How Báez battled fame to refocus on his craft originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
It felt to Javier Báez like people didn’t see him as a baseball player anymore.
The Cubs had just won the 2016 World Series, in Báez’s first season of over 100 big-league games. Suddenly the 23-year-old was a bona fide star. And requests were coming in from all directions.
“I kind of got away from baseball, mentally away from baseball,” Báez said in a Zoom press conference Friday. “Because all this stuff that we did had the fans, people, family see me in different ways. See me as an actor, as a rapper, as something.”
As anything but a ball player.
“Our hunger kind of slowed down,” Báez said. “And (now) I can feel it coming back up. Everyone wants to do good and make whoever’s next to you better.”
That’s good news for a Cubs offense counting on players like Báez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo to recapture their success from before the pandemic. Báez isn’t saying that the Cubs took winning for granted after the World Series. But he is saying he’s sharpened his focus in recent years.
Báez will be the first to admit he struggled at the plate in 2020. In a shortened season with limited at-bats, no in-game video and no fans, his batting average dropped to .203. The dip was especially dramatic with Báez coming off two consecutive All-Star appearances and a second-place 2018 MVP finish.
“These past two years – which, last year was bad for me – I was into it,” Báez said. “I was into baseball, and that’s why it was so frustrating.”
On the mental side of the game, he’d come far since 2017.
Little could prepare Cubs players five years ago for the reception they’d receive after breaking a century-long curse.
David Ross, now the Cubs manager, was a backup catcher on that championship team. “Grandpa Rossy” gained a cult following. Days after winning the World Series and entering retirement, Ross appeared on Saturday Night Live with teammates Dexter Fowler and Anthony Rizzo. Ross then joined the next season of Dancing with the Stars.
“I was a terrible player and got all that fame,” Ross said. “… You’re a rock star when you walk around Chicago. You’ve got a lot of people pulling at you a lot of different ways. And there’s even a maturity level that I feel like I had – that felt overwhelming at times, and I didn’t have to play baseball anymore.”
Báez, on the other hand, was bathed in the spotlight after sharing the 2016 NLCS MVP award with Jon Lester. The young infielder’s individual post-championship obligations included ESPN’s Body Issue. And Báez was still playing baseball.
“I wasn’t into baseball, I wasn’t trying to get better every day,” Báez said of the next season. “I was playing because of my talent.”
His talent got him farther than most. In 2017, Báez maintained his batting average from the year before (.273) while improving his on-base percentage (.317) and slugging percentage (.480). But his bat quieted in the playoffs, and the Cubs lost the NL Championship Series to the Dodgers in five games.
The Cubs’ postseason performance only declined in the following years. But Báez established himself as one of the best shortstops in the game.
“I think there’s just been a maturation process that has gone on each and every year, a learning of himself,” Ross said. “… He’s kind of run the gamut in different aspects of what type of player he’s been – as far as tons of success, and struggles as well.”
This year, Ross is anticipating more of the former. Major League Baseball is moving forward with a full 162-game schedule. Fans are expected back in ballparks, at least at partial capacity for part of the season. Unlike last year, the new MLB operations manual allows in-game video (outside of video terminals and in a format that cannot be used to steal signs).
Plus, according to Báez, he’s as locked in as ever.
“Now that I’m into it again,” Báez said, “and I know that we’re going to struggle but at the same time we’ve got to get better and make adjustments – I’ve got more comfort in me, and I’m letting the game teach me what I can do.”
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