Chicago Cubs Second Baseman Javier Baez to be featured on Cover of ESPN The Magazine’s Annual BODY Issue
World Champion Infielder is the First BODY Issue Athlete to be shot on iPhone

ESPN announced on SportsCenter earlier today that MLB infielder Javier Baez will be featured as one of several covers of ESPN The Magazine’s BODY Issue. Baez is the first BODY Issue cover athlete to be shot on iPhone, using the iPhone 7 Plus in Portrait mode, and is one of 23 athletes who will be featured in the ninth edition of the BODY Issue. Photos, personal interviews and videos of the BODY athletes will debut on ESPN.com on July 5 and the magazine will hit newsstands July 7.

“Going into this, our 9^th year of producing BODY, we wanted to do something creatively that we have never done before. We wanted fans to have that moment of awe again where they say, ‘Wow. How did they do that?’” said ESPN The Magazine editor-in-chief Alison Overholt. “We were seeing the incredible images iPhone users post on social media tagged with #shotoniphone and our team said, ‘That’s it. How about we do a BODY shoot on iPhone?’ With Javier on board with us, this cover—and the entire shoot—turned out as beautifully as we imagined.”

Dylan Coulter, who photographed Baez for the feature, remarked: “The shoot took place in March in Coolidge, Arizona—about an hour outside Phoenix—in a World War II airport hangar in the middle of the desert. While this was very different from any shoot I had ever done, it was both creatively challenging and rewarding, and I was incredibly impressed with the capabilities of iPhone 7 Plus.”

In addition to being a part of the 2016 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs, Baez made headlines as the National League Championship Series MVP and recipient of the Fielding Bible Award, which recognizes the best defensive player for fielding position in Major League Baseball. He was also awarded a silver medal in the 2017 World Baseball Classic as a member of team Puerto Rico.

Photos, video, and more: http://bit.ly/2ryZE63