Detroit — You just never know what life is going to throw at you.
Or who.
In 2014, Javier Báez was on the verge of breaking into the big leagues with the Chicago Cubs. He had, in three pro seasons and still only 21 years old, climbed all the way to Triple-A Iowa. He hit 37 homers in 2013 between High-A and Double-A.
But he got off to a rough start against Triple-A pitching. On May 6, he was hitting .141 with three home runs and 33 strikeouts in 87 plate appearances.
Guess who came into his life at that point?
None other than Manny Ramirez. With his 555 career homers, his .312 career batting average, his career .996 OPS, his two World Series rings, his World Series MVP hardware, his 12 All-Star Game appearances, Ramirez was hired by the Cubs in 2014 to serve as a player-coach at Triple-A Iowa.
It didn’t take long for Báez and Ramirez to connect, both on the field and on a human level. Báez’s uncle died that year and Ramirez was a rock for him emotionally.
More to the point of Baez’s baseball career, though, Ramirez taught him a trick that he has used this month to get himself back on track. He showed Báez how to re-engage his top hand in his swing by gripping the bat with the hands slightly separated.
“It was a drill we did,” Báez said. “It felt comfortable. It didn’t allow my hands to rollover.”
It helped him stay through the ball, too, which helped him drive balls through the middle and to the big part of the field, especially on outside pitches.
By the time Báez earned his first call-up to the Cubs in early August of 2014, he was hitting .290 with a .910 OPS and 20 home runs.
Thank you, Manny.
Flash ahead to the end of August, 2022. Báez was hitting .224, striking out every four at-bats, hitting a career-low 11 homers and grounding out more than he ever has in his life (54%). The frustration was gnawing at him
Finally, before the Tigers hosted the Royals on Sept. 2, Báez flashed back on Ramirez’s trick. He went into the batting cage and started taking swings with his hands separated.
He’d done it off and on throughout the season, but this time something felt different.
“The way I was swinging, I wasn’t really feeling my hands,” he said. “So I thought I would separate my hands so I would start using my top hand again. Out of nowhere, I just started to see the ball more, started using my top hand again and being more short to the ball.
“I started hitting it way harder.”
He homered that night against the Royals and until Royals’ ace Brady Singer hung an 0-for-4 on him Sunday, Baez was 12 for 34 (.352) in September with a double, triple and home run, knocking in eight runs and scoring five.
Significantly, too, as Ramirez preached, he wasn’t pulling off outside pitches as much. Instead of hitting rollover grounders to third or short, he started driving outside pitches up the middle.
“He wanted to feel the barrel,” manager AJ Hinch said. “But I think direction is more important than where his hands are or what he’s doing with his grip. Playing the game and taking the ball to the middle part of the field is a difference-maker for him.”
Báez sees the grip as a means to that end. But as Hinch said, old habits die hard.
“Yeah, it’s easy to say and hard to do,” he said. “But when the game rewards you for staying in the middle of the field and not so much for the pull-off ground balls to the left side or the out-in-front contact point — he’s a completely different hitter and that’s a good sign.”
Báez said separating his hands is more of a key, something he can go back to in order re-engage his top hand. It’s not like he’s going to turn himself into a batsman like Ty Cobb or Nap Lajoie.
“It’s just a little adjustment,” he said. “I think my hands move back and forth sometimes and I don’t even feel it. But as soon as I get that feeling and I can repeat it, it’s going to be really good for me.”
There are not enough games left for Báez to rescue this season statistically. It’s going to go down as the least productive offensive stretch of his career. But a hot September could certainly send him into the offseason, send him into the World Baseball Classic, in a better place — and both of those things could be a precursor to happier times in 2023.
“Hopefully,” said Baez, who has committed to play for Team Puerto Rico next March. “As long as I feel healthy and I feel good through the offseason. It’s going to be a big offseason, especially with these last two spring trainings (COVID and then the lockout) being so different.
“But you have to be smart, too. I need to keep my health through the season.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky