Detroit Tigers shortstop Javy Baez lost track of the number of outs and his own humility against the Toronto Blue Jays.
At his best, Javy Baez was one of the better shortstops in all of baseball. It’s why the Detroit Tigers gave him a six-year, $140 million contract to begin with. But that deal has backfired and then some.
Baez routinely swings at pitches outside the zone. His baseball savant page is full of doom and gloom. Still, Javy’s glove and awareness on the basepaths kept him in the Tigers lineup despite being a rally-killer. That’s no longer the case, as Baez was the latest Detroit player to make an unforgivable mistake on the bases.
A.J. Hinch made an example of Baez and pulled him from the game.
Tigers: Javy Baez wasn’t pleased A.J. Hinch pulled him
“My mind is everywhere right now. I’m just trying to focus on my hitting and my timing. The only reason I lost the count of the outs, it was because I was hitting sixth. I thought I was the third batter in that inning. That’s the only reason,” Baez said postgame.
It really shouldn’t matter where Baez is hitting in the lineup to check the number of outs in the inning. That lack of awareness cannot fly at the major-league level, and his excuse isn’t worth the time of day.
“Anybody can make a mistake. At this point, the way we’re playing, and the way I’m playing, it’s obviously going to be worse. If I’m hot and I have seven homers and I make that same mistake, I would have stayed in the game. But I got no excuses,” Baez said, after making an excuse.
Baez considers himself the poster boy for the Tigers’ issues, but he’s one of the worst examples of them. Somewhere, Scott Harris threw a tantrum. Thankfully, Detroit actually won a game.