Fate and circumstance can be cruel. That is true in life, and it is true in baseball. Even those blessed with can’t-miss talent end up missing, for one reason or another. For Mark Prior it was injuries. Same with Jurickson Profar. Anyone remember Matt Bush? (You’ll find his place among other notable busts here.)
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The Cubs have the most ballyhooed farm system in baseball with several “can’t-miss” prospects. Two of them, Kris Bryant and Addison Russell, have made it to the majors. With others rapidly climbing the minors, the future is closer than previously thought.
The farm may have its first major casualty in Javier Baez.
A few misses were to be expected from the Cubs’ horde of high-ceiling hitters. Baez isn’t the first prospect to put up underwhelming numbers; infielders Mike Olt and Arismendy Alcantara haven’t exactly been All-Stars. Not all of them were expected to make the majors, which is why the Cubs find themselves in such enviable circumstances: since the franchise has so many quality prospects, the odds are good several of them end up in the big league lineup.
But Baez wasn’t one of the ones who were expected to fall short. Baez was billed as baseball’s reincarnation of Gary Sheffield, with his bat wiggle and lashing swing that generated remarkable pop. He hit 76 home runs in 319 games as a minor leaguer from 2011 to 2014. He slugged .545. He hit balls onto Waveland Avenue…
He also struck out a lot; 95 times in only 213 at bats in the majors last season; also in 2014, 130 times in 104 games at Triple-A Iowa; 147 times in 130 games between two levels in 2013. His struggles, which continued this Spring Training, forced the Cubs to send him to the minors to start this season—he hasn’t played yet, as he’s been on the bereavement list.
With Russell’s promotion Tuesday, where he played second base, Baez’s future in the majors, at least as a Cub, just got much bleaker. The Cubs now have the best young infield in the game, and there is no place to put Baez. Nobody is going to supplant Anthony Rizzo at first, Castro is at shortstop—where Russell will presumably play in the future—Russell has second base to himself since Alcantara and Jonathan Herrera haven’t been productive, and Bryant is at third.
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Of course, space could open up for Baez. If Bryant gets moved to left field, Russell would most likely move to third, leaving a hole at second. The Cubs could also try to move Castro, either to a different position or a different team, so that Russell can play short. Baez could move to the outfield, but that puts him in future competition with Kyle Schwarber, Albert Almora, Alcantara and Billy McKinney.
He could also be traded in a package for a starting pitcher—Cole Hamels, anyone?—but none of that matters if Baez can’t find a way to put the ball in play more frequently. It would be a shame to watch a hitter with this much potential come short. The Cubs are hurdling like a 95-mph fastball to the top of the NL Central, and Baez is running out of strikes.
All stats are from Baseball-Reference.com