Detroit Tigers rookie Wenceel Pérez uses posture adjustment to find line-drive swing

TORONTO — Detroit Tigers outfielder Wenceel Pérez hasn't struggled through a prolonged slump in his rookie season, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been forced to make adjustments along the way to stick around in the big leagues.

A mechanical adjustment helped him escape his mini-slump running from mid-May to mid-June.

It was all about his posture at the plate.

"His temperament is excellent," manager A.J. Hinch said. "He's very coachable. And he's fearless. The thing I've appreciated the most about him, it's just been his lack of fear. ... He's very comfortable in the box. He's in control of his at-bats. He's learning how to take a game plan into the game. He's contributing."

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Pérez hit .301 with a .904 OPS in the first 29 games of his MLB career. After that, he hit .180 with a .450 OPS in the next 20 games. Since then, Pérez is hitting .293 with a .764 OPS in his latest 29 games.

The 24-year-old, a switch-hitter, has hit three of his six home runs in his past 50 plate appearances, including a clutch two-run home run in Friday's 5-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

"The bat-to-ball strength is really good with him," Hinch said after Friday's victory. "The majority of it is hunting a pitch, taking a game plan into it and him not missing it. We'll take the power when it comes, but his decision-making is usually really good in the batter's box, and that helps him."

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During the mini-slump, Pérez changed his posture to lean out over the plate because opposing pitchers were targeting him by throwing up-and-away fastballs. As a result, he was hitting outside pitches in the air and inside pitches on the ground — a bad result for a natural line-drive hitter.

"It's because they were pitching me outside so much, so I was trying to get there with my body," Pérez said. "I was leaning, and when they threw pitches in, it was a lot of ground balls. I was hitting so many ground balls, and I usually don't hit a lot of ground balls."

Watching videos of his swings helped Pérez adjust his posture.

He likes to stand straight up with balance in the batter's box.

"When I practice, I try to be as high as possible," Pérez said. "I have a couple drills to help me."

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In 2024, Pérez is hitting .264 with six home runs, 22 walks and 61 strikeouts across 78 games. He also has 12 doubles and five triples, along with seven steals in 10 attempts. His .264 batting average ranks ninth and his .725 OPS ranks 12th among 36 rookies qualified for the batting title.

He is always trying to counter the way pitchers are attacking him.

"You have to try to adjust every day," Pérez said, "try to see how the pitchers are trying to work you, like what pitches they're trying to get me out with. When I realize how they're going to work me, it's trying to hit my pitches."

That's a daily adjustment.

So far, Pérez is passing the biggest test of his professional career while setting a foundation of success to build upon.

"It's tough," Pérez said, "but you have to be in the fight and compete. It's hard, but you have to compete every pitch. Never give up."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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