Detroit — With any other player, this type of news would be eye-popping. A Gold Glove-winning shortstop suddenly, in the heat of the playoff chase, thrown into left field, a position he’s played in just two innings over his career, in the rubber game of an important division series.
Crazy, right?
Except, when that player is Javier Báez, it’s like, “Sure, why not.”
“He’s all in,” manager AJ Hinch said before the game Thursday. “Javier is a baseball player. I don’t worry about that part.”
Riley Greene, the club’s All-Star left fielder who has played in 117 of the team’s 120 games, is on the injured list with a right hamstring strain. Báez debuted successfully in center field last season, even making the All-Star team at that position. But with rookie Max Clark now entrenched as the everyday center fielder, that option has closed.
So, with the Guardians starting lefty Parker Messick, deploying Báez in left enabled Hinch to start right-handed hitting Hao-Yu Lee at third, move Kevin McGonigle to shortstop, keep Gleyber Torres at second and use catcher Eduardo Valencia as the designated hitter and produce a lineup that features seven right-handed hitters.
“Something was going to happen in game where we were going to have to put Javy on a corner,” Hinch said. “We talked about that a couple of days ago and something did happen now (with Greene) where some time opened up in left field. I think I have right field, first base and catcher left (in terms of positions Báez hasn’t played).
“No promises on any of those.”
Hinch said he put Báez in left field instead of right field, in part, because it’s the same side of the field as shortstop, where he’s played most of his career.
“I don’t know if it’s easier but it feels easier,” Hinch said. “I don’t know if there’s any real evidence behind that. It is an extension of shortstop and something outfield coaches have told me. But I was a catcher, man. I can’t tell you if left field is easier or not. It does have the same angles and the same looks.”
Báez won’t be the everyday replacement in left. And Hinch doesn’t expect him to stay out there for a full game unless Messick goes nine innings. James Outman and Ben Malgeri, who started in right field Thursday, will also share time in left.
Báez was out taking fly balls in left before the game Thursday. He concluded the drills by tracking a ball to the fence, leaping up and catching the ball before it flew into the bullpen.
“He’s told me over and over, he grew up as a baseball player,” Hinch said. “He can play anywhere.”
On deck: White Sox
▶ Series: Three games at Comerica Park, Detroit
▶ First pitch: Friday — 6:40 p.m.; Saturday — 1:10 p.m.; Sunday — 1:40 p.m.
▶ TV/radio: All games on DSN/97.1, 107.9
▶ Probables: Friday — TBA vs. RHP Jackson Jobe (1-0, 0.00); Saturday — LHP Anthony Kay (9-5, 3.96) vs. RHP Troy Melton (7-1, 1.46); Sunday — RHP Sean Burke (7-6, 2.99) vs. RHP Drew Anderson (4-4, 3.91)
▶ TBA, White Sox: The White Sox have not announced their starting pitcher.
▶ Jobe, Tigers: He certainly announced his return with authority Saturday in San Francisco, allowing just one hit over five scoreless innings with four strikeouts in his first start in 14 months after recovering from Tommy John surgery. He mixed and commanded all five of his pitches, with his four-seamer sitting at 98 mph and touching 100. He had 2,400-rpm ride on his four-seamer and got five whiffs on 17 swings.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Why not? Tigers' Javier Báez to make first career start in left field