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If you would have told me at the beginning of this season that Javier Baez would be in the discussion for the NL MVP this late in the season, I probably would have asked what you were smoking. It’s not that I don’t like Baez as a player or even that I don’t think he has the ability to be an MVP-type player someday because I truly do believe in him, but for him to burst onto the scene like he has this year is nothing short of astounding.
And he was at it again today.
Baez went 2-3 with a home run, a walk, an RBI, and a triple which culminated in yet another patented “swim move” slide.
Raise your hand if you have ever felt personally victimized by @javy23baez. pic.twitter.com/fOpxUJYI7X
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 3, 2018
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In addition to killing the Padres with his bat, Baez killed any chances of the Padres taking their second straight game over the Cubs when he crushed their spirit late in the game. In the top of the eight, the Padres were threatening with runners on second and third with only one out and the Cubs clinging to a 4-2 lead. Some random dude from San Diego hit a one-hopper right at Baez and instead of conceding the run and getting the second out at first, Baez fielded it cleanly and fired a strike home to get some Fabio-looking dude trying to score from third.
Báezball. pic.twitter.com/Qehiz4tL9w
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 3, 2018
His defensive prowess is impressive but not as impressive as the numbers he is putting up this season. To date, Baez is all over the NL leader board:
1st in RBIs
3rd in 3B
3rd in fWAR
3rd in SLG%
4th in 2B
5th in SB
6th in HR
6th in Runs
11th in Batting Average
The emergence of Baez couldn’t have come at a better time with the former MVP, Kris Bryant, sitting on the DL and going through easily the worst season of his career. Now that Baez has emerged as the team’s star this season, many Cubs fans will forget how dispensable Javier Baez used to be.
I remember a time when many fans (and writers) spoke loud and clear that the Cubs needed to trade Baez and his free-swinging bat. Cubs beat writer Jesse Rodgers, the Chicago Tribune, David Kaplan and David Haugh were all OK with trading Baez within the last two years. The Sun-Times already had Baez traded in June of 2016 and who could forget that deal to the Tampa Bay Rays in December of 2015?
I’m not bringing that up with a “know it all” tone because I thought the Rich Harden trade that included Josh Donaldson was pure genius.
Stupid, I know.
My point is that since he arrived in the big leagues in 2014, Baez has somehow always been on the trade block. Baseball is a very unforgiving game that demands results on a much quicker pace than it has in the past and many clubs have become impatient with their budding stars. (Yoan Moncada is the easy example)
A buddy of mine named Don Cady sent me an article by my favorite Cubs beat writer Mark Gonzalez from 2014 that was weirdly prophetic to the 2018 Javier Baez. It was written after Baez played in just about 30 MLB games and it focused on Baez’s strikeout issue that he faced early in his career (and partially still does.) A young Baez striking out wouldn’t have made for a great article but when you start to look at how the young star was viewed by the front office during a pretty rough start to his career, it got pretty interesting.
Cubs President of Baseball Operations, Theo Epstein, shared his viewpoint of an exciting but struggling young player.
“He can do as much damage as anyone in the game if he’s patient and can get a pitch to drive and not do too much and use the whole field.”
We saw what Baez can do today when he uses the “whole field” when he blasted his career-high 23rd home run to the opposite field. If you look at where his home runs have been hit this year, it’s pretty impressive how balanced all the long balls are.
All of @Cubs Javier Báez home runs this season 😍😍😍 pic.twitter.com/ttfkqrQSKv
— Daren Willman (@darenw) August 3, 2018
It wasn’t power that was in question during Baez’s development — it was always plate discipline. True Cubs fans will remember anytime Baez was up to bat, all you would see were sliders low and away. Everyone (including Baez) knew it was coming and yet he couldn’t stop himself from taking the bait and swinging at it. His career K% is still relatively high but when you think about how rough it was to watch him hit compared to watching him hit now, it’s remarkable.
Point being is this — the Cubs didn’t quit on Baez when things didn’t look so hot. In that same article by Gonzalez, Theo Epstein prophetically stated what Baez could become if he stuck with the process and worked to be better than he was the previous day.
“Players need to figure it out naturally over time. That is Javy’s pattern. It takes time for that light to go on. He doesn’t back off. He’s got a strong mental makeup and will continue to fight until he does figure it out. When he does, someone is going to play. It will be fun when it happens.”
I hate to state the obvious here but I’m pretty sure the light has officially been flipped on for Javy and as Theo referenced — it’s been pretty damn fun to watch this season.
