Chicago Cubs: Why everyone should love Javier Baez
3. He plays his way, and he doesn’t care what you think about it
Sure, not everything Baez does is necessarily the best example for the younger generations watching him. Even he would admit that.
With that said, I do hope that every kid who does look up to Baez grows up to play baseball with the same passion and fun-loving nature that he does. And I also hope that his mentality, for the most part, eventually becomes the norm rather than the exception.
Enough with people complaining about his bat flips and carefree attitude. And enough with being mad that he has the gumption to play a cat-and-mouse game with people trying to steal signs.
Javy and DJ play cat-and-mouse | #EverybodyIn
— Hooked Sports Chicago (@HookedSportsChi) April 23, 2018
From today’s #Cubs win, Javy Baez repeatedly blocks #Rockies 2B DJ Lemahieu’s vision of Cubs signs.
Lemahieu had every right to steal signs, and Baez had every right to block him. https://t.co/9uUBDPnZF9
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Why should borderline cheating be hailed as “part of the game” but Baez intervening can’t be tolerated? Or the conversation immediately turns to Baez flipping bats because another more reasonable argument can’t be made?
Baseball minds around the league can’t seem to accept his challenging their perceptions of what the game is, and that’s not his fault.
Not that he cares in the first place, of course.
Baez is who he is, and who he is and how he plays is great for baseball, in my eyes. This game needs to allow its stars to be stars, to shine a little bit because of who they are and not just for how they play.
Baseball’s supposed to be a kid’s game, right? Then why do so many of the adults playing, talking or writing about it not want to see anyone enjoy the game like a kid?
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Yeah, Baez shouldn’t toss the bat sky-high when he pops out. And he should run harder out of the box sometimes, which has cost him before. Those are actual teachable moments.
But I don’t want to see Baez ever change his overall attitude in terms of how he approaches the game and how he enjoys it. Baseball needs more of that. And I think he realizes it.