I made the trek to beautiful Elk Grove Village this morning to cover Javier Baez’s Baseball Pro Camp. This is the third Pro Camp that I’ve covered, (the first two being Dexter Fowler’s and Anthony Rizzo’s) and much like the first two camps, Baez’s camp was full of excited kids jacked up on sugar ready to meet their favorite Cubs player.
The camp drew over 500 youngsters from first through eighth grade who spent the day rotating stations perfecting a different baseball skill at each stop. It was close to 245 degrees out so as I pulled into the parking lot, I was surprised at the amount of dedicated parents who cooked in the bleachers while their sons and daughters tried to avoid heat stroke fielding grounders throughout the day.
The kids were broken up into “teams” as the camp got underway and the first part of the camp was getting their team picture with the man of the hour, Javier Baez. Javy had to of taken about fifty pictures with every single team in the camp and he also made it a point to shake as many of the kids hands that he could.
Javy loves the kids. #ProCamp pic.twitter.com/DIYZQO0oa6
— Adam Nissen (@nissen54) July 2, 2018
Following the team pictures, Javy walked around to each station to speak with individual campers and give them some tips about the fundamentals of baseball. At the pitching station, a camper asked Javy if he’s ever pitched before to which he replied,
“I tried but I wasn’t very good at it.”
What Baez IS good at however, is playing infield for the Chicago Cubs. At the ground ball station, Baez gave the campers some golden advice on how to take ground balls the only way he knows how.
Who better to learn infield tips from then the man himself?! #Cubs #ElMago #ProCamp pic.twitter.com/OjX5GCKpqL
— Adam Nissen (@nissen54) July 2, 2018
Javy later met with the media for about 20 minutes and shared his thoughts on how the day was going and was pretty amused at some of the questions the kids were firing at him throughout the day. I overheard a camper ask him who the toughest pitcher he’s ever faced was and after a slight pause, stated,
“Chapman.”
Here are some of the other questions Baez was peppered with today.
The toughest media will forever be kids with no filter 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/BNQZUxYbUn
— Adam Nissen (@nissen54) July 2, 2018
As he walked out of the media session, a reporter jokingly told Baez to “get some rest” since he’s a new father to a newborn baby and Javy laughed and replied, “I’ll try.”
Here are some other pictures from the day.
Thanks to ProCamps for having me out and thanks to Javy and his PR team for spending his off day with youngsters from the Chicagoland area.
