This story originally appeared on FoxSports.com.
MESA, Ariz.—Dec. 5, that’s when he started, less than five weeks after the Cubs won the World Series. Jason Heyward was not messing around. He had moved to the Phoenix area so he could be closer to the Cubs’ training facility and focus on remaking his swing.
It was the baseball equivalent of learning to walk again. And Heyward—coming off a career-worst offensive season, one of the worst offensive seasons, in fact, that any major leaguer endured in 2016—knew that it had to be done.
“He was humbled from last year and wanted to work, wanted to get better,” Cubs assistant hitting coach Eric Hinske said.