Everything is coming together once again for this Chicago Cubs prospect

SOUTH BEND — Ed Howard feels healthy again.

His field on the play backs that up.

The South Bend Cubs infielder missed more than a year due to a hip injury, affecting both his 2022 and 2023 seasons. He’s returned to full strength in 2024, though, and is finding his stride at the right time for the Chicago Cubs’ High-A affiliate.

From June:How the top Chicago Cubs prospects in South Bend have fared in 2024 so far

“Just having a full offseason gave me a great chance to get my feet back underneath me and build more strength to last a full season,” Howard said. “I’m just blessed and glad to be back out here playing every day.”

Learning how to deal with adversity

Howard was a highly touted prospect, being selected straight out of Illinois’s Mount Carmel High School in the first round of the 2020 MLB Draft. After playing a season for Low-A Myrtle Beach, Howard had a strong first month-plus with South Bend to start the 2022 campaign.

All that momentum came to a screeching halt May 10, though, when Howard tried to avoid getting tagged on an awkward play at first base, landing hard and injuring his hip in the process. The damage was severe enough that he missed the rest of the 2022 season and first two months of 2023 rehabbing.

It would be 392 days before Howard suited up for South Bend again.

“I had a chance to grow closer to family and see the world from a different perspective,” said Howard of the time off. “My whole life, I’ve always been playing ball during the summer months, and that was the first year I kind of had where I was home and wasn’t able to go play. It showed me my love for the game, though, and how much I missed it during those times. It taught me how to take care of my body because I don’t want that to happen again.”

Howard was batting .244 in 2022 before the injury happened. In the 45 games he played in 2023, he hit just .199.

Finally healthy and playing well again

Things looked to be trending similarly this season at the plate, as Howard’s batting average after April was .178. Slowly and steadily, though, it all began to click again for Howard. The infielder hit .270 in May before everything seemingly came together in June.

In 20 games last month, Howard batted .319 with a .364 on-base percentage as well. Both were single-month career highs for the 22-year-old.

“I’m glad I had a good June, but it was more about me going out there and competing,” Howard said. “I want to have months like that every month. I just want to keep growing, keep developing and keep going in the right direction, and I think June was just a small sample size of what I can do consistently.”

One noticeable area of improvement has been extra-base hits. After having just seven in the 2022 and 2023 seasons combined, Howard had 14 of them for South Bend through July 19.

“That’s something that Nate (Spears) and Collin (Andrews), our hitting coaches, have been working on with him all season long,” South Bend Cubs manager Nick Lovullo said. “He’s such a big, strong, physical player — how do we unlock that power and tap into that potential he’s got? A lot of that with him has been timing.”

Trust has also played a key role for Howard’s bounce-back season. Entering July 20, he was batting .250 with 19 RBI and eight stolen bases. He’s been solid defensively as well, not committing an error in 25 games at second base and just seven combined at shortstop and third base in 31 contests at those positions.

“The hip, everything I do revolves around it: running, stopping, jumping,” Howard noted. “Being able to trust it again, it just took time. I’m at a space now where I 100% trust it; I feel healthy. I can move around and do what I want to do now.”

While the results on the field have been disappointing for the South Bend Cubs so far, there is still a chance to finish the 2024 campaign on a good note. They get to play more home than road games the rest of the way as well, starting with a six-game homestand Tuesday with the Peoria Chiefs.

“I want to finish the year stronger than I started it,” Howard said. “That comes with staying healthy, staying on the diamond and just playing my game. I think I can finish the year strong. That’s my plan, and I’m sure that’s everybody’s plan in this clubhouse.”