Can Javier Baez make the necessary adjustments to be a successful MLB player?

Javier Baez was, until the arrival of Kris Bryant, the Chicago Cubs’ most prized prospect. He mashed through virtually every level of the minors, including a monster 2013 season in which he hit 37 HRs and 111 RBI, and he caught fire in Triple-A Iowa early in 2014 so he got a well-deserved call to the big leagues only to post poor numbers across the board, generating serious doubts on whether he was going to be able to make an impact at the MLB level.

The Cubs called up Baez for an August series against the Colorado Rockies on the road, hoping he could make an impact on the team while also getting used to what it means to be a big league player. After a hot start, where he hit three home runs in his first three games, the young infielder then proceeded to struggle mightily – something they expected to happen as it has been Baez’s trend throughout his entire minor league career – and several experts were ready to discard his talents while saying he would serve best as a trade bait to land a dominant starting pitcher like Cole Hamels.

More from Chicago Cubs News

• Cubs need to walk the walk this winter after talking the talk
• Alec Mills shocked Cubs fans, baseball world with 2020 no-hitter
• Cubs: After season of adjustments, Seiya Suzuki primed for monster 2023
• Projecting the 2023 Cubs Opening Day lineup
• Cubs: 2022 season a ‘success,’ according to Tom Ricketts

During his short stint in Chicago, we all realized a few things about Baez – he can play adequate defense in the middle infield, he has the athleticism to make some highlight-reel plays on the field and he can mash the ball a long, long way. However, all of those attributes won’t serve much is Baez is unable to hit consistently or if he’s unable to get on base at all.

The numbers aren’t very encouraging. Baez struck out 95 times in and he only walked 15 times in 213 AB. His triple-slash line was a putrid .169/.227/.324, but on the bright side, he made hard contact every time he put the barrel on the ball as evidenced by his nine home runs, six doubles and several loud outs he made.

The real key to his future lies in the work Baez can put in during the offseason both in terms of conditioning and his swing, this latter aspect being the more important of the two. There’s a strong rumor that the talented second baseman will play winter ball in Puerto Rico this year and the Cubs are expected to monitor his progress closely as he surely knows what he needs to fix in order to be successful in 2015.

One thing is for certain and that’s the fact that Baez is a competitor whose dream is to reach nothing less than the stardom as an MLB player. He has all the talent, the desire and the drive to make it – but it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to make the necessary adjustments after what was a very poor showing in his first stint in the Majors.