Childhood friends Lindor, Baez reunite on opposite sides of the Series,
Puerto Rican pals can’t wait to meet on biggest stage
Francisco Lindor and Javier Baez have known each other for years, going back to their childhood in Puerto Rico. They played for opposite teams in a much-celebrated high school game in Florida and have stayed in touch, even sharing a family Thanksgiving dinner together two years ago.
So shortly after Baez helped the Chicago Cubs reach their first World Series since 1945, winning co-MVP honors in the National League Championship Series along the way, he contacted his buddy.
For the first time since their senior year in high school, they would share the field again, this time as opponents in the World Series.
Lindor’s Cleveland Indians, seeking to end a multiple-decade championship drought of their own, had made it to baseball’s crowning event with their nonpareil shortstop driving in the decisive runs in their first two wins of the American League Championship Series.
“After they won, he texted me saying, ‘Is this a dream?’ ” Lindor said Monday, on the eve of the 112th World Series. “I said, ‘I think so. I haven’t woken up yet. I don’t want to wake up. I’m living my dream. You should keep doing the same.’
“Two shortstops from Puerto Rico, (drafted) eight and nine, playing the World Series against each other. It’s insane, man. To me it’s a blessing. It’s an honor.”
And perhaps inevitable. After all, Lindor and Baez have been living parallel lives for more than a decade. They grew up 15 miles apart, hearing about each other’s baseball exploits as kids. They both moved stateside at 12 for similar reasons, developed as players in Florida and were chosen one after the other in the 2011 draft.
“It’s unbelievable to play against him,” said Baez, 23. “I’m really close to him and his family. He knows my family, and we talk during the season, too. ... I look at him like myself.
“He does some of the crazy stuff that I would do.”
Crazy as in stunningly athletic, making the kind of plays that leave baseball observers agape. Baez, used as a utility man during the season but mostly as a second baseman in the playoffs, put on a defensive clinic during the first two rounds.
He frustrated the San Francisco Giants with his ability to go deep behind second base to snag grounders and turn singles into outs and then amazed the Los Angeles Dodgers, once by run- ning in from short right field to defend a bunt and another time by converting a 4-3 double play with remarkable body control.
Baez also twice started double plays by alertly letting liners hit the ground just before catching them on a short hop and nabbing frozen runners off base.
“He’s the most natural baseball player I’ve ever seen play the game,” said Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks, who benefited from Baez’s glove work in winning Game 6 of the NLCS. “His instincts in the game are just top-notch.”
Lindor, who finished second in the 2015 AL rookie of the year race, is the odds-on favorite to win the Gold Glove at shortstop after leading all league players with 27.8 defensive runs saved this past season. He committed 12 errors in 155 games, making the routine plays almost as frequently as the spectacular ones.
“His maturity mixed with his athleticism has amazed me at times. How easy he makes some plays look,” second baseman Jason Kipnis said. “His fluidity in his motions and movements make it so much easier to make plays. I’m like, ‘OK, I need to start stretching more or do more, because I don’t look like that at all.’ ”
By shining amid the intense glare of the playoffs, Lindor, 22, and Baez have shown exceptional fearlessness. Before getting to this point, though, they had to endure moments of dread and uncertainty that forced them to grow up in a hurry.
Baez was 12 when his father, Angel Luis, died from a head wound incurred in a fall at home. Seeking better health care for his sister, Noely, who was born with spina bifida, the family moved to North Carolina, then to Jackson- ville, where Baez became a hot baseball prospect at Arlington Country Day School.
Around the same time, Lindor’s family moved to Orlando, partly out of a desire to find better medical services for his then-9-year-old stepsister, who has cerebral palsy.
After overcoming his homesickness and learning English, he became a star at Montverde Academy, a prep school outside Orlando.
He and Baez played travel ball together, and in February 2011 they faced each other in a high school game attended by more than 100 baseball officials intent on getting a firsthand look at two of that year’s top seniors.
“I remember that game,” Lindor said with his ever-present smile. “I remember looking around and watching his BP and how he carried himself and thinking, ‘Wow, he’s going to be good.’ ”
Indeed, Baez thrived in the minors, banging out a total of 37 homers and driving in 111 runs in Class A and Class AA in 2013. But he found that his overeager approach and huge swing got exploited in the majors.
Baez struck out in 41.5% of his plate appearances as a rookie in 2014 and 30% the next season, when he missed extended time while recovering from a broken finger and mourning the loss of Noely, who died at 21 in April 2015.
With Addison Russell anchored at shortstop, Kris Bryant at third and newcomer Ben Zobrist initially at second, the Cubs turned Baez into a multipurpose player, and he became probably their best defender at all three positions. He’s even drawing comparisons to Hall of Fame second baseman Roberto Alomar, a fellow Puerto Rican.
At the plate, Baez has tempered his attacking style, cutting down his strikeouts to 24% and batting .273 with 14 homers and 59 RBI in 142 games.
Lindor was expected to be an outstanding defender from the start. His bat has been a revelation. He proved his .313 batting average from his rookie season was no fluke, hitting .301 with 15 homers and 78 RBI while earning All-Star honors this year.
Now he’s on the game’s grandest stage, with his pal alongside him.
“I’m super excited to be able to play against him,” Lindor said. “I’m eager to say hello and give him a hug.”
Just don’t wake him up.