Chicago Cubs Lineup: Baez in at Third, Bryant in Left Field

I’m not sure if you can call two days a trend, but for the second day in a row Joe Maddon has Javier Baez in at third base and Kris Bryant in left field. And why not? Baez, in the few games he’s played in, has been getting involved. Whether he’s hitting or stealing a base or making a solid defensive play, he always seems to be in the middle of things.

We mentioned it this morning, Bryant is simply a better left fielder than Soler is, and there’s no doubt that he’s also a much better offensive player too. With Javier Baez playing aggressive, smart, hard-nosed baseball, it’s easy to see why Joe would rather have him in the lineup today than Soler. My hope is that Soler can pick up his offense but, isn’t that what we all hope. So much potential but eventually a player has to start putting up numbers or they won’t play. I think we’re starting to see that with Soler.

Here’s the lineup for today’s matchup against the Reds (6:05 CDT):

John Lackey (R)@ Reds – Dan Straily (R)
1. Dexter Fowler (S) CF
2. Jason Heyward (L) RF
3. Kris Bryant (R) LF
4. Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B
5. Ben Zobrist (S) 2B
6. Miguel Montero (L) C
7. Javier Baez (R) 3B
8. Addison Russell (R) SS
9. John Lackey (R) P