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It was the Javier Baez show on Wednesday night, when he jump-started the Chicago Cubs offense at the plate and on the bases, leading to a 13-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. He homered twice for the second game in a row and scored a third time after reaching first base on a swinging strike. Yet, it was one of his postgame quotes that might be the most impressive takeaway from the night.
On a short flyout in the seventh inning, a frustrated Baez didn’t run hard to first base and flung up his bat in anger. Here’s what Baez said regarding that at-bat after the win.
Via ESPN.
Javier Baez hit 2 home runs on Wednesday but it was an out he made that ended up meaning the most for him: “You know what I learned? How ugly I looked on that fly ball. I tossed the bat really high, didn’t run to first base and one of my teammates came up to me and said it, in a good way. You learn from it…I was mad about it. Not the fly ball just the way I looked, for the kids and everyone that follows me. That’s not a good look. I learned that from today.”
I’m not going to sit here and pretend like every single player runs out every single ball they hit, but it’s cool that Baez used what could be looked as a negative and turned it into a learning experience.
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Plus, we’re talking about El Mago, who makes amazing things happen on defense and offense all the time because he busts his ass on the field.
But hey, I bet the Cubs don’t mind if Baez doesn’t run out a flyout here and there if he keeps hitting two home runs every game.
When life gives you a 3-1 fastball … pic.twitter.com/xmLnVkNG7b
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 12, 2018
JAVIER BAEZ WITH 2 HOME RUNS 2 GAMES IN A ROW! #Cubs pic.twitter.com/PRqueWEt3P
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) April 12, 2018
Oh, and shoutout to Bill Baer, who tried to use Baez’s quote to depict the Cubs as trying to make him be less fun.
You want to see textbook using a quote out of context?
Please stop trying to kill Javier Baez's personality: https://t.co/DnYLYb3vNa
— Bill Baer 🌹 (@Baer_Bill) April 12, 2018
Again, the Baez quote was specifically about an out he made and not from the reaction of either of his home runs, but looks like Mr. Baer here just didn’t care.
Pretty weird though, because he tried to defend himself saying it wasn’t about the home run/flyout confusion, (although he literally wrote that it was about the home runs) but that doesn’t make sense either.
No. Here's what I wrote about Avi Garcia last month. I'm pro-not-running-out-outs. pic.twitter.com/KOl2xiDdDS
— Bill Baer 🌹 (@Baer_Bill) April 12, 2018
So, there he said his point was he was anti-running to first base because it’s not worth running out an automatic out and risking a possible injury. That’s fine, but that’s not what he was writing about in his story about the “Cubs lecturing the fun out of Javier Baez.”
And then there was this from Baer. He was just pointing out the culture in baseball and how teams are very set in their old school ways.
The culture thing is rarely a top-down thing. It's mostly been white players telling non-white players how to act.
— Bill Baer 🌹 (@Baer_Bill) April 12, 2018
Someone tell Bill over here that the Cubs are in fact not the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs trying to take fun away from their players?
Dude, do just one second of research next time.
Pretty weird post. The Cubs prez and TLS just had a back and forth prank session, bullpen dances after every HR, there's literally smoke machines for post-game celebrations, etc etc etc. Feels like twilight zone arguing that Cubs cultivate an individualized culture…
— Brendan Miller (@CubsRelated) April 12, 2018
Here's Anthony Rizzo telling John Baker about his appreciation for how players in the Dominican winter league pimp pic.twitter.com/MrGdxggyLx
— Brendan Miller (@CubsRelated) April 12, 2018
Here's Joe Maddon expressing that he doesn't care about player celebrations and doesn't take offense to it. pic.twitter.com/tsp0a7Ihe5
— Brendan Miller (@CubsRelated) April 12, 2018
Joe Maddon has been advocating for Javier Baez since his first spring training as the manager of the Cubs. He encourages Baez to be as aggressive as possible and are you freaking kidding me with this bullshit, Billy?
you should tell that to his teammates
— Bill Baer 🌹 (@Baer_Bill) April 12, 2018
Yeah, let’s see how furious Baez’s teammates are.
@TheBlogfines man could his teammates make it any more obvious they don't like the way he plays? 🙄 pic.twitter.com/jDBguNPWBM
— Corey Freedman (@CFCubsRelated) April 12, 2018
So yeah, the Cubs are just fine with how Javier Baez plays and no they’re not, “trying to kill Javier Baez’s personality.”
By the way, the whole pro-not-running-out outs and culture angle are complete bullshit. Baer 100 percent thought the Baez quote was about the home runs and then when he was caught, instead of acknowledging he was wrong he tried to hide behind those excuses for the reason of his post.
Pretty obvious from the description of the article. Made something out of nothing.
Nice try, Bill.
He finally admitted to his mistake.
Re: My Javier Baez article from last night — After chewing on feedback for a while, I think most of the critics are right. I rushed to judgment and didn't have the proper context for the Baez quotes. So, I would like to apologize to Baez, the Cubs, and @PJ_Mooney.
— Bill Baer 🌹 (@Baer_Bill) April 12, 2018
I do think there's an issue in baseball where players police other players' behavior and try to tamp down fun, but this wasn't such an example. It's sort of like when they say when you have a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.
— Bill Baer 🌹 (@Baer_Bill) April 12, 2018
