Escape From L.A.? Not Jason Heyward

Generally, it’s finest to not mess with a superb factor. So say the Dodgers, who based on ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel have re-signed proper fielder Jason Heyward to a one-year, $9 million contract.

In his first 12 months with the Dodgers, Heyward appeared in 124 video games, 98 of them begins, and hit .269/.340/.473 in 377 plate appearances. That’s a 121 wRC+! That’s 14th out of the 45 gamers who primarily performed proper discipline final 12 months and managed 300 or extra plate appearances, only a tick behind Adolis García, and forward of Nick Castellanos, Lars Nootbaar, Fernando Tatis Jr., and George Springer.

The separating issue is that every one 98 of Heyward’s begins got here towards right-handed pitchers final 12 months. You may say that $9 million is so much to pay for a platoon nook outfielder. Poppycock! The Dodgers, who’ve harvested the infinite galactic energy of the cosmos, overpaying? The Dodgers, stuffed to the purpose of bursting with Guggenheim Companions’ limitless lucre, overpaying? Who cares? Absolutely not I. To them, $9 million is a pittance, spent right here on an important roster participant; in any other case it may need been spent on a medium-leverage aid pitcher, or caviar, or another frivolity.

The Heyward-Dodgers reunion is thrilling not simply because a superb group returns a productive participant, but additionally due to how nicely this participant matches with this group.

Heyward got here to be with the Dodgers final 12 months after the Cubs determined to launch him with a 12 months remaining on his contract. His eight-year, $184 million cope with the soon-to-be-champion Cubs was heralded because the final win-now transfer Chicago wanted as a way to put its homegrown core excessive. And whereas they did win the World Sequence the subsequent 12 months, his tenure was a catastrophe from the beginning. He hit .230/.306/.325 in his first 12 months with the Cubs, and issues by no means bought significantly better after that.

Heyward, a star early in his profession with the Braves and Cardinals, seems to be like a middle-of-the-order hitter. However in actuality, his sport relies on protection, and he hits too many grounders to place up massive residence run totals, so what the Cubs ended up with is kind of a really wealthy man’s Gerardo Parra. After seven seasons, they’d had sufficient, and paid him greater than $21 million in 2023 simply to be rid of him. He couldn’t have landed in a greater spot. The Dodgers are superb at inspecting gamers with each elite abilities and catastrophic flaws, then determining find out how to maximize the previous and conceal the latter. That suited Heyward fairly nicely.

There’s a bizarre thread to Mookie Betts’ profession that feels underexamined regardless of being well-publicized, which is that he’s a second baseman who has spent his complete profession taking part in proper discipline. When Betts got here up with the Crimson Sox, Dustin Pedroia had second base locked down. A center infielder with nice velocity and defensive instincts would ordinarily be a pure slot in heart, and Betts performed there for some time. However finally Jackie Bradley Jr., among the best defensive heart fielders of his technology, compelled Betts to maneuver over to proper. And he simply stayed there.

No one actually questioned it. Proper discipline is notoriously troublesome to play at Fenway, and Betts took to it with ease. Like Ichiro, everybody knew he might play a tougher place, however he was the perfect defensive proper fielder within the sport, and he hit nicely sufficient to justify his continued presence in proper, so there he stayed. Even when he bought traded to the Dodgers, he stayed there. Corey Seager and Trea Turner had the center infield locked down, and Cody Bellinger was taking part in Gold Glove-caliber protection in heart, so Betts stayed in proper.

This previous season was the primary time Betts ever wanted to play on the dust for lengthy stretches. Seager and Turner had been gone, Gavin Lux bought harm and missed your complete season, and a gap opened up. (How the Dodgers received 100 video games with Miguel Vargas and Miguel Rojas getting the lion’s share of center infield begins, I’ll by no means know.) Betts is clearly able to taking part in second base, and even shortstop in a pinch. At second base, he’s an enormous asset; he’d be the perfect offensive second baseman since, like, Joe Morgan. However placing virtually anybody else in proper discipline would characterize an enormous defensive downgrade, to the purpose that Dave Roberts could be proper to assume twice about making that transfer.

That’s the place Heyward got here in. Even through the darkish days of his time in Chicago, he might all the time nonetheless choose it. And that remained the case throughout his first season with the Dodgers, the place he was third in fielding runs amongst gamers who performed extra innings in proper discipline than at another place. (Tatis and García completed forward of him.) Baseball Savant offers him loads of purple ink for his defensive exploits: 91st percentile in OAA, 87th in arm energy. If nothing else, he’s a ok defender to make Roberts be ok with transferring Betts. And certain sufficient: The Dodgers confronted 113 right-handed beginning pitchers final 12 months. In these video games, Betts made 59 begins at second base and 12 extra at shortstop; Heyward was in proper discipline for all however two of them.

So how did the Dodgers get round Heyward’s offensive troubles? Effectively, the very first thing they did was protect him virtually utterly from same-handed pitching. The Cubs performed him each day, particularly early in his tenure there. That’s an affordable expectation for a participant who’s making $23 million a 12 months. But it surely didn’t go nicely. Over seven seasons with the Cubs, he noticed a bit of over 10,000 pitches, 22.5% of them from left-handed pitchers. That’s about what you’d anticipate for a left-handed hitter who isn’t being aggressively platooned. In 2023, although, Heyward didn’t make a single begin towards a left-handed starter and noticed simply 7.6% of his whole pitches towards lefties. That’s the sixth-lowest proportion out of the 112 left-handed hitters who noticed 1,000 or extra pitches final 12 months. That’s about as a lot as a hitter might be sheltered, and a wise transfer, contemplating he posted a wRC+ of 19 towards left-handed pitching in 2022.

Heyward’s utilization was so extraordinarily platoon-determined that I’m having a tough time telling how nicely he really hit lefties final 12 months. The numbers say: fairly nicely, with a 97 wRC+. Sadly, that’s the results of simply 26 plate appearances, which might imply something. He had a HR/FB% of 33.3 towards lefties final 12 months, which dwarfs his profession common of 9.1%. Was he promoting out for energy, or is that an artifact of his solely hitting six fly balls towards lefties all season? The Dodgers, based mostly on his utilization in 2023, don’t appear significantly enthusiastic about discovering out.

Heyward is 34 years previous, with greater than $200 million in profession earnings and a World Sequence ring already behind him. And it appears that evidently he’s content material to stay on this position. That’s no small factor for a group just like the Dodgers — discovering a participant who’s efficient in restricted taking part in time however received’t disrupt the clubhouse by pushing for extra.

Heyward is arguably most well-known for delivering a speech that impressed his group to victory in Recreation 7 of the World Sequence — a speech that reportedly moved several Cubs players to tears. It’d shock you to be taught that he’s good within the clubhouse. Freddie Freeman, who got here up with Heyward in Atlanta within the early 2010s, lobbied for him to return. James Outman cited him as a positive influence as he adjusted to the major leagues. Vibes stay as troublesome as ever to measure and quantify, however Heyward appears to have good ones.

Heyward is uniquely suited to fill the Dodgers’ particular wants on the sector, and the Dodgers put him ready to play his finest baseball since, arguably, 2015. If each participant and membership had been proud of that association final 12 months, it will be silly to not lengthen that partnership for one more season.