Its funny, when I went to the Cubs game with my Dad last week, the fans did the exact same thing - huge cheer every time the bat made contact with the ball - incredibly disorienting when watching it on tv.
A lot of speculation was that his injury last year would be career-ending, so its pretty remarkable that he's back on track. I don't think he'd have too high a price on the market, but I feel like he's going to remain in the AL