After falling into an 0-2 hole on a pair of breaking balls off the plate, "I was thinking, make an adjustment," said Javy Baez. The Tigers thought the same for Baez entering this season.
He would not be their everyday shortstop. He would not get at-bats for free. He would still be an asset. He would use his athleticism and baseball instincts to help them win. Because as A.J. Hinch will tell you, Javy Baez is a "winning player." He would get another chance to prove it.
The Tigers played him at third base in spring training. Then they played him in center. They prepared him for a season of playing wherever the team might need him. Baez was "all-in," said Hinch, because "it was important to him to contribute." As it turned out, they would need him at the position where Baez always dreamed of playing in the big leagues. Parker Meadows was one of three center fielders for Detroit to hit the injured list before Opening Day, and Ryan Kreidler wasn't the answer.
Into the void stepped Baez. And up to the plate he stepped Wednesday with the bases loaded and two outs in the third, the Tigers leading the Astros 3-1 and trying to salvage the final game of the series. He swung and missed on a sweeper low and away -- you could feel the fanbase cringe -- then fouled off another on the outside edge, early with his swing. He laid off a fastball up, and prepared for the sweeper. You could feel the fanbase hold its breath.
"I knew that pitch was coming again," Baez said on the field after the game. "He threw it to me, it was a good pitch, I was looking for it, and I just tried to stay on top of it. I just got it good."
Baez waited on it, then smoked it into the left field seats to give the Tigers a 7-1 lead they wouldn't give back. It was his first homer of the season, which is nothing to brag about on the final day of April. It matches his pace at this time last year. But it briefly raised his average to .300, after he closed last April at .198 and continued his spiral from one of the best players in the game to one of the worst.
Over the first three seasons of his six-year, $140 million deal with the Tigers, Baez committed the second most errors in the majors, as a former Gold Glove shortstop. He had the fourth lowest OPS (.610), as a former Silver Slugger. He swung at a higher rate of pitches outside the strike zone than any other big-league hitter -- and also saw the lowest rate of pitches inside the zone. Why would pitchers even bother?
Things took a turn for the worse last season when Baez hit .184 in 80 games, restricted by soreness in his hip and back and inflammation in his lower spine. He underwent hip surgery in September, as the Tigers roared into the playoffs without him. The hope was that he would regain some flexibility at the plate. His body promised nothing at the age of 32.
And his strong start promises nothing for the rest of the season. But Baez enters May hitting .296 with a .745 OPS through 25 games. It marks his best month with the bat since September/October of his first season in Detroit. His chase rate is down, his contact rate is up and while the underlying numbers -- like a lack of hard contact and an unsustainably high batting average on balls in play -- suggest some regression is in order, Baez is at least giving himself a chance.
"It’s more timing, honestly," Báez told reporters after the Tigers' 7-4 win on Wednesday. "For me, hitting the ball locked up with my legs is the key for power. I’m just trying to focus on that. If I do that and I feel good with my timing, I’m going to feel good with my swing and I’m going to hit the ball."
In the field, Baez has started seven of the Tigers' last nine games in center and hasn't looked out of place. He made a sprinting, over-the-shoulder grab on the warning track in a win over the Padres last week on a fly ball that had a catch probability of 15 percent. His natural athleticism is shining. He's third on the team among position players in bWAR. Most importantly, his contributions have counted for the Tigers, who lead the American League at 19-12.
"Everybody is ready to come into the game and available to help the team, and that’s what A.J.’s been doing," said Baez. "We’re using everybody, and it’s been working for us."
No, this was not the vision when Baez put pen to paper three years ago. No, this is not what the typical $23 million-per-year player looks like. And no, the best version of the Tigers still might not feature Baez as a prominent piece. But this one does. If you put the money -- the sunk cost -- aside, "this is the best way," said Hinch, for Baez to make a good team better.
"It's not frowned upon like maybe a decade ago, where you’re not anchoring one position," said Hinch. "In fact, it’s more of a compliment to be able to be the answer at a couple positions."
Again, we'll see how long this lasts. Meadows will reclaim the everyday job in center field as soon as he returns, and Matt Vierling could eat into Baez's role before that. But Detroit's new everyday shortstop, Trey Sweeney, is going through it right now in the field and at the plate. If the Tigers decide that the 25-year-old needs a break -- or that they need more stability at the position -- Baez could be the guy, after all.
He says he's "not there yet, honestly" at the plate. He says he's "feeling good, but not feeling great." For a hitter who looked so far gone by the end of last season, these are encouraging signs. Read into them what you will. At the very least, you might have to wait to write Baez off.