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I don't mean to imply Javi Baez is going to fall off a cliff either, just that he took that big leap forward you're talking about last year, and some of his 2018 was unsustainable and likely to regress. Many aspects of a batter seem to peak in their mid-to-late 20s, including their "overall" wOBA. Others (isolated power) fall off a little later and some (walk percentage) take even longer to fade.
Baez likely has three or four seasons of great baseball in him, and maybe a bunch after that that are good (although a lot of what he does well is predicated on raw athleticism and a high-K, low-BB approach), but he probably won't discover something extra at the plate.
The realities of aging in baseball were distorted by steroids for a long time, but it's one factor in why the market for 30+ year-old free agents has gotten so cold.
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