Turns out all Javy Báez needed was for Tigers fans to give up on him

For the past three seasons, Javy Báez has been the No. 1 enemy of Detroit Tigers fans. Now, he's the team's No. 1 center fielder, and those same fans are loving every minute of it.

The fact that Báez – who has been a shortstop his entire career – even got a look at center speaks to the desperation level of a Tigers team that lost Parker Meadows, Matt Vierling, Wenceel Pérez and Manuel Margot during spring training (or shortly thereafter). But what started as a desperate stopgap measure quickly became a catalyst for Báez's renaissance and the Tigers' surge to the top of the American League standings.

"Defensively, we lost three center fielders in spring training," Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris told Christian Romo of the Detroit Free Press. "So we had to think of anything, we had to be really creative. And from the moment we threw him out there, we thought, 'Hey, this guy is getting really good jumps, really good reads, his route efficiency is really high, this guy can really play the position.'"

With Báez's newfound defensive success came a resurgence at the plate. After slashing .221/.262/.347 while averaging 11 home runs and 54 RBI per year during the first three seasons of his six-year, $140 million contract, the 32 year-old is slashing .291/.326/.485 with six homers and 28 RBI in 2025.

Just when Tigers fans had begun to give up on Báez, he has started to make them believe again – and it hardly feels like a coincidence.

Turns out all Javy Báez needed was for Tigers fans to give up on him

Harris noted that, in addition to seeing improved results, Báez is playing more "free and loose" than he had during his first three seasons with the club. In other words, lowered expectations appear to have made Báez a better player.

"When he signed here, I think he expected that he had to be the guy here," Harris said of Báez. "He doesn't have to be the guy for us, he just has to find ways to contribute in the box, on the field, on the base paths, even just by a tag, or something like that. And he can do it."

When a team signs a player to a contract of that size, that player is indeed expected to be "the guy." As it turns out, Báez was always capable of being that for the Tigers, as long as they didn't ask him to be. After all, no singular player could have came to the Tigers when he did and turned around what was a completely lost franchise. It takes an entire team, which is what this roster has come to be. And Báez has found his role to keep the engine rolling.

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