Chicago Cubs: Javier Baez poised to take aim at the 40-40 club?

Joining baseball’s 40/40 club remains one of the most difficult achievements in the game today. But Chicago Cubs star Javier Baez might someday pull it off.

The exclusive 40/40 club remains one of the most impressive feats for an individual to accomplish in all of baseball. It requires a rare combination of both power and speed in order to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season.

It’s done so rarely that only four players in all of baseball history have achieved this daunting task. With that said, Javier Baez has become a superstar with the Chicago Cubs and is a player who just may have the potential to put together a 40/40 campaign.

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In Saturday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, Javier Baez hit an opposite field blast for his 28th home run of the season. In the heat of the moment, I took to twitter and boldly predicted that one day Baez would be the next member of the 40/40 club. Now, Baez is in the midst of a potential MVP season so is it possible I got a little to caught up in the magic of El Mago? Perhaps.

But then I took a step back to think about the possibility of Baez actually putting together a 40/40 season and it didn’t seem so far-fetched. He’s already eclipsed the 20/20 mark this season, becoming the first Chicago Cub to do so since Corey Patterson back in 2004. Sure, it’s still a long shot but at 25 years young, Baez is still coming into his prime and has the tools to put together such a season.

Javy features the right skill set

Baez has shown us time and time again he has the power. He swings the bat harder than anyone in the league on every pitch and is always looking to hit the long ball. His 481-foot solo home run on Thursday against the Reds should be plenty of evidence for that.

In his three seasons with the Cubs, Baez has seen an increase in home runs in each year. As I mentioned earlier, he has 28 home runs to this point, which is a new career-high, and is on pace to finish with at least 35 home runs on the year. Based on his track record and the trend he’s on at the plate he definitely has the potential to reach the 40 home run mark at some point in his career.

Now, recording 40 steals in a day and age where players don’t run nearly as much as they used to is no easy task. With that said, El Mago has tremendous instincts on the bases.

This season Baez has 21 stolen bases and has been caught six times which only gives him 27 total attempts. While that’s nothing to write home about his numbers are up significantly from last season in which he only stole 10 bases and was caught three times.

He’s been much more aggressive on the bases this season and attempted to steal 14 more times than last season. If he continues to take more chances and be aggressive on the bases, Baez has the potential to steal 40 bags in a season. He certainly has the moves and is one of the best in the game at avoiding tags with his magic-like slides.

Time for a history lesson

If Baez were to find himself in the 40/40 club at some point in his career he would find himself in elite company. Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Alfonso Soriano are the only four players in baseball history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season. Canseco was the first to set the mark back in 1988 while Soriano accomplished it most recently in 2006.

Matt Kemp nearly accomplished the milestone back in 2011 but fell one home run shy, recording 39 home runs and 40 steals. As you can see, joining the 40/40 club is something that does not happen very often.

The 30/30 club is something that happens much commonly which as I’m sure you could have guessed means a player hits 30 home runs while stealing 30 bases in a season. That has been done 60 times but hasn’t happened since Mike Trout and Ryan Braun did it back in 2012.

In franchise history, Sammy Sosa is the only Cub to reach the 30/30 mark, doing so twice. In 1993 he hit 33 home runs and stole bases 36 bases while hitting 36 home runs and stealing 34 bases in 1995.

This season Baez is coming into his prime and putting it all-together with a potential MVP season. While an MVP is certainly impressive, El Mago could be primed to someday be the fifth player in baseball history to join the prestigious 40/40 club. And that would really be a historic feat.