Javy Baez Has Found A New Way To Annoy Baseball Purists
Javy Baez has easily vaulted himself to claim the title of "Guy in baseball that I would pay money to see."
I'm not a fan of baseball purists. They take all the fun out of the game. Bat flips are great. These purists have a running list of "unwritten rules" that every ballplayer should have committed to memory. There's another name for these people, of course, Cardinals fans. I'll save Cardinals hate for later, this isn't about them.
One of the "unwritten rules" is that a runner on second has the "right" to try to steal signs from the catcher. It's been going on forever and it's not going to stop. I agree that this is just gamesmanship and adds a fun wrinkle to the game.
This is where Javy steps in. As you can see in the above video, Javy is tired of DJ LeMahieu (Cub for life BTW) stealing signs and does something that I have never seen before. He moves so he's standing directly in between LeMahieu and home plate. It's honestly hilarious, especially when you see how annoyed everyone gets. The Rockies announcers treat it like he was hiding a nail file in his back pocket to scuff balls.
Here's what I don't get about the "purists." If stealing signs is just part of the game, then why isn't this deterrent part of it as well? Could it have something to do with the fact that Javy was blasting balls all around Coors Field for three days? Probably.
Either way, Javy and the Cubs had the last laugh winning a wild rubber match 9-7. As a bonus to this blog I invite you to watch Javy's highlights from last year. Most electric man in the game.