Javier Báez begins rehab stint with Triple-A Toledo after ankle injury

Javier Báez will begin his rehab assignment with Triple-A Toledo on Saturday after a brief stop in Lakeland, giving the Tigers a closer look at whether his right ankle is healthy enough to carry him back to Detroit. The assignment moves him one level away from the majors and gives the organization its next meaningful checkpoint in a recovery that has stretched since April 28.

Báez opened the rehab path with Single-A Lakeland on July 22 and singled in his first game back, a small but encouraging first step after missing the Tigers’ return to Wrigley Field, the ballpark where he built much of his early reputation. For a player whose value has always been tied to both impact and availability, the Toledo stop will matter less as a formality than as a test of whether he can sustain that start.

The Tigers shut Báez down from baseball activities in early June after he saw an ankle specialist, a reset that followed the setback in his recovery. Detroit had initially been navigating his absence after he suffered the ankle injury on April 28, and the club has now taken the next measured step by sending him from Lakeland to its Triple-A affiliate.

Toledo now becomes the proving ground for more than health alone. Báez is a veteran infielder with enough big-league track record to make every rehab at-bat a roster conversation, and the Tigers will be watching whether he moves well enough, hits the ball with authority and keeps stacking clean days at shortstop or wherever they choose to play him. A solid run with the Mud Hens would strengthen the case that his comeback is more than a medical milestone and could still become an on-field boost for Detroit before the season moves much further along.