NEWSLETTER
Crazy plays seem to follow Javy Baez on the bases. Sometimes, like when he’s stealing home with an amazing swim move, he is entirely the creator of that craziness. Other times, like last night, it just seems like his aggressiveness out there – and sometimes only his mere presence – discombobulates the opposing fielders.
In the fourth inning, Baez singled to put himself on first base. And when Baez is on base, like I said, crazy things happen. Perhaps sensing this very thing, Brewers pitcher Jhoulys Chacin wanted to do whatever he could to ensure there were no shenanigans. So he threw over to first base. Even though Baez was standing on it.
Twice.
https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1037509867475484672
Then, of course, there was Baez making an aggressive move to go first to third on a hard single to center, causing(?) Lorenzo Cain to uncork an extremely wild throw, giving Baez an opportunity to go all El Mago out there:
Making something out of nothing.
That’s @javy23baez. pic.twitter.com/nyrthWSwAQ
— MLB (@MLB) September 6, 2018
Heck, at this point, I’m just gonna credit Baez with the wild throw after he scored, which allowed Anthony Rizzo to reach third base. That’s the Javy Baez Effect.
Even the Brewers’ broadcasters last night were talking about how Baez being on the bases impacts the way the pitcher is working out there, and the amount of thinking the fielders have to do. Baez told Cubs.com something similar:Â “I think [fielders] do [hurry up] because they know I’m not afraid to take another bag. When they speed up, they make some errors.”
He is special in ways both calculable and incalculable.
