Jason Heyward

This comment might be Joe Maddon's best bit of managing

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:10 p.m. ET

Andre Vergara

Joe Maddon has earned a reputation as one of baseball's best managers, and he might have done his best bit of managing on Thursday.

The Chicago Cubs skipper somehow managed to say something positive about outfielder Jason Heyward, who signed a $184 million contract in the offseason but has been a bust, hitting .229 with four homers and a .315 slugging percentage. He's been nursing a sore wrist, and Maddon sat him Thursday against White Sox ace lefty Chris Sale.

"Man, I don't know that anybody could handle it better than the way he has," Maddon said of Heyward's struggles. "I really believe we're due for a nice run out of him shortly."

Maddon can manage such a rosy outlook thanks to the Cubs owning the best record in baseball and not shying away from more spending, as evidenced by the team's trade for Aroldis Chapman.

But while Heyward has been as good as ever defensively, his bat has gone missing. He's 5 for 40 since the All-Star break. His strikeout-to-home run ratio is a career-worst 16.7-to-1. He has just two RBI this month. And his .632 OPS ranks 153rd out of 159 eligible players.

"It is what it is," Heyward told ESPN's Jesse Rogers. "It’s too late to worry about numbers. That’s not to say I’m not going to try and finish strong. When you do it right and don’t get results, you keep doing it. I feel like I’ve done it but not gotten the results. If you’re hitting the ball hard and not getting results, what else can you do?"

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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