How one of baseball's worst players has revived his career at a new position

Detroit Tigers infielder Javier Baez was one of the worst players in Major League Baseball over the last couple seasons, and it looked like his career was in a complete downward spiral.

Since signing a six-year, $140 million contract with the Tigers in 2022, Baez has been one of the worst players in the league. His demeanor changed, he was not good defensively and his offense declined tremendously. It looked like Baez didn’t want to play baseball anymore as he often looked disengaged and struck out at a very high rate, chasing sliders in the lefty batter’s box.

Going into this season, he averaged just a .593 OPS since signing with Detroit and all signs pointed at the Tigers phasing Baez out of the lineup despite the massive contract.

However, after putting him in center field, the defense has been above average with four outs above average (94^th percentile), and he is gaining his confidence back at the plate. In fact, Baez is currently hitting .291 with an .811 OPS. He has six home runs and 28 RBI in 38 games and has been on fire the last couple weeks.

A possible reason for El Mago’s resurgence could be the lack of pressure on him to be the main contributor. The Tigers have had help from good pitching as well as great offensive seasons from Spencer Torkelson, Kerry Carpenter, Gleyber Torres and Riley Greene.

In Baez’s prime, the Chicago Cubs had other star players to help carry the load. When he signed with Detroit, he was expected to be the main contributor for a young and inexperienced Tigers team and his performance suffered.

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With a lot of the weight off of his shoulders to be the Most Valuable Player candidate he once was, he is able to focus on getting himself back to form without the added pressure.

The Tigers have a five-game lead in the American League Central and have a 31-16 record.

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