Baez’s value to Cubs? Call it the price of Gold

SHARE Baez’s value to Cubs? Call it the price of Gold
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CINCINNATI – Anyone who still believes the Cubs will shop Javy Baez for pitching near the trade deadline hasn’t been watching very closely what the young infielder has done for the team with the best record in baseball this season.

Especially in the field the past week. Or at the plate the last two games.

Baez left his fingerprints all over the Cubs’ three-game sweep of the last-place Reds this week, not to mention his face print on the infield grass at Great American Ball Park on Wednesday.

After delivering his first career grand slam in the 15th inning of Tuesday’s marathon victory, Baez just missed another homer in his first at-bat Wednesday, before finishing a 3-for-5 afternoon in Wednesday’s 9-2 victory.

But it was what he did in the field at second base that defined his performance on this day, as it has much of the season at points all across the diamond.

“He’s got the best baseball instincts I’ve ever seen,” starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks (6-6) said. “That play he made [Wednesday] was unbelievable, and he makes them at all different positions.

“He’s a huge piece of this team.”

With Joey Votto on first base in the fifth on Wednesday, Baez fielded a roller from Jay Bruce in the base path, swipe-tagged Votto just before the runner got out of reach, and then spun clockwise to throw to first as he fell. He got Bruce by a half step to end the inning and landed face-first on the grass, where he lay for a few seconds for dramatic effect.

“Reaction, man,” Baez said. “I don’t know.”

“It’s Javy Baez,” pitcher Carl Edwards Jr. said matter-of-factly as if reporting the current temperature. “You always expect something spectacular from him.”

As the Cubs head to New York to face the Mets on the final leg of a three-city trip, Baez already owns three of the best four fielding plays the Cubs have made during the first seven games – at two different positions.

That included a dive to his left from third base that knocked a hot shot into the air, where he grabbed it barehanded while on his back and threw from the ground to apparently get the out at first (which was overturned on a replay challenge). The next day, playing third, he dived face first into the seats to catch a foul pop, bruising his chin and the back of his right hand.

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“He is a Gold Glove-caliber player,” said manager Joe Maddon, who has used him at all four infield spots this season.

Baez is the best athlete on the team, ace Jake Arrieta has said more than once. A longtime scout on Wednesday said the same thing, unsolicited during a conversation about another player – adding that he’s also the team’s best shortstop.

Yet Baez remains a man without a position, moving all over the diamond as needed, waiting for the day he’ll get a chance to settle in at one position.

“Obviously, I’m trying to be the best,” Baez said. “I’m trying to get a Gold Glove. But I’m taking it day by day and trying to stay healthy, and we’ll see how it’s going to be in the future.”

“There’s still things we want to fix with him regarding just some real simple mistakes,” Maddon said, “because he definitely has a flair for the dramatic.”

Like the day in April he started what nearly turned into a 5-4-3 triple play. Or the day earlier this month, from first base, he fielded a bunt on the third-base line and whirled to make the throw to first for the out.

“As he gets older and more experienced, he’s going to stop making the routine mistake,” Maddon said, “because he can do some things that most everybody else cannot do out there.”

Maddon, who has long advocated for a utility-player spot on the All-Star ballot, likes the idea of a Gold Glove category for a play-everywhere guy like Baez.

“He definitely qualifies for that,” Maddon said.


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