Edited 11:30 AM CT

A unique combination of talents and flaws make Javier Baez a difficult player to comp. Sure you can compare him piece by piece -- the bat speed to Gary Sheffield, the proclivity to strike out to Mark Reynolds, the defensive versatility to his own teammate Ben Zobrist. But none of those players paint a complete picture of Baez by themselves. They are better in some aspects and not as good in others, but when all is said and done we should be hopeful Baez can put together as long a major league career as any of those players.

At first, Baez never really fit the profile of this front office. They've gone so far as to admit as much. There was no chance they would have picked him had they been in charge of the Cubs just one year earlier. If that were the case, we'd probably be looking at finding a role for Cory Spangenberg right now. Spangenberg, after all, was the choice of Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod and the San Diego Padres just one pick later in the 2011 MLB Draft.

That is nothing against this front office. It's not that they couldn't see the raw talent, it was just that Baez is such a hard player to read and it's difficult to invest a top 10 pick when the information was going to be so incomplete, no matter how many times you saw him as an amateur. I'm not even sure the guy who believed in him most, Tim Wilken, understood all the complexities that make up Baez the ballplayer. Wilken was betting on those special tools -- but they needed development. And I am not sure the Cubs at that time were equipped to develop Baez and those tools properly.

With Theo Epstein, Hoyer, and McLeod supplying the long term development vision and owner Tom Ricketts footing the bill and willing to give them whatever time they needed, the Cubs kept Baez at extended spring training longer than expected in 2012. They wanted him to learn to focus those tools and use them in a way that fit the Cubs philosophy of discipline and team-oriented approach. Given Baez's raw skills, that seemed like a long shot despite the numerous past development success stories of this front office.

But we all underestimated him.

I once heard a story which I have not been able to verify (edit: I have since verified this story from an impeccable source) -- that as an amateur Javy intentionally did not commit to to a college early because he wanted scouts to keep coming out and seeing his teammates, which speaks to his loyalty and unselfishness. I've talked to minor league teammates who were both in awe of his talents yet liked him as a person and recognized some of the leadership qualities early on. It was easy to label him as immature or hot-headed -- it was not as easy to see the thoughtfulness and baseball IQ that flowed just beneath the surface.

I didn't get a chance to see Javy live until he made it to Peoria and to be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect. I did want to keep an open mind, however and I took a shot at evaluating him here after seeing him live for the first time in 2012. And while I was able to pick up a few things -- his bat speed, defensive ability, work ethic, his coachability, his aptitude -- and his "necessary arrogance" -- there was still much that I missed as well.

Every time I saw Baez again I picked up something new, like when he took a pitch at the knees and on the outside corner and flicked it deep into the RF-CF gap for a triple. Or how in tune he was with the game around him. Or the difficulties harnessing his abilities. It's as if he is a dense novel or a complex scotch, something you couldn't completely pick up on a casual reading/tasting or two. Sure the loud tools were obvious -- the bat speed, the howitzer arm, the baseball athleticism. So were the flaws -- the overly-aggressive approach and the intense, passionate competitiveness on the field that sometimes got the best of him. Yet those kinds of things seemed to obscure the intelligence that Baez would quietly display on the field.

The more you see Baez, the more you appreciate the little things; The alert play ; the awareness of what is going on in the game around him that shows in everything from his efficient baserunning to his ultra-quick tags to his natural leadership on the field. There are so many things he can do on the field to help you win. Trying to harness everything that Baez did well while simultaneously trying to fix the things he didn't was not unlike herding cats. It seemed an almost impossible task and it was easy to wonder if it could be done at all, Even with the Cubs highly respected development staff and process, it was going to take a lot of time and patience.

The X factor was Baez himself. What nobody could know was his own drive to succeed, to keep getting better, to do whatever it took to be a major league player. It is as relentless as this Cubs team itself. Yes, there is an arrogance about him. He does not doubt his abilities as a ballplayer one iota. Yet that necessary arrogance belies a more humble side that has seen hardship both on and off the field. As good as his individual talent is, Baez now seems to understand that somewhere beneath it all, he wasn't going to make it without help. He has worked to become more disciplined in the field and at the plate. He changed things that had always worked for him before -- the high leg kick, the big swing no matter what the situation, and the belief that no defensive play, no throw, was beyond his reach.

A lot of times with young players we talk about projectability. We talk about the things they can add if only they would grow and mature physically. With Baez it almost seems the opposite. He has so much physical ability and mental acuity He can do so much on the field and sees so much of the game at once -- and does it all with such unbridled passion -- that it isn't a matter so much of projecting him out as teaching him to reign everything in -- to harness those vast talents and focus them in a way that would lead to consistent play instead of juggling between occasional brilliance and frustrating recklessness. How do you take everything he could do on the field, break it down, and channel it in such a way where it can be controlled to make him productive in the kinds of things the Cubs believe a player needs to do to succeed?

That is still a question the Cubs and Baez are trying to answer, but he's getting closer.

He still isn't there yet. He still swings at too many pitches outside the zone (40.4%) though he is hitting much more of them (76.3% compared to 68% last year and 59% in his rookie year). That would seem to indicate that Baez isn't getting fooled by those pitches as often anymore and that he is beginning to understand how pitchers are approaching him. And so while he continues to swing at those pitches, he seems to see them coming more often now and can take advantage of that outstanding plate coverage I witnessed 4 years ago in Peoria.

Baez has made more solid contact so far this year (35% line drives) and less pop-ups and soft fly balls. He is striking out less (23.5% compared to 30% in 2015 and 41.5% in 2014). Baez's decreased K rate is due in large part to his better plate coverage but also his willingness to cut down his swing with two strikes, a trend we started seeing after he came back from his rehab assignment last year.

He is seeing almost 4 pitches per plate appearance -- more than Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, and Kris Bryant. He'll still need to further refine his selectivity despite his improved patience and plate coverage. He'll need to concentrate on pitches he can drive out of the park and, as a fringe benefit, improve on the 4% walk rate he has posted so far. That in turn will make his OBP less batting average dependent. But we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and even if Baez doesn't ever walk at an average rate or better, he has already shown he can do damage with his improved approach, discipline and pitch recognition.

But while his offensive game is still maturing, his defense has consistently been outstanding. Baez has seamlessly transitioned from one position to another, particularly sparkling at 3B but also at SS and 2B. In fact, I am not sure he isn't the Cubs best defensive player at all 3 of those positions. That is high praise considering Addison Russell mans SS right now, but Baez's superior arm strength may even give him a slight edge there. On top of that, he has rated as an above average baserunner in all 3 of his partial seasons so far.

Despite the improved play, Baez's talent is still coming into focus. There are still things he needs to work on, but the confident player is beginning to also understand how he fits and what he needs to do to succeed as a ballplayer -- and that is a tantalizing thought. There are still so many potential outcomes for Baez given his ability and learning curve. He is still a potential impact player with an enormous ceiling, but he is more than just a boom or bust player now. We can also see him as a solid everyday starter or even as just the valuable, versatile role player he is today.

There are a wide range of possibilities of what Baez can be and he is still just scratching the surface. We don't yet know what he will be, but it's going to be a lot of fun watching him figure it out.