The harmonic convergence between a resurgent Jason Heyward and the rampaging Los Angeles Dodgers was magnificent one night in Baltimore last month.
It was in the top of the second inning at Camden Yards when Heyward crushed a three-run home run off right-hander Tyler Wells, opening the floodgates with a five-run inning.
An inning later, Jake Marisnick pinch-hit for Heyward.
Damage? Nope. Ejection? Nope.
The Orioles changed pitchers, inserting left-hander Cole Irvin. And the Dodgers, being the Dodgers, adjusted accordingly.
“I told him the situation, that my bet is they’re going to use a lefty the rest of the way,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “I told him, ‘You did your job to help us win this game.’ And it’s like, ‘Doc, I’m in.'”
Roberts added: “For me, that’s what it’s all about, to have a player of his stature has complete buy-in.”
For Heyward, 34, personal triumphs in his 14th season in the bigs have come in small moments. He’s not playing every day anymore, and he’s not the middle-of-the-order beast he seems destined to be. But he can still help a team, which is more than the Chicago Cubs seemed to think when they decided to cut ties with him in August.
“It’s been a fun year of baseball,” Heyward said of his time with the Dodgers on a road trip to San Diego last weekend.
Discounting the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, Heyward’s on-base plus slugging percentage (.797) was his highest in a full season since 2015. He produced the best isolated power (.216), home run percentage run (4.2 percent) and walk rate (11.5 percent) of his career. And earlier this month, against Oakland’s Kirby Snead, Heyward socked his first home run against a lefty since May 2021.
Best of all, Heyward is clearly enjoying the ride.
It was more than a year ago when Jed Hoyer, Chicago’s president of baseball operations, informed Heyward that the Cubs would release him after the season. With one year remaining on the eight-year, $184 million deal he signed with the Cubs before the 2016 season, it’s an embarrassing end to a chapter in his career that has had its fair share of disappointments, but also includes his leadership performing an important role. with the team winning its first World Series in 108 years.
Things began to fall apart quickly. The Cubs started breaking out younger players while unsuccessfully defending their world title in 2017, they platooned a little more and, Heyward said, they “started trying to be shape-shifters.” Some players who were used to playing every day were asked to fill different roles, which led, in Heyward’s opinion, to an “identity crisis.”
“I understand transition — nothing is constant, nothing lasts forever,” Heyward said. “But that’s the tough part of that group, especially with some of the younger guys.”
By 2019, it was clear that those Cubs needed a major overhaul. When Heyward’s OPS dipped to career lows in consecutive seasons — .627 in 2021 and .556 in 2022 — it was clear his time there was over.
Due to a right knee injury, he played his last game for the team on June 24, 2022, batting .204 with a .278 on-base percentage in 48 games. When Hoyer spoke to him in early August, Heyward wondered if his career was over.
“You never know if someone is going to offer you a chance to play,” Heyward said. “So I was realistic about that.”
The Dodgers called in early December and invited him to spring training on a minor-league deal. They didn’t promise anything, but they laid out their vision in clear, concise terms.
“This is what a role is going to look like for you,” said General Manager Brandon Gomes. “This is what our hitting guys think. You’re going to go to LA and Arizona this winter and spend a lot of time attacking some swing changes, and we think if you can do that, there’s some upside left in how you can perform.”
The Dodgers liked what they knew about Heyward’s work ethic and his reputation in the clubhouse. Freddie Freeman, friends of Heyward’s since they played against each other in youth baseball tournaments when they were 16, wholeheartedly endorsed him.
“It feels like the perfect blend between our culture, what he can bring on the field, off the field in the clubhouse, and his ability to just work with our group and kind of trust what they’ve seen. for him,” Gomes said. “And now we’re seeing him perform at an incredibly high level.”
Maybe to some, it would have been easy for Heyward to take his five Gold Gloves, his World Series ring and the millions he made and just disappear. Especially after years of listening to outside critics dismiss his Cubs contract as one of the worst in the game.
“I think when you look at the contracts and the players and the game of baseball, looking at the career numbers, there’s a lot less than me,” Heyward said of his contract being in history. “There’s a lot worse that played a lot worse. Guys less on the field. All that kind of stuff. And that’s not in any way to point the finger away from me. I was in the thick of it. Loved it. I can play, and I understand failures.”
Besides, the hardest part of his descent into the Cubs, he said, wasn’t even his own personal failures. It was a rebuild in his final seasons at Wrigley.
“The hardest thing for me is not trying to win every day,” he said.
When he took the Dodgers’ phone call, he knew they would do anything to win. So setting aside his ego and accepting a minor-league deal was easy, he said.
“The beauty of it is, it’s a collaborative effort,” Gomes said. “It’s, ‘Hey, here’s what we’re thinking.’ And then Jason says, ‘Well, I’ve tried that before, or I can’t quite pull it off. Is there any other way we can do this?’ An open conversation where both sides experience an open mind.”
Heyward excelled in the specific role the Dodgers carved out for him. The adjustments to his swing, the at-bats against right-handers, the defensive agility that remains. In the clubhouse, he was everything the Dodgers hoped for.
“I leaned on him a lot throughout the year,” said James Outman, a rookie outfielder. “Baseball mentor. Life mentor indeed. He wants to win. And you can tell he wants his teammates to do well. And it comes from a super-genuine place.”
From Outman to Mookie Betts to David Peralta and Clayton Kershaw, Heyward examines veterans and newcomers alike, praising the Dodgers for their ability to match talent with character.
“The cool thing is to have a group that has a lot of veterans with some young people mixed in, a lot of good examples,” Heyward said. “I feel like we all feed off each other. And, of course, it’s great to play with Freddie again, to make that complete.”
Selected by Atlanta with the 14th (Heyward) and 78th (Freeman) picks in the 2007 draft, Heyward and Freeman came up through the Braves minor league system and quickly established themselves as the future of the franchise.
Heyward first came to the majors as a phenom in the spring of 2010, when his spectacular outbursts in batting practice were clearing the right-field fence at the team’s spring training complex and destroying cars in the parking lot. Freeman joined him as a full-time player in the majors a year later. In 2013, both All-Stars and Atlanta, after a brief rebuild following its previous glory years, were contenders again.
But Atlanta, looking to cut costs, parted ways with longtime teammates. Heyward, who was about to enter free agency, was traded to the St. Louis after the 2014 season as the Braves reset for the future.
Nearly a decade later, Heyward and Freeman are back on the field as teammates, this time in a different shade of blue.
Freeman is shaking off some of the contract-related grief Heyward has endured in recent seasons.
“All the negative things, you can throw away because when you meet Jason, it’s only going to be positive because he’s such a great guy,” Freeman said. “And he brought a World Series to Chicago, so I don’t know how you can say anything bad or bad about Jason Heyward. What he’s doing in the city, in the inner cities, what he’s still doing in Chicago, if bad things are coming out of your mouth about Jason, you need to reevaluate your own life.
In a corner of the Dodgers’ clubhouse, hanging between Freeman and Heyward’s lockers, is a photo of the two of them posing together. It was taken during an April rain delay in the visitors’ dugout at Wrigley Field, and it contained so much: The gift of a lifelong friendship. Glory days at Wrigley Field. Heyward’s rebirth in Los Angeles.
In their blinding smiles, you can still see the happiness of a pair of 16-year-old boys who love to play baseball — and appreciate the unexpected opportunity to do it together again.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been a team again,” Freeman said. “I see him every day now. And I’m just having fun.”