Javier Baez was one of the prospects called up by the Chicago Cubs this week when rosters expanded to 40. Baez has a pretty simple rep as a player – he strikes out a lot, and he’s got ridiculous power.
So when he came up in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s Reds-Cubs game against Aroldis Chapman, with Chicago down 7-4 and two men on base, it seemed pretty obvious that he’d be swinging for the seats.
But Baez took that to a whole new level when Chapman delivered his 3-1 pitch.
Yup – he breezed right through that 99 mph fastball and fell in the batter’s box like he had slipped on ice.
If Baez actually made contact there, he might have destroyed one of those fancy new scoreboards at Wrigley.
Baez would ground into a fielder’s choice on the next pitch before Dexter Fowler struck out to end the game.
