The #5 prospect in all of baseball will soon make his Major League debut, possibly Tuesday night. MLB.com's Chicago Cubs beat writer Carrie Muskat reports that the Cubs will call up shortstop Javier Baez from Triple-A Iowa in time for their game with the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field Tuesday night.
Baez is the Cubs' second-ranked prosepct behind only third baseman Kris Bryant. In addition, the Cubs acquired Addison Russell, ranked seventh, from Oakland in the Jeff Samardzija/Jason Hammel trade on July 5, giving the Cubs three of the top ten prospects in all of baseball.
After a very slow start to his Triple-A season in which he hit just .172 in April, Baez has recovered to complie a slash line of .260/.323/.510 with 23 HR and 80 RBI in 103 games. He hit 10 of those home runs in July. In his four-year minor league career, Baez has hit .278 with 76 HR and 238 RBI in 319 games.
Baez also slammed an opposite-field two-run bomb in this year's All-Star futures game on July 13. The blast put the World team ahead 2-1.
Coors Field will provide the perfect environment for Baez to demonstrate his Big-League power.
Baez is the second big-name Cubs prospect to hit the Major League club this year. Arismendy Alcantara came up in July and although he does not have spectacular numbers (.252, 2 HR, 8 RBI in 21 games), he has impressed team management enough to designate second baseman Darwin Barney for assignment and eventually trade Barney to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Baez is a mainly a shortstop with limited experience at second base. Starlin Castro is the Cubs' starting shortstop and Alcantara plays both second base and center field for the Cubs. Therefore, fans will soon get to see how manager Rick Renteria works Baez into the lineup. Either way, Cubs fans have long awaited to see Baez in the Majors and now they will get that chance.