Mired in a 0-for-20 slump to begin May, Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney received a breather Wednesday against the Cardinals. He also had an early batting practice session with manager Dale Sveum, per MLB.com.
"It was nice to bring him out today and let him hit and not think about any mechanics, and get a mindset about hitting the ball as hard as he can," Sveum said. "There were no mechanics going on out there."
Barney is batting .147 through 20 games, with one home run, four doubles and three RBI.
"It’s confidence as much as anything," Sveum said of the second baseman’s problems, "and understanding your job is to hit the ball hard and not try to do something with it every at-bat, just get a good pitch and hit it hard instead of trying to hit it to this field or that field or whatever. That was [the goal Wednesday] to have one mindset, hit the ball as hard as you can."