MLB · SS · Detroit Tigers
Javier Báez
B/T R/R · 5' 11" · 190 lb · born Bayamon, Puerto Rico · age 33 · draft 2011 rd 1 · played SS 38, CF 15, 2B 12, LF 10, +1 more · MLB debut 2014-08-05
196 plate appearances scored this season His season card →
A moment
Michael Soroka's immaculate inning — Michael Soroka struck out the side on nine pitches. Nine pitches, three strikeouts, one pitcher, and no ball ever called. Read it →
Scout’s note
Javier Báez is a 33-year-old shortstop from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a first-round pick in 2011 who debuted in August 2014. In 1,406 games he has 196 homers, 705 RBI, and 1,444 strikeouts — a career of electricity and swings. His last MLB game: 1 for 2 with an RBI.
Note written · FVR scout (GLM-5.2)
Where he stands
throughAgainst the 406 qualified major-league hitters — 100+ balls in play this season, the same field the boards are chosen out of. Right is better on every row.
- EV95103.823
- Deserved (xVal)0.32521
- Got (aVal)0.33432
- Luck gap (park-adjusted)flipped0.01627
today · 30 days ago, against the 375 men who qualified then · the tick is the midpoint · the number at the right is the percentile, the number beside it the measurement itself.
What he’s paid
ArbitrationA market fact, not an engine read: what a club decided about him, on the season before this one. Figures from Cot’s.
- 2026 salary
- $24.00M
- Tax hit
- $23.33M
- Service time
- 11 yr 89 d
- Guaranteed
- $140M
The deal 6 years $140M (2022–2027) — $23.3M a year on average, worked out by us rather than stated on the sheet, and not the same thing as the tax hit above
On the sheet: 6 y/$140M (22-27) · agent Wasserman · 2 / 3 options left
After this season, as the sheet has it
| Season | 2028 |
|---|---|
| Cash | Free agent |
| Tax hit | — |
Regime flagged: the sheet's out-year codes read arbitration and 11.089 reads free_agency. Kept the sheet's; Super Two and optional assignments move this line and the service boundary cannot see them.
Cash and the tax hit are two different rulebooks and are never subtracted from one another — see the payroll board for his club, Detroit Tigers.
A second set of books
The same contract, read by MLB Spreadsheets (Ethan Hullihen), as of . We keep two sources on this because one source cannot check itself.
- Tax AAV
- $23.3M
- Guaranteed
- $140.0M
- Term
- 6 yrs
What the sheet prices each season at
| Season | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Salary | $24.0M | $24.0M |
A base salary under his own reading, and never subtracted from the cash figure above: a signing bonus lands in one and not the other, so the two disagree on most men without either being wrong. And the sheet does not mark which future seasons are GUARANTEED — a club option and a projected arbitration award are both just a number here, so read past the end of the deal as his forecast rather than as money owed.
The tax AAV above is his number under the CBA’s own rulebook, not the average we work out from Cot’s total. On a contract with deferred money the two come apart on purpose — and neither is subtracted from the other.
The Wire
△ On the field: Seaver King tracking toward the Javier Baez trajectory projected before the 2024 draft.
X chatter, trailing 2 days · as of 2026-10-12 · newest post 2026-10-10 · summarized by Grok (xAI) · how this works →
Collect Javier Báez
If the signal is right, the cardboard usually finds out later. Current listings:
Javier Báez cards on eBay →Paid link — as an eBay Partner, FVR earns from qualifying purchases.
Umpire favor
-1.5 net runs over 16 graded games — the zone cost the umpire more than it gave, on balance.
The line
Bio & season lines: MLB StatsAPI · refreshed nightly · abbreviations →