Detroit — It was the fourth inning Tuesday night. Riley Greene had just ripped his third hit of the game and chased Pirates starter Luis Ortiz.
Spencer Torkelson sidled up to Javier Báez in the on-deck circle while the reliever was warming up.
“Tork said, ‘Man, I want to be seeing the ball like Greeney is seeing it,’” Báez said. “I was like, ‘Me too. Who doesn’t?’ It’s been a lot of fun.”
There’s been a subtle, maybe temporary shift in the veteran-young player dynamic with the Tigers. Suddenly, it’s the accomplished veteran Báez feeding off the energy of Greene and Torkelson, who have caught fire this month.
“Oh, for sure,” Báez said. “Seeing their timing and their at-bats, how deep Greeney lets the ball get in the zone. There are things you can pick up on and you take it into your approach. They’re going to do that. They’ve got a great approach and they’ve got great talent.”
Greene came into Wednesday hitting .412 in May. Torkelson was hitting .300. And don’t sleep on Báez. He’s hitting .289 with a .351 on-base percentage and an .832 OPS. Going back to that fateful night in Toronto when manager AJ Hinch pulled him out of the game for forgetting how many outs there were, Báez is slashing .307/.360/.446 with an .806 OPS.
Significant production from the middle of the order.
“They are all pretty aggressive,” Hinch said. “They all have similar success when they get good pitches to hit and when they don’t. When they swing a little too much they get themselves in trouble. But for a veteran player like Javy, who has hit in the middle of a lot of batting orders, to pay attention to two young guys is a pretty neat note.”
Báez has made a conscious effort to cut down on his strikeouts and put more balls in play. It’s come at the expense of some power (he has three homers) but the quality of his at-bats have vastly improved.
“I think we all are controlling the zone a little better,” Báez said. “I won’t say me because I’m still swinging at pitches out of the zone. But I’m making adjustments. I’m trying to be short to the ball and not try to hit it so hard.
“But it’s tough. I have strong legs and that’s where my power is. It’s hard for me to control it. But I’m seeing the ball pretty good and my timing is good.”
Báez’s strikeout rate (16.7%) is the lowest of his career. His walk rate (5.1%) is the third highest of his career. But, even though he has a low swing-and-miss rate (29%), he’s still chasing pitches out of the zone at a 44% clip.
Earlier in the season, he was locking himself up in the box, overloading his weight on his back leg. Once he committed to a pitch, he had a hard time adjusting his swing plane.
“I was seeing fastballs and I was loading too much,” he said. “So I opened up my stance a little bit and I just started seeing it really good.”
It’s wrong to think Báez is just trying to touch baseballs when he’s in the box. It’s more accurate to say that once he gets two strikes, he’s more conscious of putting the ball in play. Like his first at-bat Tuesday when he shortened his swing and rolled a single through the right side of the infield to score Greene from second.
“Nobody wants to give up on hitting homers,” Hinch said. “But the game doesn’t always give you homers. It doesn’t always dictate that you can hit every pitch out of the ballpark. You can fool yourself by hitting a bad pitch out of the ballpark. Generally speaking, at this level you aren’t going to get sustained success by swinging outside the zone trying to hit every ball out of the park.
“Whether it’s conscious or subconscious, it’s a better offensive profile when you can do a little bit of everything. But there are a lot of swings I still see from Javy that are not intended for singles.”
Báez has always been at his best offensively when he’s asked to be a cog in the wheel and not the driving wheel. He thrived hitting the middle of a Cubs lineup that featured Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant. He thrived with the Mets in 2021 hitting in between Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso and Michael Conforto.
And now, as Greene and Torkelson are heating up, Báez is feeding off their heat.
“It really does help,” he said. “The other team has to decide who they want to pitch to. And if everybody is hot, they’re in trouble.”
Outfield defense
Sports Info Solutions rates the Tigers as the best outfield in baseball at turning balls hit in the air into outs. They have the Tigers converting 67% of fly balls into outs. SIS also has the Tigers’ outfield defense as a plus-8 in defensive runs saved.
“We have the athletes to do it,” Hinch said. “I think Riley is very underrated as a center fielder, both in leadership and the balls he’s able to get to. But our overall commitment to go make the catch is the key. We are trying to make the catch. We are not trying to play careful. We’re not playing timid.
“Our intent is to catch every ball that we can.”
Hinch praised coaches George Lombard and Gary Jones who have worked tirelessly with the outfielders, both with reads and pre-pitch preparation, but also with positioning.
“They work on it all the time and it’s paying dividends,” Hinch said.
Matt Vierling is second in baseball with a plus-8 defensive runs saved in right field. Akil Baddoo is a plus-1 in left.
“Vierling would probably be even better if he played full-time in center field,” Hinch said. “We just have a different guy out there most days (Greene). Vierling’s closing speed is really good. His arm strength is really good. His decision-making is really good. Generally his routes have been good.
“Just his overall feel for playing the outfield is good. We actually intended to play him more in the infield but because of his outfield dominance, we’ve been very stingy with his infield play.”
The Miggy plan
Tuesday was Miguel Cabrera’s 2,000th game as a Tiger and he treated himself to a base hit in his final at-bat. He was back in the lineup against lefty Rich Hill Wednesday.
Hinch continues to walk the line of trying to keep Cabrera sharp and not overtaxing his 40-year-old body.
“I think about it every series,” Hinch said. “I want to keep him part of this and he wants to be part of this. It’s nice when he can contribute like he did last night.”
Wednesday was Cabrera’s 22nd game of the season. He came in with just 80 plate appearances and hitting .189 with a 36 OPS-plus.
“I feel for him,” Hinch said. “At the same time he’s getting older and not quite the same hitter he was in his prime, I’m asking him to play less and creating more timing issues for him by playing him once a series.”
Hinch has the next couple of series mapped out for Cabrera. That’s about as far ahead as he wants to plan it for now.
“It depends on the performance of other players, as well,” Hinch said. “Guys are pushing to play more.”
He mentioned Andy Ibanez, Zach McKinstry and Zack Short as players who have earned more at-bats.
“We’re going series by series,” he said. “I know Miggy will start Saturday in Washington against lefty Patrick Corbin. I think we’re going to face a lefty in Kansas City, too. Those are kind of the natural start days for Miguel. The extra games are going to have to be earned, just like everybody else.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky