Will Javy ever bounce back?

As a cubs fan I can't even put it into words how cool this guy was to watch. I wish you success wherever you go, Javy. I hope that you figure out your mechanics soon and give us all the grand old El mago show ❤️

Looks like he has gained about 30 pounds since he signed with the Tigers. I don't think he even cares anymore.

You forgot to mention when he stole home in the 2016 NLCS! An unforgettable moment for me and very characteristic of Javy's all or nothing style that made him so interesting to watch and also likely led to his downfall.

Being a Chicagoan, I think Wrigley Field for right handed hitters needs to be looked at in a similar vein of Coors Field or Yankee Stadium for lefties. While Wrigley is super deep down the lines due a weird fence line, the right field power alley is high school ball level short at 368. The deepest part of center at 400 feet is also fairly far to the right field side of center meaning you only have to carry a ball about 390 feet to dead center with the basket. In the summer the wind is always blowing out and with a short height of a stadium, wind comes into play a lot more. Javy, while he did have a fair share of Waveland bombs, did hit a ton that landed in the basket that would be outs in other stadiums and considering the stadium he plays in now, it's not surprising his numbers have fallen drastically.

Really like the channel bro. Just wanted to point out that barrel % isn’t actually based on hitting the ball on the barrel. A “barrel” in this context means contact with an exit velo and launch angle that produces a minimum xBA of .500 and xSlug of 1.500.

You are spot on in the video As a Puerto Rican Cub fan who lives in Chicago, Javy meant alot to us. We even named a street after him. Awesome defensively. Our hitting coach was Chili Davis in 2018, who did wonders with Javy. Why we let him go is beyond me.

You should do a video on marcells downfall he’s batting a impressive.085 this year 😂

As a Baez fan this is a sad reality. I hope he can turn it around. Love that my Cubs are doing good but was hoping Javy was on top too

As a Cubs fan who had endured nearly half of the 107 years between championships, it was kind of a given that players traded FROM the Cubs would go on to enjoy superb careers away from the Friendly Confines (most famously, Brock for Broglio). Seems to me that changed when the Ricketts family got rid of much of the 2016 championship team as they were on the decline. A definite rarity for the Cubs to get better after getting rid of their core. As with Baez, Rizzo has been no great shakes in NY and Bryant isn't at that greatness threshold he was in Chicago (though still a plus player). Go Cubs, Go! Cheers....

Just a reminder as everyone piles on Baez…that baseball is hard af.

I hope that Javy is able to come back, and do an outstanding job, as a ballplayer.

Loved him & really rooted hard for him, as he was coming up through the system. Sad to see his demise

I will admit that the only frustration I had with him was his propensity to swing at balls so low and away that they would have been behind Rizzo's ankles, had Rizzo been standing in his normal spot in the opposite batter's box. However, he brought plenty of excitement with his clutch hitting (which made one wonder why he couldn't always do that,) his fielding, his snap tags for outs that no one else would have even come close on, and let's not forget his ability to avoid a tag. He could steal second, third, and home without the batter even lifting the bat off of his shoulder. I believe he is just trying too hard to earn his big contract. If he will just forget about that, Tiger fans will see him as the exciting and plus player that he really is, even if he has never developed plate discipline and developed an occasional case of Castroitus.

Hes got the bag. Hes been done ever since he got traded from the Cubs. Hundreds of former baseball players have said its hard to stay motivated when your team sucks. Javy needs inspiration and aspiration and he will produce, but Detroit only knows losing.

Hopefuls Javy bounces back, I think he should work on his plate discipline since this seems to be one of his main problems. Maybe he needs to change his game because he can’t play like he used to. I’m sure it happens to a lot of players. He probably should’ve worked on that more during the minor leagues because it helps players continue playing better into their older years.

He just did a comeback, in the las 15 games his avg is .315, 10 RBI, 17 hits & .783 ops 🤷🏻‍♂️he doesn’t wanna play with Detroit tho

I remember Gary V trying to hype this dude beyond belief and claiming he didn’t own any of his graded cards.

Man when he homered off of that Rockies player after they hit Kris Bryant in the head for the second time… chills I still remember the stare down. Gotta love el mago

i hope baez has a comeback year in 2023 growing up he was my favorite player no one else cared about him but all i could think about what his glove his flashy slides and his swing

i never thought of baez as a star but as a dude that had a couple good seasons.

Being from the Chi....I have watched Baez since he was drafted. Amazing talent and athlete, but he has always perplexed me at the crap he swing at. Steve Wonder would hold off on some of the pitches he swings at. It like he is the Ricky Vaughn on the offense side of the ball. Maybe some glasses would help.

Im a cubs fan living in michigan right now so i hear a lot of slander on his name but no matter what they say about him, i will forever remember him as a star that help led the cubs to a world series which man people never got to witness. I was clearly a strikeout machine his entire year so paying him that highly was clearly a huge gamble by the tiger's front office and they got burnt.

Love your videos, just hope, you go a little bit more in depth as far as your personal opinion of the player specially controversial ones. But yet again awesome job. Subscribed

Has anyone been watching since this video was posted? Javy’s been killing it

His homer off Ceuto in the series against the Giants in 2016 is one of my favorite memories as a Cubs fan and baseball fan. Really hope he turns it around.

I think seeing his championship club get broken up and traded away had affected what would’ve likely been just a regular slump. I mean he did have that killer, once in a life-time-time play where he lured the Pirates 1st baseman to chase him back to home plate and let a run score then end up on 2nd base just a short time before he left Chicago. He can produce but I think he needs inspiration and unfortunately all the city of Detroit knows is desperation.

It's ugly right now for him, but he has room to bounce back. I certainly hope he does get on track.

You hit it on the nose, as a Cubs fan i watched a lot of Baez and have said multiple times that if he can be one of the best hitters in the game if he can figure it out at the plate. When he is on he is almost unstoppable, but that does not happen very often. There is no reason to throw him a stike for he does not walk and will swing at the pitchers arm motion. I feel that he would swing even if the pitcher holds on to the ball.....

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH JAVVY BAEZ IS THAT HE DOESN'T HAVE ANY DISCIPLINE AT THE PLATE AT ALL, PLUS HE HAS A LONG SWING. HE NEEDS TO SHORTEN HIS SWING.

Baez had such horrible plate discipline early on that it was "magical" he was able to put up decent numbers. I guess he was riding the wave of a fun young cub team. But it is no surprise that he has regressed this bad. Still the same guy but with a bunch of guaranteed riches. Maybe he is playing to be traded.

I think Javy really benefited from playing at Wrigley, and was comfortable being a Cub. The fans loved him and he loved the fans. Detroit just doesn't seem like a good fit for him. He doesn't have the same passion. I hope he gets it back because he is so much fun to watch when he's on.

Teams **finally** figured out that if you just throw high fastballs and low and away sliders he'll get himself out over and over and over again. The great players adjust to their opponent's adjustments, and he simply cannot do that. As a Cubs fan, I was ecstatic we didn't pay him or Bryant. Schwarber irked me a little, Rizzo hurt a lot.

That first slow motion strike out at 8:50 was absolutely brutal to watch.

The Albert Hainesworth of baseball players.

Javy is on my fantasy team. He has been helpful so far and won at least one game for me.

I think you did a good job with the video but I would just say I don’t think you really covered how electric this dude actually was… Idc what anyone says about Javy. I’ll remember him for his great years in Chicago. He struck out a lot so what. He was a big part of the reason why we won a World Series. NLCS Co-MVP, MVP runner up, gold glove and many times all star. El Mago was won of the most fun Cubs to watch ever. I’ll always love me some Javy Baez. And the rest of that core btw.

This is a case of a formal all star that will never reach those heights again. The strike outs and lack of plate discipline are so bad, that it surprises me that he ever gets a pitch to hit. Good players know their good but continue to work on their weaknesses. Bryce Harper was trending down and realized he needed to fix something quick and so he fixed his swing and is now a perennial .300 hitter. I doubt Javy can fix his plate discipline

El Mago, We loved you in Chicago. Hope you can turn it around.

Never trust a ball player who strikes out a lot and rarely walks..That’s a combination for eventual failure

As a Cubs fan I was torn about resigning Javy. He could be the best player on the field or the worst one on any given day. I think given that inconsistency and him wanting over a hundred million bucks it was definitely prudent to say see ya.

As a cub fan, I m glad he was with the team in his peak and let him go at the right time. Plus got Pete Crow Armstrong in return

In the 18 games after this video came, Javy Baez is hitting .309/.373/.485 for a .859 OPS with 3 HR and pretty stellar defense. Not saying he’ll maintain those numbers, but he looks a lot more comfortable up at the plate compared to the beginning of the year.

Man, Baez gave us some amazing memories. Thanks for the ring, and you're always beloved by Cubs fans. But... Thank you for Pete Crow Armstrong. The Cubs obviously won in every angle of Javy Baez; Got the best of him and got the best end of the trade at the right time.

Loved prime Baez. I think we as baseball fans need to appreciate and respect these 2-3 year primes of some of these players. Not all are consistent like Trout. Prime Andrew Jones (HOF worthy) was one of the greatest players I’ve ever seen. Prime Matt Kemp, Prime Ryan Howard, Prime Angel Pagan, Prime Tim Lincecum

My wife's reaction when the Tigers signed him was that they needed to pick up some other good players for him to play with, otherwise he wouldn't have any fun and wouldn't play well. I think there's a lot of truth to that.

What’s the website you mentioned around the 10:00 minute mark?

He's still the GOAT at both avoiding and making tags.

Jesus Aguilar was a great example of a random player figuring it out for 1 season. In 2018 he hit .274 with 35 homers, 108 RBIs, with an .890 ops

I always felt that Javy was better when the energy is high and the games matter

After getting benched hes hitting something like .330 and 2 homeruns.

He always had flame out written all over him. His very style of play and hitting was basically designed to decline rapidly. He was never good at contact and pitch selection, but for some reason all the stars aligned and he had some pretty great years. Oh by the way I'm a Cubs fan and Javy might be my favorite player ever. Easily the most entertaining player I've ever rooted for. As true as that is, he was a flawed player and I'm sad to see him fall off so much so quickly.

Baez striking out that many times has led to very few walks in his career. He's never had more than 30 walks in a season. Even the year with his best batting average of 290 his OBP was 326

Starling Castro and Anthony Rizzo played through those rebuild seasons that were tough to watch. Castro got shipped off on the eve of it all coming together.

It’s sad that only Rizzo survived the blowup KB and Baez are afterthoughts which really breaks my heart

As a Cubs fan its sad to see what he has become but i wont forget what he did for us

I think Javy needs to change his game, he has the talent needed to succeed. Several of the online commentators think Javt's problem is two fold 1) he is not motivated cause the tigers are awful and 2) he is too focused on being "the man" in Detroit. If he didn't swing out of his shoes all time and was a bit more reserved at the plate I think that would go far. BTW remember that play vs the pirate when he basically store a run an then got to 2nd? Javy is electric when he wants to be

He was the only guy I was happy to see go from that roster. Rizzo is a legend for life, I wish Bryant would have stayed but I can accept it. But I was happy to see Baez go. He's the epitome of the modern player that I absolutely hate.

Cubs fan here. Miss him

Man that slider whiff reel really says it all. I'm sure if Javier saw that he'd focus on fixing it.

Can you make a video about thairo estrada he's my favorite player I'm subbed

He’s the only player to steal first base.

I was excited about the signing because the Tigers didn't have a legit SS or a power bat before and signing a 2x AS like Baez sounded great...

Javy's issues are apart of a broader issue in baseball: philosophy. Baez is what baseball has become, and represents the new age Mendoza line. Teams are going for raw athletes they hope to tighten up as time goes on, predominantly athletes with power in both hitting and pitching. Skill is less impressive than bat speed or arm speed and that way of thinking has absolutely shredded how baseball SHOULD be played. Power hitting is pretty much a prerequisite at this point and 99% of teams will opt for power over contact, and velocity over control. Scouts nowadays care more about hard hit rate and exit velocities rather than pure bat to ball skills. Those same scouts believe velocity and spin rate are the only way to pitch, as if Greg Maddux didn't exist. Baseball has a mental and skill requirement that just is no longer being met because athleticism is seen as endless possibility when most of the time its simply that, athleticism. Javy Baez is just an athlete, he's not a good baseball player.

No need to eliminate strikeouts. They are better than double plays.

i can see Javy getting traded to someone like the Dodgers & turning it around !

When I saw most overrated, I thought it was going to be Juan Soto. The projected 400M man just two seasons ago.

A person shouldn't be referred to as "garbage." Find a better word such as "hasbeen" or "inept player" but "garbage" is not a word for a human being. OK, I've said that. It seems like the Tigers pick up players after they've hit their peaks.

Not a bad video, but imo you need to make more reference to fWAR, wRC+, OPS+ to give a clearer picture of his offensive woes. Also, his defence at SS is still really elite, despite his atrocious 2022 he was worth 2.0 fWAR as a result of this

As a Tigers fan, the size and length of this contract hurts lol

The problem was Javier Baez never bounced back after 2020, his glove was always solid, watched him all season 2019 and 2020 as a cubs fan

It hurts to see where Javy is now

Honestly, as a person who occasionally watch the game from MLB, and watch his stat from last year, he is still on average level, not as bad as he is this year. This however could be a sign that he is starting to burnout pretty soon, as most of the MLB player need to face in their career. Hope Baez can make a comeback.

As a Puerto Rican baseball fan this one hurts 🥲

I hope he bounces back but he’s gotta learn how to take pitches at the plate and not swing at everything, I love for what he helped my cubbies do but he’s gotta get it together

I'd like to see him just stand in the box and not swing at all for a couple weeks. I'm guessing his rapid rise and fall comes down to developing year after year as a hitter - but then as the scouting report gets more information the pitchers just learned like... oh so we can just throw it 55 feet, sounds good. So beyond not having good discipline, he's likely not seeing anything to hit, and the problem just spirals from there.

Javy Baez still has the fastest hands I've ever seen on a baseball field.

As a fan of both the Cubs and Tigers it is hard to imagine how far Javy has sunk. He was a really exciting player when he was on Cubs. He was not consistent, but he could be the best player on the field for many games even if he was a bad hitter in many other games. Since joining the Tigers you almost never see the good side of Javy's game. His hitting had degraded a lot, honestly if a pitcher just throws breaking balls off the plate away from him or in the dirt and fastballs high (not close to strike zone) then Javy will swing and strike out. I think pitchers at ML level are not used to pitching to such undisciplined batters and give him too much respect and so throw him strikes occasionally, but there is no reason. If you look at his splits you can see some things that explain how much he struggles. If he hits the initial pitch thrown he is okay, but after the 0-0 pitch his numbers are worse than pitchers used to get in NL before DH. Also if Javy leads off inning his OPS is about .400, again like pitchers hitting. Can he come back, its possible, he still has quick bat and talent, but I sadly do not think he is going to do it, he is very stubborn and not willing to make changes or listen to his hitting coaches. Sad story for him and the Tigers.

I can see Javy having a comeback. The talent is definitely there and he's shown what he can do. I think it starts with him leaving Detroit. It just doesn't seem like a good fit for him and he's not getting any younger.

I loved Javy on the Cubs. When he was on he was ON! But he was a player with very astronomically high-highs and lows that fall to the depths of hell. He just never had any consistency and lots of times could coast off his athleticism that will continue to decline as he gets older.

I'd love to see a resurgence, but it's unlikely at this point. He's one of the most fun and interesting players to ever play the game. Never did I think someone could steal first base before el mago came around.

Cubs took longer than I wanted to but they did the right thing by breaking that 2016 core. They caught the NL in a down year and got the best possible years out of Hendricks, Rizzo, Bryant, Russell, Contreras and Baez

I don't care what level it is, a batting average of .771 is beyond incredible. I mean most players couldn't even do that hitting the ball off a tee.

Báez is a huge fan favorite when he was on the cubs,

I've seen this guy crush wearing Cubs and PR jerseys, I think he will bounce back, long live "El Mago"

I wonder who the batting coaches are? Baez, Heyward, Bryant, and plenty of others from different teams are good players but are struggling at the bat for whatever reason. Instead of having a good team of batting coaches to help them work out those kinks, they just get traded around. In the Cubs case at least Baez was better than some of the players I've seen with the Cubs? I don't remember them sending him back to triple A to get more help. Batting is his downfall and I hope there is a batting coach that can work with him so he can be a consistent great player. He wasn't to bad in the WBC this year imo. I love watching him play and I wish him the best of luck. His 2016 season and a couple years back when he made a fool of the pirates was super fun to watch.

Been balling lately

Baez bought into his own hype. Plain and simple. He had a couple good years and had a couple plays that went viral and thought he’s the greatest infielder to ever play.

He was one of the most fun players I've ever had the pleasure of watching, but THANK GOD the Cubs didn't sign him to a massive deal. His decline was noticeable for years on end as you mentioned, so his fall from grace isn't that surprising.

Anyone know his stats since he got benched?

Tiger life long fan, so far one of the worst deals Tigers have made, but not willing to totally give up on him . He is starting to come to life in the past few games. I will give him to the end of this season before I ditch on Javier.

Javier is a monster at committing errors.

Damn,I completely forgot about Addison Russell….cubs had Castro,Russell,and Baez…all of them were expected to be the cubs SS of the future,but all of them fell hard on their face

Baez sure can swing a bat ridiculously fast. Damn.

Back in the 80s early 90s it wasn’t all about money…… Don’t get me wrong everyone is going to get what they can and doesn’t want to be taken advantage of. With that said Baseball used to be fun! Players truly had a good time,played hard, had an insane will to win, and had a blast doing so. I saw that watching the 2016 cubs. It made me reminisce about how life was back then. So much simpler. I have just lost all respect for most professional teams filled to the gills with madonnas!

I miss cubs javy Baez but he’s still pretty cool

As a tiger fan I agree with everything you said it's just funny he had a good game yesterday April 17th against the guardians game 1

Do Yelich next

Remembering when he made it to the All Star game over Diaz back in 2015 I was pissed.

That swing at 8:50 my god hahahaha