I do find it amazing how Baez has fallen so far off a cliff with his hyper aggresive approach while Salvador Perez has managed to thrive with it. I understand the pressure to hit for a catcher isn't the same as it is for an infielder but it's amazing how their peak years are so similar. Peak Baez (17-21): .271/.312/.503 (.815 OPS), 111 OPS+, 162 game averages of 32 HR 97 RBI Peak Salvy (17-now): .266/.305/.487 (.791 OPS), 112 OPS+, 162 game averages of 35 HR 107 RBI
Really insightful comment and it’s an example of why I do think some approaches are uncoachable yet should remain untouched. No one in their right mind should teach their player to be like Javy Baez or Salvador Perez. Salvy has had wild year to year differences but has remained largely effective BECAUSE he’s held steady at being hyper aggressive while Javy attempted to transform into a different player and flailed as a result.
Baez batted ball stats are middling. When salvy makes contact you hear it but as much free swinging Baez does he’s more equivalent to the metrics of a Miguel Rojas when he actually makes contact if anything ( for his tigers tenure )
@@nomorefielders Publically he’d never say this because Salvy is 300lbs of cherubic demeanor and power, but his approach was essentially forged knowing that if he doesn’t get a hit (I.e. walks) he knows the guy behind him (ex. Hunter Dozier, Lucas Duda, Maikel Franco, Nick Pratto, MJ Melendez)ain’t doing anything productive. IMO both these guys are natural 6-hole hitters (good power and average but lacks OBP consistency) but one adapted to being THE GUY better than the other.
A motivated Baez is a good MLB player. 2021 was a perfect storm for Javy. Playing alongside his best friend and playing for a contract at the end of the season catapulted him into a difference maker not only with the glove but with the bat. I truly believe if Javy were to get traded to a contending team, he would be a productive player again.
No competitive team would want him as it is right now. Any trade he’ll get will be the same situation as the Tigers: a mid team looking for a star to take them up. Javy is simply not that guy.
@@Garvey-vm3qt I know and I agree. No team should take the risk because he isn’t “the guy”, he’s a complimentary player on a good team that can provide good solid defense and potentially a spark like he did with the Mets.
It's so fucking weird man. Like he strikes out LESS with Detroit than he did with the Cubs, but it's like he traded off some of his K rate, to increase his contact rate a bit at a massive expense to his power. How the fuck did he manage to make such unsustainable methods work well for so long but he gets to Detroit and the wheels fall off? I'm chalking his fall off to the expression "Can't have shit in Detroit." I look forward to him hitting 30 homers for the Dodgers playing on the vet minimum in a few years
it’s not weird, like you said.. “ can’t have shit in detroit” and that’s exactly it. he just doesn’t want to be here and it shows in the way he carries himself on the field.
Why don't the Tigers try batting him in the cleanup spot? Despite only hitting .183 he is only 4 RBIs behind the team lead. He hits .390 with runners in scoring position versus only .124 with nobody on. In case you think that's a fluke he is hitting .316 with runners in scoring position since joining the Tigers in 2022. The Tigers have only batted him in batting positions 6 through 9 in 2024. I think it's worth a shot if they batted him anywhere from 3-5 in the order as he would get more chances with runners in scoring position and it might boost his confidence and production.
As a Cubs fan I think him leaving Chicago hurt more than anything. He needs the fans. We loved him and he loved the fans. He fed off of that energy. You can't get that in New York, or Detroit.
I think what happened is more of… well: Baseball is getting more statistically advanced every year and these days flailing sluggers like Javy are fading away because pitchers know how to pitch to them. His approach has never changed sure he’s “older” but he’s only 31. And I don’t think he’s got rich and doesn’t care anymore, I doubt that… just his breed of hitters aren’t as good/aren’t good enough for the bigs anymore. (Edit: I also think he got really comfortable with Wrigley and the kind folks over there, and he couldn’t adapt to different home)
The thing is he was such a good defender he doesn't need to be a league avg hitter to be a good player. And defense shouldn't fade like this. So either hes hurt or hes really got the yips
Such a fun baseball player. Always an amazing defensive player and average hitter, but now he is mentally screwed. Just like Justin Fields, athleticism is there but mentally not there
Javy Baez has always been like this with chasing pitches, took the league a few years to figure it out but even in his Cubs days you could throw him nothing but down and away sliders and he would strike himself out before taking a walk
He’s no longer in a lineup with Bryants Rizzo Bryant Schwarber Contreras etc. Without clogged base paths pitchers no longer hae to give him pitches in the zone to the point he’ll swing at pick off attempts.
Every Tigers fan out there: "why the hell did we pay him that much." Me also a Tigers fan: "pain." edit: feels weird as hell seeing a player that had high highs, then just crash and burn after moving in another org.
People that baez problems are mental or confidence dont know baseball very well, its purely mechanical. The 2 -3 bat twirls over his head during the swing make it impossible to hit well. It makes for a convoluted long swing causing the need to commit early to swing. The reason he got away with this earlier in his career was younger players have better batspeed and reflexes. Typically in late 20s these skills erode and necessitate better, simpler, shorter hitting mechanics. The chickens have come home to roost with his poor mechanics. Nobody on the planet can hit todays MLB pitching with its velo. Getting down to the brass tacks mechanically- the bottom of the bat needs to point to the pitcher as soon as possible- Baez instead points the top of the bat at the pitcher with his bat twirls well before swinging forward. If hes interested in staying in Detroit he needs to change his swing if he wants to move to miami for example dont change anything and get cut from team, move to Miami and then change his swing. Regarding good stretches of hitting its just guessing right on pitches occasionally.
I remember Joe Maddon saying something a long the lines of, "I don't want to couch these guys out of doing they do naturally well". Basically, trying to tinker and perfect the players might do the opposite. Maybe he saw that trying to get Javy to be something he wasn't would rob him of what made him special. Looks like he might have been right.
I honestly think he’d go back to being a good player if traded to the Cubs. He’s still incredibly skilled. I rly think he j needs a vibe shift. He’s genuinely a good dude. This gotta be a mental health thing or something, his world beating skill didn’t just vanish..
It’ll come out in July. I had some writer’s block trying to tie everything together. I was gonna work on it next, but due to some matters behind the scenes, I’m having to push it back to July.
I refuse to believe anything other than he got his bag and just straight up stopped trying. I fully believe he's capable of being the player he was with the cubs if he wants, but he never will. Poor tigers
Báez was never that great of a player and was seriously overrated during his "good" years. He has always been undisciplined and impatient but was buoyed up by raw athleticism. Some flashy defense and good luck at the plate tricked everyone into thinking he was a better player than he was. Nothing "happened to him," his performance just regressed to the level of the player he always truly was.
Dude he's a FUCKING MONSTER with runners on and especially in scoring position. I wonder if the heat of the moment/weight of it causes him to not be able to over think and in turn just be able to preform
@@User-b9q2z with RISP the benefit of putting the ball in play is higher relative to a walk than when the bases are empty. There are productive outs, and even if you put a bad pitch in play and it does nothing it’s still more defensible than when the bases are empty. For a guy like Baez, that probably takes a lot of pressure off.
It hurts especially as a Tigers fan who was excited about the signing as at the time it seemed like a huge upgrade over the Willi/Harold Castro tandem and should've provided a much needed offensive boost
This reminds me of jerry hadley. A tenor with a great voice, but as he developed his technique was changed by coaches who wanted him to fill a certain role. Those technique changes ruined his voice, which ruined his career, and he committed harakiri. Sometimes you actually literally need to tell your coaches to f off
There is very few players who get their bag and are ok with being trash. Most people in life want to do good at their job. Yes there is athletes like this, Albert Haynesworth is a great example, Javy does not seem like him. Players like Javy have commented about depression when they go through stuff like this.
This is such a weird take for people who made it to professional sports. Like "Hey, I dedicated 20 of my 27 years on this earth to this game and since I'm now rich I'm going to feel fulfillment from money and not the thing I love. fuck off now please and thanks." like?
Thank god the Phillies didn't sign him or bryant. They were heavy after Bryant with Alec Bohn waiting in the minors. Our SS/3B with Bohm and turner at their age is going be tops in the MLB for years. Imagine Javier playing that lazy baseball in Philly
I wanted him to be a hall of famer so badly. Not only is that not going to happen, he's so close to being demoted to the minors I worry he won't be around much longer in MLB at this point.
0:38 this was by far the stupidest play I've ever seen at the major league level. It's not like Baez did anything amazing, Will Craig just literally forgot one of the simplest rules in baseball.
Tbf I’ve never seen a runner retreat to home plate down the first base line. I’d say the play was 60% Craig forgetting how to play baseball but 40% Javy doing something so out of convention that it broke his opponent’s brain.
Even if he did take the same approach as in Chicago you have to look at what lineup he was apart of. Pitchers knew he would swing at anything but the couldn't afford to walk him with such a deep lineup so they attacked and he took advantage. On the Tigers they don't even have to enter the zone against him, if he was the same hitter in Chicago he would be better but I don't think we'd be talking about a star player.
I got back into baseball again last year and only knew Baez as the guy who was nice on the infield but was rancid at the plate. Seeing him blast balls in my other favorite team's uniform blew my mind. Did not know he had it in him. Sounds like he needs to get hungry for competition again. I know my Tigers aren't amazing, but he could be the guy who sparks something to get them going. There's a lot of potential in that club and I want that Baez I saw smashing wild pitches like Vladdy G to show up again. Also the direct look at the camera for the "What else are friends for?" bit got me good. Love the channel man.
I’m a Phillies fan primarily and a Tigers fan second and I wanted the Mets to screw up and resign Baez so bad. I used to be a Tigers fan but stupidity like this made me quit them. A Baez highlight reel makes you think, is this guy incredible or what? A Baez lowlight reel has you thinking, how is he in the league swinging at pitches that hit the ground four feet in front of him?
