and a path to the plate.
Happ has been hitting consistently at the top of the Chicago Cubs order for a couple of seasons now and this injury is the first to get Ian Happ out of the starting lineup in years. Without him, the team will look to Pete Crow-Armstrong to fill the void at the top of the lineup and could be relying on another youngster to take some more at-bats. With Happ’s stint on the IL taking up a roster spot, the team was able to call up one of their top player prospects, Moises Ballesteros, making him the second top prospect to be called into action by the Chicago Cubs in the last week.
Ian Happ Heads to IL for Chicago Cubs
It was a fairly innocuous swing Friday night that injured Ian Happ, but the Chicago Cubs outfielder felt enough of an injury to sit out the club’s next two games and the team felt the injury was enough of a concern to place Happ on the 10-day injured list. Happ has been remarkably durable throughout his career with the Chicago Cubs, so being without him and having someone else patrol left field is going to be a change of pace for the team. Happ’s absence is not expected to be prolonged and he anticipates being ready to go by the time he is eligible to come back off the IL.
With Happ being unavailable for the Chicago Cubs, they will likely open up a designated hitter spot rather than a fielding spot in the starting lineup. Replacing Happ in both the field and at the plate is going to create some sizable holes. Seiya Suzuki can step in and play left field or switch with Kyle Tucker for the time being to get adequate gloves in the outfield for Craig Counsell’s squad. In the batting order, the attention goes towards the newest member of the Chicago Cubs, Moises Ballesteros. Ballesteros was called up in the corresponding move to the announcement that Happ is heading to the IL.
Ballesteros is one of the Chicago Cubs’ top prospects and will undoubtedly be given some chances to hit while an opening exists in the batting order. The 21-year-old Venezuelan catching prospect likely won’t see the field a lot at first, but his hitting sped up his track to get the major leagues. In his second AAA season, Ballesteros was hitting .368 with a .420 OBP, .522 SLG and .942 OPS. We will see how his fierce attack at the plate translates against the best pitching in the world, or whatever the Miami Marlins have to toss out on the mound.
