WATCH: Baez's impressive swim move on headfirst slide

Cole Little - Senior Writer - Monday, July 02 2018

CHICAGO — Human highlight reel Javier Baez went for a swim on the infield dirt in the Chicago Cubs' clash with the Minnesota Twins on Sunday. Leading off the bottom of the eighth, Baez hit a rocket down the third-base line that he converted into a double. However, if not for an impressive swim move on Baez's headfirst slide into second base, he would have been outed on the basepath.

While the hit had all of the makings of a routine double, the play at hand took a unique turn when the baseball ricocheted incredibly far off the wall to the left of the left-field line. Working in the Twins' favor, the ricocheted ball traveled directly to Minnesota left fielder Eddie Rosario, who proceeded to throw a laser to the infield.

Naturally, Baez, who was clearly not planning for the ricochet, did not expect for the shot down the line to get fielded so quickly. Therefore, he was nearly gunned down at second base on his attempt at stretching the hit into a double.

But Baez showcased his trademark craftiness by evading the tag attempt from Twins second baseman Brian Dozier. Pulling his left arm back and reaching toward the bag with his right arm, Baez resembled a swimmer when gliding on the dirt toward second base. With Dozier completely whiffing on the attempted tag, Baez was rewarded for his cunning maneuver by reaching second base safely to cap off a rather eventful double.