The Javier Baez Discussion Thread

[Parade_Rain]

His back foot slides out. Please explain how that is bad.

 

[chibears55]

His back foot slides out. Please explain how that is bad.

Sliding out farther then normal

I looked back at a few of his previous AB on you tube and noticed a big difference ..

 

[chibears55]

Footing was much better that AB, solid contact on foul balls and liner to gap...

Making me wonder now if the othet approach was due to breaking balls, cause he was solid with the fast balls

 

[Parade_Rain]

The foot sliding different distances is based on pitch location and where he is getting it in the swing.

 

[chibears55]

The foot sliding different distances is based on pitch location and where he is getting it in the swing.

Yea, that why im thinking it had more to do with the breaking balls...

 

[theberserkfury]

"Of even more interest to Cubs fans, who aren’t broken up about Taveras’s struggles, is this odd-looking slash line: .189/.222/.442. It belongs to Chicago second baseman Javier Baez, another preseason top-five prospect, who capped his debut with a homer (after striking out three times), but has looked as lost in many at-bats as he has locked in during others. Baez’s next plate appearance will be his 100th in the big leagues, so in the spirit of arbitrary endpoints and the “first hundred days,” let’s review Baez’s performance to see where he’s gone wrong and what he’s done right."

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/j...trikeouts-homers-first-100-plate-appearances/

Pretty interesting look at Baez's start in the MLB...

 

[2323]

"Of even more interest to Cubs fans, who aren’t broken up about Taveras’s struggles, is this odd-looking slash line: .189/.222/.442. It belongs to Chicago second baseman Javier Baez, another preseason top-five prospect, who capped his debut with a homer (after striking out three times), but has looked as lost in many at-bats as he has locked in during others. Baez’s next plate appearance will be his 100th in the big leagues, so in the spirit of arbitrary endpoints and the “first hundred days,” let’s review Baez’s performance to see where he’s gone wrong and what he’s done right."

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/j...trikeouts-homers-first-100-plate-appearances/

Pretty interesting look at Baez's start in the MLB...

It supports what I and others have been saying for some time. He needs to be better at recognizing pitches. But as I've pointed out before, he has been rewarded for being aggressive at this point. The Cubs have largely valued what does happen when he makes contact over what doesn't happen. So, to this point, he's been incentivized to be aggressive, which might have been anyway.

It's also worth pointing out that there's a flaw in comparing him to players from the 70s and 80s. In those days there weren't as many strike outs. More emphasis was put on not striking out. During the 80s 100 strikeouts was a lot. Now it still is but it became so common place during the steroid era that people are numb to high strike out numbers. What they should have really been considering is how much of an outlier each players strikeouts were for the eras that they played in. Because it seems like the tolerance has changed.

 

[chibears55]

All I want to see from Baez and Alcantara is that their playing solid ball in the final 10 games of season and they have good momentum to carry over to next year. ..

 

[DewsSox79]

All I want to see from Baez and Alcantara is that their playing solid ball in the final 10 games of season and they have good momentum to carry over to next year. ..

there is no such thing as momentum in the situation you describe.


Sent from My 1998 Palm Pilot Using Tapatalk

 

[theberserkfury]

I hope this won't be particularly notable soon, but that's back to back games with a walk for Javy... and no strikeouts today!

I'll take whatever progress from him that I can...

 

[SilenceS]

People are getting way to down and way to up on some of these prospects. Let them play and stop changing yalls minds with every at bat. They all have flaws and the ones who adjust will make it. But, no judgements should even be thought about being made until they play one full season of ball. Baez is going to get extremely hot at some point then everyone will praise him and then the league will adjust again and he will have to adjust again. Its a process.

 

[czman]

Even the best prospects are going to struggle. Trout struggled this season a bit and Puig is struggling right now.

Players don't hit their prime until 27-29, and the Cubs prospects are not in that range. Rizzo struggled last season and played very well this season. I fully expect that it will take ~2 full seasons before we really see what any of these guys can do. Some of them may not get the change to adjust. Some of them will be given greater chances.

I don't know if Baez is going to make it or not, but right now he looks lost far to often to feel good about. I suspect he has major adjustments to make in the way he approaches at bats. Only time will tell if he can make them. I fully expect him to struggle next season too for long stretches.

Inherently though this is the problem with putting so much emphasis on young players. Fans are so tired of losing that they look at young players as saviors, when they should be looked at as projects who will need time (seasons) to adjust to the ML level. I know no one wants to hear patience after being told to be patient for years, but the truth is the Cubs will probably need 2-3 more seasons of seasoning for the young players before they really become a threat.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Anyone who doesn't expect it to take a few seasons doesn't understand the game well enough to have an opinion. I've even posted direct quotes from MLB scouts discussing this very thing and how it really takes 3 years.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Inherently though this is the problem with putting so much emphasis on young players. Fans are so tired of losing that they look at young players as saviors, when they should be looked at as projects who will need time (seasons) to adjust to the ML level. I know no one wants to hear patience after being told to be patient for years, but the truth is the Cubs will probably need 2-3 more seasons of seasoning for the young players before they really become a threat.

They are playing .500 ball since May something. Why will they need 3 seasons to be a threat for a decent playoff run?

 

[czman]

They are playing .500 ball since May something. Why will they need 3 seasons to be a threat for a decent playoff run?

Playing 500 ball when you are a dozen games down and in last place is different than playing in a pennant race. There are 4 teams ahead of the Cubs in their division. The Cubs are 12.5 back. How many really young teams do you see go on runs deep into the playoffs, not a lot. Just look at the nationals. They were favorites to win the WS and laid an egg last season. yes they are better now, but they went through that first.

I fully expect the league to adjust to the pitchers the Cubs have been depending on. Wood may bounce back, but the Cubs still need 2 pitchers and 2 table setters, ~350 OBP guys.

Also Soler will go through growing pains at some point. Who knows who else will struggle, but some players will.

I just don't understand why people think that a team full of sub 26 year olds is going to take the league by storm. Kind of unrealistic.

 

[sulleymon]

Your views are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

 

[sulleymon]

But seriously, that is about as dumb of a serious post as I've ever seen. Two .350 OBI "table setters"? Uh, how about the Cubs just fill their lineup with young guys who mash the ball all over the place and leave the table setting for the butler?

Barring injury and assuming Bryant is up all year and subject to "growing pains", even without a major pitching acquisition, I'd be surprised if the Cubs didn't take the division running away.

 

[brett05]

But seriously, that is about as dumb of a serious post as I've ever seen. Two .350 OBI "table setters"? Uh, how about the Cubs just fill their lineup with young guys who mash the ball all over the place and leave the table setting for the butler?

Barring injury and assuming Bryant is up all year and subject to "growing pains", even without a major pitching acquisition, I'd be surprised if the Cubs didn't take the division running away.

:lol:

 

[sulleymon]

I'll assume you have something meatballish to add

 

[Parade_Rain]

Playing 500 ball when you are a dozen games down and in last place is different than playing in a pennant race. There are 4 teams ahead of the Cubs in their division. The Cubs are 12.5 back. How many really young teams do you see go on runs deep into the playoffs, not a lot. Just look at the nationals. They were favorites to win the WS and laid an egg last season. yes they are better now, but they went through that first.

I fully expect the league to adjust to the pitchers the Cubs have been depending on. Wood may bounce back, but the Cubs still need 2 pitchers and 2 table setters, ~350 OBP guys.

Also Soler will go through growing pains at some point. Who knows who else will struggle, but some players will.

I just don't understand why people think that a team full of sub 26 year olds is going to take the league by storm. Kind of unrealistic.

The division is not as strong as it once was. Additionally, while the young players have struggles, they don't all struggle at the same time. It would take some extraordinary circumstances for them not to be better than Barney/Olt/Lake/Jackson/Veras next season. That puts them in the playoff hunt. Note: I said "hunt", not "taking the league by storm."