Lee seeing results as confidence grows in first big league season

This story was excerpted from Jason Beck's Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The sight of Hao-Yu Lee sprawled on the dirt near second base, writhing in pain, at Yankee Stadium on Monday night looked like the latest chapter in the Tigers’ season-long injury woes. He had just legged out a double and probably didn’t have to slide, but did so anyway. He was easily safe, but his slide didn’t carry him quite as far as expected.

“The dirt was a little bit soft, so I kind of just stuck the landing there,” Lee said through translator Peter Lin.

As he stuck, he felt pain.

“I was afraid,” he said. “At the moment, I just thought, 'Oh, this might be a big thing.' But afterwards, as I kind of moved around, I felt better and [the pain] just went away.”

A few weeks ago, the floppy landing could well have symbolized Lee’s slow start in the big leagues. His first MLB stint filling in for the injured Gleyber Torres had its moments, but not the production nor effectiveness he would’ve hoped. But quietly, his second go-around filling in for Torres has seen him more relaxed and productive, exemplifying the talent the Tigers thought highly enough of to fend off trade interest last summer.

“When you get experience, you tend to play with more freedom and play with a little bit more boldness,” manager A.J. Hinch said last weekend. “It’s hard to replace confidence, and the only way you get it up here is not by people telling you you’re good, or not by people convincing you that your best is good enough. It’s actually by being good and getting results.”

The results are there. Lee slashed .352/.375/.519 across 54 at-bats in June. His impressive power from Spring Training and the Minors is yet to emerge in the big leagues, but he has replaced it with more consistent contact and production. Lee hit .368 (7-for-19) on fastballs in June despite a 0.8 mph drop in average exit velocity (90.9 in March-May, 90.1 in June). He’s also doing more against breaking pitches (.379 average for June).

“First of all, I am not as nervous compared to last time I was here,” Lee said. “No matter if it's getting used to the routines here or getting used to a bigger crowd. Second, the hitting coaches have done a lot of work with me. We've been tweaking a lot of hitting impressions. It's been getting better and better. It's on the right track. And I want to give an appreciation towards the hitting coaches for doing that.”

With that comes confidence.

“When I first came up here, all of my hits, I didn't really hit it that well. It wasn't like quality contact, but it found its way to a hole to land,” Lee said. “And then when I actually turned it up, I actually felt like, 'Hey, I might be one of those hitters that the pitchers are afraid of right now.'”

Lee has also learned from watching and picking the brains of teammates, especially catcher Dillon Dingler.

“When he first came up, he went through the same experience that I have right now, making the transition,” Lee said.

Now that he’s settled, he’s starting to look more comfortable in the field as well as at the plate, from sliding catches to glove scoops, shovel tosses and quick tags.

“This is something that's natural to me,” Lee said. “It probably didn't show earlier because I wasn't that stable at hitting. I was trying to get into a groove. That really didn't show on the field, but as I'm getting more stabilized, I am able to show that on the field. My mindset is always to help the team.”