March 06--MESA, Ariz. -- There are more than four weeks of exhibition games left, but Mike Olt and Javier Baez took small steps Thursday in erasing last year's disastrous performances.
Olt, who struck out 100 times in 225 at-bats, showed patience in smacking a Barry Zito change-up for a two-run home run in the Chicago Cubs' 2-2 tie against the Oakland A's.
Olt, who coped with shoulder and vision issues last spring, said he has worked on altering his swing. He said that he would have been fooled and swung earlier had he kept the same swing and approach he had last season.
Baez, who struck out 95 times in 213 at-bats after getting promoted on Aug. 5, took two pitches before flying to right in his first at-bat against Zito, and then he cut down his swing with two strikes in his next at-bat and flied to right off Tyler Clippard.
"I might take one hack or two, and then go back to the short swing," Baez said. "We'll be working the entire spring training on that."
Baez received encouraging words from manager Joe Maddon and hitting coach John Mallee.
"They told me I look better, but there's some stuff I got to work on," Baez said.
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