April 23--The sight of Javier Baez stumbling about 15 feet from home plate Friday night brought back cautionary thoughts regarding the Chicago Cubs' infielder.
Baez scored without getting hurt, but he has missed valuable time in the past 10 months due to his insistence on sliding head-first.
Baez missed a chance to be promoted before last September 1 because of a fracture in his left ring finger on a head-first slide on a steal attempt for Triple-A Iowa on June 7. Baez missed nearly seven weeks due to the injury.
And Baez, 23, missed a chance to be on his major league opening day roster because of a left thumb bruise suffered while sliding head-first into first base in an exhibition game March 20.
Baez missed nearly four weeks, but he didn't seem inclined to change his method of sliding in an interview Wednesday.
"We haven't talked about sliding," Baez said at Busch Stadium. "I feel comfortable sliding head first. I just got to pull back my fingers when I slide."
Baez didn't seem fazed when reminded that A.J. Pollock suffered a season-ending right elbow fracture due to a head-first slide into home plate three days before the Arizona Diamondbacks' opener.
"All my fingers are fine," said Baez, adding that he didn't feel the need to hold batting gloves while running the bases, a policy that some players use to prevent their fingers from becoming vulnerable to injury.
Baez left the clubhouse Friday night as reporters spoke to left-hander Jon Lester.
