Farm System

[hansman]

Baez is only 21 (birthday is Dec 1, 1992).  He's nearly 6 years younger than the average AAA'er.  While his K percentage is a little worrying, he's never had to really work on it up to this point.  It will be up to him and his coaches to work things out.  The Cubs stuck a ton of money into the minor league system to be able to make these adjustments in the players.  We'll see if the instructional quality is there.

 

This is an important thing to remember.  He probably is about 3 years too young for an average prospect in AAA.  While he will never be an even-BB/K guy in the majors and his power should make up for quite a few strikeouts.

 

 

One thing is for certain, if Baez becomes successful he's going to learn how to fight his way out of a slump, which is actually somewhat useful. Not to mention that I'm sure he's learned some humility in this process. These early season struggles might be a blessing in disguise.

 

What I don't get is he was humbled last year, made adjustments and then raked in AA.  Granted when I was 21 I did (and I still do) plenty of bone-headed things over and over and over.

 

Right now I believe that Bryant and Baez will get the call to the bigs at the same time.  If the FO is convinced that Baez will struggle when he starts out having Bryant around could take some of the pressure and attention off a slow start.