Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Ian Happ is confident the Cubs offense will get better with runners on base
16 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What insights does Ian Happ provide about the Cubs' recent win?
The talent that's here and the talent that is continuing to develop here. We obviously have some mainstay guys like Ian Happ.
Ian Happ, Cubs all-star outfielder. And I've seen a lot of guys play the outfield, but I think he's the best left fielder that we've ever seen in a Cub uniform. And I've been here 31 years.
When all is said and done, he's going to be one of those guys that Cub fans are going to look back and say, man, he was...
he's a really good player good solid big league player gold glove award winner half swings drills one deep in the air to left forget about it this one's long gone halfway up the bleachers ian hap makes it 5-1 cubs blasting his 16th home run of the year a solo shot to straight left host of the compound podcast see a little clip of me finishing with two hands maybe hitting a homer 500 feet i want to freak you out but i've been doing it a little bit in practice
Connect Roasters coffee enthusiast. Here's a man that probably has five fresh pots a day. On 104.3 The Score. We toast you in half.
Ian Happ is a big part of the Rahimi Harris and Grody show appearing here most weeks on 104.3 The Score. So we're happy to have Ian Happ, especially after last night's ninth walk-off win of the season for the Chicago Cubs. Cubs 5, Colorado 4, a simple walk. by Matt Shaw with the bases loaded was the money run in a game in which lots and lots of things happened. It was his own little odyssey.
And, yes, Ian Happ, the gold glove outfielder and co-host of the Compound podcast, joining us on Rahimi Harris and Grody like he does. Ian, if you were doing an entire episode of that game last night on the Compound, how do you start? What's the headline from that game?
Oh. Oh, good question. I think the headlines probably showed it with a great start. And then Pete's cycle can't be ignored. That was pretty fantastic. Just resilience from the group there, though. Obviously, we had opportunities to put up runs and didn't drive any across. And so just to stay with it and have that ninth inning was pretty impressive.
On the ninth inning, real quick on that, because in the ninth, you guys go in there, it's 4-3. You're down a run. You come up with a runner on first. I can't imagine the highs and the lows that you were feeling in that bat and what looked like it was a grounder to the pitcher. Pitcher throws it to second, looking to get the force. They botch the play.
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Chapter 2: How does Ian Happ evaluate the Cubs' performance with runners in scoring position?
He turned it into a double quite easily. So, yeah, no, I'm following on that. I want to ask you, Ian, about your frustrations. Listen, from a power standpoint, you're on pace to hit 36 home runs this season, right? And at the same time, you're on pace to strike out 215 times.
I'm wondering, is your approach any different in terms of trying to get more slug and that's coming with the cost of more swing and miss? Tell me what you've done this season that maybe is different from past seasons or if you feel like you haven't changed anything at all.
No, it's just baseball. Honestly, guys, I don't feel like I've changed anything. Same approach. I'm walking at a similar clip to what I have, which comes with deep incontinence. It comes with some of those strikeouts. Obviously, these strikeouts are higher than they have been and frustrating. A strikeout will really, really grind you.
Yeah.
Yeah, not thrilled about that part of it. Obviously, the extra base hits and the power has been there. When you strike out that much, it's hard to hit for a high average, but certainly it's not kind of where I want it to be. Some of the ball is not getting down. I think just in the last week or the last...
For the last week since that road trip and yesterday, I haven't had a lot of balls get down and haven't found singles. The balls that I'm hitting are either going at people or just missing balls in the air. Not an approach change for me or anything like that, but definitely frustrating. I think some of the strikeout stuff is a little bit...
There were some stretches earlier in the season where I struck out just a ton in the course of a week. And so that'll make the numbers look inflated.
But yeah. I'm curious, Ian, about the approach that changes within an at-bat, right? You talk about a two-strike approach or with runners in scoring position. You got a man on third with less than two out. Do you feel like that approach has changed at all, whether it's for you or your teammates?
Because I know you guys know what the numbers are as far as the high leverage and also runners in scoring position.
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Chapter 3: What does Ian Happ think about the team's ability to win despite offensive struggles?
I mean, it's everybody. I love that we could all just talk about it, you know? They know it. They know that it sucks right now in that regard. We know it, and let's all work to get out of it.
I think talking about it helps, though, because it's like there's no elephant in the room. You acknowledge it, that kind of creates a lack of pressure, if you will, because the last thing he wants to do is be at the plate with extra pressure because he knows they haven't been good in those situations.
It's the truth. Coming up next here on Rahimi Harrison-Grody, and that was really good stuff with Ian Happ. Let's talk more about Pete Crow Armstrong and the reverse cycle. during last night's win, you got to reverse it. And we'll hear from Craig Council on Craig. Is that correct?
Yeah, we will. Reminder, this conversation that we just had with Ian Happ brought to you by Hattie B's with that hot chicken, that Nashville hot chicken.
Absolutely. It's all coming up next on 104.3 The Score.
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