Watch: Jason Heyward Channels Happy Gilmore to Improve Swing

After giving us a first look at Jason Heyward’s still-in-progress swing earlier this week, Cubs mental skills coach Darnell McDonald is at it again. First up is a video of a drill that has J-Hey walking into the ball like a modern-day Happy Gilmore. Or maybe a very athletic beer league all-star.

https://instagram.com/p/BOTeWNrgV0P/

And here’s a more traditional swing, one that appears even more clean and compact than the video from a couple days ago that turned us all into hitting coaches.

https://instagram.com/p/BOTe3JlArgU/

I’m far from an expert, but this sure looks better to me. The body hitch I had noted previously is almost imperceptible, the stance looks a bit wider, and Heyward’s hand-path appears to be much shorter. I’m not seeing that wringing motion in his hands either, though I haven’t slowed things down enough to really analyze it. Nor will I, since, you know, that’s not really my bag.

What’s clear even to my untrained eye is that Heyward is putting in some real work and that he’s still got a lot more time to further refine his mechanics. Who knows, maybe these improvements will have us all looking a little more like that infamous Adam Sandler incarnation.