It’s the final game of the series on July 17, and the Hillsboro Hops have reached the seventh inning without allowing a single batter from the Eugene Emeralds to reach base.
Ian Happ, 20, steps up to the plate the same way he has for every at-bat in the last six innings — cool, calm and collected. This time it works. Happ connects for a double, and the Emeralds’ first hit.
“The kid is never fazed,” said Chris Happ, Ian’s older brother. “In a game where you fail 70 percent of the time, you need to have that. You need the ability to respond to a double the same way you do a strikeout.”
That’s why, Chris said, you’ll see one steady expression under the brim of Ian’s cap – no matter how he performs on the diamond.
On June 10, Ian was selected by the Chicago Cubs with the ninth overall pick in the MLB Draft, and later assigned to play for the Cubs’ minor league affiliate, the Eugene Emeralds.
Besides $3 million, Ian also signed on to a hefty set of expectations. He’s following the same path of Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber, the organization’s previous two first-round selections who are now both playing in the major leagues.
Current Eugene Emeralds Manager Gary Van Tol coached both Bryant and Schwarber for the Boise Hawks, the Cubs’ previous short-season single A affiliate. He said Happ’s talent is comparable to his predecessors.
“Ian comes to the ballpark every day with his lunch bucket and his hard hat, and he goes to work,” Van Tol said. “That’s the type of player he is, and that’s why we selected him with our first pick.”
Ian doesn’t look at Bryant’s and Schwarber’s rise through the Cubs minor league system, where the organization hopes players will transform from prospects to pros, as a bar he’s expected to measure up to.
“You can’t put pressure on yourself to be as good as those guys,” Ian said. “You have to just play the game and enjoy the process.”
Both the Happ brothers went to Mount Lebanon High School, located in a suburb of Pittsburgh. Chris, who is six years older than Ian, was playing baseball for Mount Lebanon. There was a batting cage right by the school.
After Ian was done with his classes, his father, Keith, would pick him up with a bucket of baseballs ready in the car. The two would head to the cages to throw and hit for hours while Chris practiced with his high school team.
Chris says his brother’s stoic demeanor doesn’t reflect his passion for the game; it’s a testament to his mental fortitude — a trait Chris saw in Ian from a young age.
Every game was business for the Little Leaguer.
“I always joked that he acted like a big leaguer when he was an 8-year-old,” Chris said. “But that’s just the way he played the game.”
Ian inherited more than just work ethic from his father. Keith also taught his son how to keep his emotions in check through the highs and lows of the game, said Chris.
Before Ian went to play at Cincinnati University, his brother talked with him about what to expect. Chris played infield at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. There, he saw the disparity between the average collegiate baseball player and the greats.
“We still talk everyday,” Ian said. “He’s been that guy for me through my entire career, [from the time] I was little, but especially in high school and all the way through college. He’s been an unbelievable resource for me.”
Chris attended Ian’s first game for the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod league in Massachusetts the summer after his freshman season in 2013. Ian turned a two-week temporary contract into a summer-long gig, playing six days a week. He separated himself, once again, from the best amateur prospects in the country.
When Ian was recovering from a surgery to repair a sports hernia before the start of his junior season, Chris was there.
When the two are not talking about the business side of baseball, the conversations are filled with laughs. When Ian was recovering from his surgery, that was an issue.
“He couldn’t laugh because of the pain he was in,” Chris said, pausing to laugh himself. “It was hard for me to be around him. One look at him and he’d start laughing.”
Following the surgery, in his junior year at the University of Cincinnati, Ian was a consensus first-team All-American and American Conference Player of the Year.
Chris was also there for Ian on draft night. Chris was tense. After two years of hearing that his brother was going to be a first-round pick, he wanted the wait to be over. Ian was different. Once again, Chris described him as cool, calm and collected.
“He always is,” Chris said.
Chris is a currency trader in Chicago. When Ian was selected by the Cubs, the two talked about the possibility of being in the same city again in the future.
“He’s going to have to stay in Chicago for a while,” Ian joked.
Ian will play in his 30th professional game Monday night when the Emeralds head up north to take on the Vancouver Canadians.
Van Tol sees a similar skill level between all three of the last first-round picks for Chicago. Although Ian hasn’t yet attained the same level of play as his predecessors, he’s heading in the right direction.
The Cubs franchise is optimistic about Ian’s development.
“We want them to dominate the level they’re at,” Van Tol said, “and if it takes them a little bit more time, we have the patience.”
Chris believes there’s no reason why Ian shouldn’t excel in the professional ranks. Behind his cool exterior, Chris said Ian is hungrier than ever to succeed in Eugene and eventually join Bryant and Schwarber in the major leagues.
“I think there’s a bright future ahead, and I’m looking forward to it,” Chris said.
Emerald sports reporter Kenny Jacoby contributed reporting.
Follow Joseph Hoyt on Twitter @JoeJHoyt
