Baez in hunt for NL MVP award

CHICAGO — Last weekend’s MVP chants at Wrigley Field for Javier Baez reflects how popular the Chicago Cubs star has become since coming up to the majors four years ago.

It’s easy to forget Baez was the most hyped member of the original Core Four prospects, only to be bypassed by Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Addison Russell and others on the hype-o-meter.

“It’s completely blown out of proportion,” Jake Arrieta told me before Baez’s debut in 2014 at Coors Field in Denver. “He’s an extremely good player. I would just like to see him come up here and let him play. The outside expectations are going to be elevated because of his status, which the media doesn’t care about though it’s unfair to him.

“He’s going to put up good numbers. He’s going to be a good player for us. Just let him go out there and let his ability shine. That’s the most important thing.”

Baez hit a game-winning solo home run in his major league debut, but never found a rhythm, hitting .169 with 95 strikeouts in 213 at-bats. He began 2015 back in the minor leagues, where the tragic loss of his sister, Noely, at the age of 21, and a broken hand early in the season combined to stall his development.

After being called up in September, Baez gradually began to improve offensively, having ditched his leg kick and staying more in control in the box. He was still a free-swinger, but had reined it in.

By 2016 Baez had what Theo Epstein called his “coming out party” in the Division Series against the San Francisco Giants, helping lead the Cubs to the National League Championship Series, where he was named MVP in the victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Baez finally had arrived and there was no turning back.

Now Baez is an All- Star and arguably the biggest star in a clubhouse full of them. He entered Monday’s game in Kansas City leading the National League in RBI (86) while ranking third in slugging (.585), second in extra-base hits (61) and fourth in WAR (4.6). He’s also one of the better fielding second baseman, has 19 steals and has made the “swim” move as popular as a Chicago-style hot dog.

But is the MVP talk real, or just local media hype?

According to the Las Vegas gambling site bovada.lv, Baez has the fourth-best odds to win the NL MVP award at 4/1, behind Nolan Arenado (11/4), Freddie Freeman (13/4) and Paul Goldschmidt (7/2). Only a month ago, Baez was off the board, so his quick rise up the charts was unexpected.

But Baez’s ultra-aggressive play has its drawbacks. On Sunday he attempted to steal third in the fifth inning with two outs, and though he was called safe the call was overturned on a challenge, ending the inning. Manager Joe Maddon questioned the decision to steal, even as he pointed out Baez beat the throw and was tagged out when he briefly came off the base.

While Baez downplayed the MVP talk, he can’t completely shut it out. So was he trying to do too much in that inning because of the MVP chants and the recent conversation about his chances?

“No,” Maddon said. “I haven’t seen anything different. He’s done that play before. And like I said, he was safe, but technology caught us today. I’m betting he was thinking on that level of the next pitch being in the dirt [and scoring from third]. I don’t know that, but that was my thought. I will speak to him about that. But no, Javy just plays one game.”

The Cubs don’t want Baez to change one bit, and neither do fans. Starter Jon Lester said Baez’s mistakes have to be put in a different context because of all the positive things he makes happen on the field.

“Jav is Jav,” Lester said. “So you’re going to expect a lot out of him. Now we’ve all kind of seen him and what he’s turned into as a baseball player. I think the expectation now is to see him kind of put us on his back. He’s fun to watch. With all the good things he does, you have to sometimes take the minor, minor bad things he does and move on.

“I’ll always expect being aggressive over passive any day. That’s him as a player and that’s him as a person. So never question what he does on a baseball field.”

Baez is going to make more mistakes, but he’ll also have some eye-popping moments that excite fans and add to his reputation as one of the game’s more electric players. Whether that’s enough to capture the MVP award remains to be seen, but the fact he’s in the conversation says a lot about how far Baez has climbed since being sent back to Iowa in 2015.

“We’ll see in the offseason what I get for this season,” he said Friday.

But for the next 50 games, Baez will remain in the national spotlight, like Arenado, Freeman and Goldschmidt, competing for an award some of the game’s greatest players never achieved — while the Cubs make another bid for October.

Can Javy being Javy lead to an MVP award?

We’re about to find out.