Another Day, Another Set of Javier Baez Homers and Other Bullets

javier baez bombIt’s Selection Sunday, for any of you who are into college basketball. I used to follow the sport much more closely, until it was sacrificed on the altar of having a young kid (and then a second). Now I’ll probably watch a little of the tournament, pull for a cinderella or two, accidentally say “cinderella” out loud, and then be forced to put on the Disney movie for The Little Girl.

  • For those who couldn’t watch Cubs/Royals yesterday on WGN, and/or didn’t catch the replay on MLBN this morning, you can see Javier Baez’s two homers here, and then you can see them in a view from the stands, courtesy of BN’er Coach K:
  • Dale Sveum on Baez’s ridiculous stretch of four homers in two games, and three on three straight pitches (per Cubs.com): “The last week, it seemed like he turned into a different kid, the way he went about things, his at-bats. I think that inner cockiness will always be something that’s a huge asset for any good player. People who play in the big leagues, there’s always an edge to them, one way or the other. He’s got that edge. He wants to be that guy. I think he got comfortable as big league camp went on in the environment and with the guys. We all know it’s there.”
  • Baez, himself, on his amazing stretch (per the Tribune): “I’m seeing the ball pretty good and hitting the ball hard. I just like [swinging at] the first fastball I see. Sometimes I miss it, sometimes I hit it.” Advice to pitchers: never throw Baez a fastball. Ever. Well, also don’t throw him sliders, because he hits those out of the park, too.
  • Despite the theatrics, Baez, together with Jorge Soler and Christian Villanueva (at a minimum), will be cut from big league Spring camp tomorrow. According to the Cubs’ transaction log, Soler and Villanueva have already technically been cut (which doesn’t mean they won’t still be playing with the big club, as we saw yesterday). I suspect we’ll see a more formal announcement tomorrow with a larger group of players.
  • David DeJesus has worked with Dale Sveum and hitting coach James Rowson (seriously, the Cubs have three hitting coaches right now, when you add in assistant hitting coach Rob Deer – that’s all gotta help) on subtle changes in his approach, which have shown this Spring. He’s thinking we’re going to see better performance this year (not that he was bad last year).
  • A reminder: If you’ve been wanting to get a BN shirt for the upcoming season, there’s a special deal going on now through March 22 – basically, if you order any two or more products, you get free shipping. Use “EASTER2013″ as your coupon code when you check out.
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    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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