NEW YORK — Javier Báez admits he feels added pressure.
The Detroit Tigers signed him to a six-year, $140 million contract in December to carry the offense. Miguel Cabrera, a slam-dunk for the Baseball Hall of Fame, publicly supported his new teammate in spring training by putting him in charge of taking the Tigers back to the postseason.
But Báez isn’t doing anything positive at the plate.
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It’s June 5.
“It’s hard,” Báez said. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not following the ball, not keeping my approach. They’re not throwing my pitch. As long as I don’t make them throw my pitch, they’re going to throw the sliders. I just got to make that adjustment. There’s no excuse.”
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Báez, amid the worst stretch of his nine-year MLB career, sat out Wednesday and Thursday — two games the Tigers won — for a physical and mental reset. He returned Friday with the same approach and the same results. He swings and misses at what feels like every down-and-away slider, so opposing teams keep pitching him that way.
New York Yankees starters Gerrit Cole and Luis Severino capitalized on Báez’s inability to make even a slight adjustment. The elite pitchers easily outmatched Báez and handed the Tigers a 13-0 loss Friday and a 3-0 loss Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
The Tigers (21-32) haven’t scored in 18 innings. They’re the worst offense in baseball, averaging 2.81 runs per game — more than half a run worse than the next-worst team. Despite better team plate appearances earlier in the week, the Yankees’ top arms put the Tigers in their place over the weekend.
“It’s a team struggle,” Báez said. “It’s not like someone is having a great year. We’re going to take this and wait for our moment to blow up and see how everything gets together and how many games we can get back from the competition.”
Báez went 0-for-3 with one strikeout Friday, then 0-for-3 with three strikeouts — all swinging, twice on sliders from Severino and once on a curveball from reliever Michael King — Saturday.
“I’m not making them throw me my fastball,” Báez said. “I just got to be patient at the right time. Sometimes I’m patient with a middle-middle fastball, because they know I’m not swinging. I don’t know. I’m just not following the ball right now. I don’t like making excuses, but it is what it is. I’m going to keep trying.”
Báez is the worst hitter in baseball against the slider, with a 53.3% swing-and-miss rate. His plate discipline is generally miserable, but the Tigers signed up for that when they inked him to a six-year contract.
He has a career 29.1% strikeout rate and 4.7% walk rate.
“We’re all frustrated because the lack of recognition, swinging outside of the strike zone, is part of what he’s done, but it also begs for some adjustments,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “We got to get inside the strike zone because the league is obviously going to continue to tease him around the strike zone until he adjusts.”
Through 42 games, Báez is hitting .190 with three home runs, six walks and 45 strikeouts. His 52 wRC+ ranks 160th among 162 qualified players. (The 29-year-old is hardly alone in his struggles: Jonathan Schoop’s 65 wRC+ ranks 153rd, ahead of Jeimer Candelario’s 63 wRC+ at 154th.)
Báez has a 25% strikeout rate, 3.6% walk rate, 39.8% swing-and-miss rate and a career-high 48.6% chase rate. He chases more than any player in baseball — by a lot; the No. 2 player in chase rate, Miami Marlins outfielder Avisaíl García (a former Tiger), is at 42.9%.
His hard-hit rate dropped from 45.2% last season to 32.2% this season.
“It’s sometimes frustrating,” Báez said, “but I still go out there being me and trying to compete with the team.”
For Báez, there isn’t a process to clean up his mistakes. He doesn’t watch video, and he doesn’t analyze metrics. Instead, he takes the field each game hoping for better results. That plan is on repeat right now.
Báez believes his poor performance will naturally reverse course.
The timetable, however, remains a mystery.
“It’s more the trust, and it’s one click that I’m waiting to feel and keep that feeling, where it doesn’t matter what they throw you,” Báez said. “I hit a lot of balls out of the zone, but if I don’t have my approach and my trust and follow the ball, I can’t do that. I will keep missing the ball and keep hitting the ball on the ground.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.