TOLEDO, Ohio — Akil Baddoo took off for second base.
He followed Robbie Grossman’s solo home run with a five-pitch walk on Tuesday, reaching base for the first time since May. Stealing second base allowed him to advance to third on Victor Reyes’ groundout. Then, Baddoo scored on a wild pitch, one pitch before Riley Greene singled on a line drive to center field.
But this isn’t the Detroit Tigers, and while three of those players are on rehab assignments, the Tigers demoted Baddoo to Triple-A Toledo on May 9. An illness and an injury later, the 23-year-old is in the everyday lineup for the Mud Hens.
Baddoo is determined to make his way back to the big leagues.
“I just realized that’s the game of baseball,” Baddoo said Tuesday at Fifth Third Field. “Stuff like that happens. I just learned from it. When I got that call going into A.J. (Hinch)’s office saying I was coming down here, I learned from it. I said, ‘All right, I’m going to do whatever I can to get back up there.’
“I want to come down here and be that Baddoo, that spark that I had last year and in spring training going into this year. That’s my main goal, to be that guy again. And that’s what I’m going to be.”
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He finished Tuesday’s 9-3 win with a hit and two walks in his five plate appearances, along with two stolen bases. He also struck out twice. In the sixth inning, Baddoo singled to right field and scored from first base on Greene’s two-out single.
To get here, Baddoo healed from two setbacks: a non-COVID illness and a strained right oblique. He played May 10, his first game, but sat out the next two due to his sickness. Upon returning May 13, he strained his right oblique on the final swing of his last plate appearance.
“I took one swing reaching out, and I felt it,” Baddoo said. “I don’t know if it was from being sick all day.”
The MRI confirmed a strained oblique.
He packed his bags for Lakeland, Florida, where he spent rest of the month rehabbing at the Tigers’ spring training facility.
“But it feels good now,” Baddoo said. “One hundred percent.”
Before joining Toledo, Baddoo played three games for High-A West Michigan as part of his rehab assignment. He hadn’t played in High-A since 2019. It was his highest level of pro ball when the Tigers picked him in the 2020 Rule 5 draft. He finished 0-for-10 with one walk and five strikeouts for the Whitecaps.
“West Michigan was good,” Baddoo said. “I was able to work on some new things.”
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There’s a lot Baddoo needs to work on, from bunting to two-strike hitting. One of the most important things is not selling out for power. The Tigers want him to find a contact-first approach and greatly boost the quality of his plate appearances. He hit .140 with one home run, five walks and 15 strikeouts in 17 games in his second MLB season.
“He got caught in between of what kind of hitter that he wants to be,” Hinch said May 9, the day Baddoo got sent down to Toledo. “I know everybody seeks damage. Everybody wants power. To create that, you gotta sacrifice something.”
To find a fix, Baddoo eliminated the toe-tap movement he picked up this past offseason. He added the toe-tap in search of success against left-handed pitchers, Baddoo’s kryptonite in Year 1. Then, he started doing it against righties.
With the toe-tap, Baddoo felt like he needed to be timed up perfectly and didn’t have room for error.
“I’m trying to do what I was doing last year, just picking my leg up and going,” Baddoo said. “That’s when I was more athletic and was able to get more ‘A’ swings off.”
In 2021, Baddoo — a Rule 5 draftee who had not played above Single-A — hit .259 with 20 doubles, seven triples, 13 home runs and 18 stolen bases in 124 games. He dreamed of being a leadoff hitter and center fielder. Those dreams were fulfilled. His job as part of the Tigers’ outfield group was secure throughout this year’s spring training.
“He can really help us,” Hinch said May 9. “Our best team has him on it. But right now, we’ve not been able to get him started and get him going consistently to where we feel like it’s beneficial for him to be here.”
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When Baddoo dashed for his first stolen base Tuesday, his helmet popped off his head and landed on the infield dirt. The helmet is too big for his head, just like the one he wore with the Tigers.
Nowadays, he wears a Tigers head covering underneath his Mud Hens helmet and hat. He puts on a Tigers shirt before tossing on his Mud Hens jersey, and he laces up his bright orange cleats.
Baddoo is confident he can thrive at highest level.
“Just being consistent, coming in every day and playing my game and giving it my all,” Baddoo said, “and hopefully get that call back up where I want to be and where I feel like I belong.”
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.