Detroit Tigers president Scott Harris credits Javier Baez's positive reaction to his benching last month for the team's improved play since.

Baez was removed from a game on April 13 by A.J. Hinch after losing track of how many outs there were and running into a double play.

The infielder, in the second season of a six-year, $140 million contract, has since responded by hitting his first three home runs of the season during a stretch in which he's batting .321 and has raised his average to .256. 

The Tigers have gone 14-11 in those 25 games after starting the season 3-8.

"My takeaway from that whole benching incident was that A.J. did a great job of making a tough decision in a really high-pressure moment. But he did an even better job of messaging it," Harris said in an interview with MLB Network. "It wasn't just about Javy. We wanted to get to a place where we were playing clean, more competitive baseball in this organization. And that was a real turning point for our season.

"Since then, we've been playing a very aggressive brand of baseball, we've been pounding the zone, and we've been trying to get into better counts on both sides of the ball. And A.J. has done a great job of picking his spots and getting players ready to come through in high-leverage moments. I think Javy is one of the leaders on the team. He sets the tone for the entire team. And it's been really fun to watch him respond to that moment."