Baez is on verge of free agency — and a big payday
As the ground ball rocketed off the bat at 104.7 mph toward the hole, Chicago Cubs shortstop Javier Baez took three quick steps to his right.
In nearly one motion, Baez backhanded the baseball as it skipped off the left-field grass, turned and fired a bullet to first baseman Anthony Rizzo, beating the runner by three steps. Baez looked smooth on the run-saving play that stranded a runner on third to end the fifth inning in Saturday’s win against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field.
Baez, 28, can make extraordinary plays appear routine. His prodigious power, quick hands, Gold Glove defense and instinctive style of play have transformed him into one of the best shortstops in baseball.
“When you make a play and the fans go crazy, that’s a feeling that you can’t describe,” Baez told the Tribune during a conversation last month. “Obviously you play to win and to hit the ball well, but for me, everybody recognizes me for my defense. I need the sound of the fans and emotion to play out there.”
A two-time All-Star with an MVP runner-up season to his name and coming off his first Gold Glove award, Baez has positioned himself for a big payday. The impending free agent will be part of a stacked group of shortstops that includes Trevor Story, Corey Seager and Carlos Correa. New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor was going to be part of that group before agreeing to a 10-year, $341 million contract Wednesday to stay with the organization.
“I love Chicago, I love the fans, I don’t like the cold weather,” Baez said with a laugh. “But obviously, I would love to stay here for my whole career, if it’s possible . ... Every player that comes through here, they see it’s different here and they love it.”
Talent alone hasn’t gotten
Baez to this point in his career. His maturation over parts of eight big-league seasons with the Cubs has been part of the journey. In the process, he has experienced individual and team success, a World Series title sparking his rise to stardom. Baez’s No. 9 Cubs jersey was the 11th most popular among all players in the past year, according to MLB. No other Cub was in the top 20.
On the verge of free agency, Baez is one of the most dynamic players in the game. But his path to this point, beginning with the Cubs’ belief that he could be something special when they drafted him, hasn’t been without challenges.
Baez wasn’t a can’t-miss prospect when the Cubs selected him out of Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, Fla., with the ninth pick in the 2011 MLB draft. His electric power and bat speed translated to first-round talent, but his plate discipline raised concerns about how he would develop as a hitter when facing tougher minorleague pitchers. Defensively, there were questions about whether he would have the range to stick at shortstop.
Tim Wilken, then the Cubs director of amateur scouting, saw Baez for his upside rather than the risks that came with his potential flaws.
“(Baez) had this real wild but huge swing and monster power, great arm, and there were a lot of things he did very well,” Wilken told the Tribune last week. “But I don’t think the scouting community really knew how good of a baseball player Javy was and I don’t think he ever got the credit for it because he had some tools that were eye-opening.”
About 10 days before the 2011 draft, Wilken knew he wanted to pick Baez. A mammoth home run in the Athletic Coaches Association All-Star Game in Sebring, Fla., and a brief conversation he had with Baez afterward sealed the decision.
“I’m in, we’re going to take this guy,” Wilken recalled telling Tom Clark, the Cubs’ northeast area scout.
Wilken knew there might be doubters outside the organization. However, he felt any perceptions that Baez had a gunslinger style of play were unfair. Clark’s understanding of Baez and his Puerto Rican background made Wilken feel it wasn’t a risky pick.
Clark was previously the head coach at Lake City Community College in Florida, where he worked with numerous Puerto Rican players. His experience coaching them, including Cleveland Indians catcher Roberto Perez, helped Clark — and by extension the Cubs — understand Baez’s shy and quiet off-the-field personality.
“Under that fire and everything, there’s a calmness to his game, and I would say that helps him realize how to slow things down mentally and maybe somewhat physically,” Wilken said. “He had a penchant to play really well when it counted, and that’s not an easy read as an amateur.”
Clark first looked at Baez the summer heading into his senior year. But it was a sequence at the Double-A ballpark in Jacksonville during Baez’s senior season that convinced Clark he was a first-round talent.
During one at-bat, Baez pulled a ball so far foul that Clark estimated it might have cleared the roof down the third-base line. When it progressed to a two-strike count, Baez drove the ball to left-center. In that moment, Clark saw Baez possess an important ability to make adjustments.
“He fielded a ball up the middle and then he spun to make the throw to first — when most guys do that, you go, ‘There was no reason to do that,’ “Clark said. “But when you watched him do it, it made perfect sense for where he fielded that ball. So he’s always had great instincts. He’s always had supreme confidence, off-the-charts confidence in his abilities, but he can back it up.”