Head Down and Keep Working: How Izaac Pacheco Is Carving His Own Path to the Majors

COMSTOCK PARK — Step, step, step, step…scoop, throw.

Step, step, step, step…scoop, throw.

The West Michigan Whitecaps had just concluded their pregame work and were making their way back to the clubhouse to prepare for the game. In the infield, Izaac Pacheco was still at third base, taking ground balls.

Step, step, step, step…scoop, throw.

For the Detroit Tigers’ 2021 second-round draft pick, the early work has been a routine all season, and that routine is what has kept his feet under him through the highs and lows of the last few years. Since Pacheco’s high school career in Friendswood, Texas, Friendswood head baseball coach Cory Benavides could see early on that Pacheco was cut from a different cloth.

“Izaac, since he was very young, has always had eyes on him,” Benavides said. “The expectations from the outside for him to always succeed has been part of his life, whether he liked it or not. The spotlight, if you will, has always been around him. Of course, as his coach, teaching and coaching baseball-specific skills is what we do. But more than that, my main focus with Izaac, as well as our team and program, has always been: ‘how to handle pressure, the outside, the spotlight, and failure.'”

The sessions of early work became the norm. The Friendswood baseball team continues to live by the phrase “Head down and keep working,” so when adversity surfaced, dwelling on the issue was never an option. For Pacheco, finding a way over the mountain is simply how he’s always been wired.

“This phrase is our culture,” Benavides said. “No matter what’s going on. At the top of the mountain, or in the valley. Good or bad. Head down and work. Izaac has always been a ‘I’m going to find a way’ person. I strongly believe that this characteristic (along with others) is why he and I have a strong bond together. When you are at the top, your failures are more magnified. The outside likes to tell you, you can’t do something. For him, he takes that in stride and uses it for good.

“The early work wasn’t something that Izaac did every once and a while. This was the norm for him. We have an indoor hitting facility on campus. Through Izaac’s four years, year-round (summer included when he was in town), he would come get my keys to get his work in. This is a testament to who he is. Of course, as his coach, his talent and what he did on the baseball field is what you want. But what he did to impact this program goes far beyond that.

“He taught and showed his teammates and the younger generation how to work. That it takes everything you have and more. Before you knew it, our entire program was following his lead. Till this day, even though Izaac has been graduated for four years now, his work ethic continues to bleed into this program.”

As Pacheco moved into his professional career, the adversity did come.

He was forced to the injured list in 2022, followed by a move to the 60-day injured list in 2024, after undergoing surgery to repair a hamate bone injury in his right hand.

“Head down and keep working.”

2024 Offseason

Limited to 81 games in 2024 due to injury, the offseason meant it was back to the drawing board for Pacheco.

“Injuries are tough obviously. I think it’s mental and physical,” Pacheco said. “Whenever I go through an injury, let’s say it was my ankle, then let’s work on my upper body. I want to try and do something when I’m down to get better. I think it’s easy for us, when we’re injured, to not work on anything else. So, that’s what I try to do whenever I was off for a couple weeks. Try and do something to get better in another aspect of my game.”

This included a diet overhaul. Pacheco cut eating out from his eating routine and began cooking his own meals. This began the physical toning.

After slashing .224/.299/.348 during the 2024 season, Pacheco shifted his focus back to cage work, spending extended time with his offseason hitting coach, Alex Ochoa, in Miami with a focus on tightening up his swing mechanics.

Pacheco has never been small, and at 6-foot-3, the challenge of being “long levered” offensively is learning how to maximize the use of those limbs, while finding a way to successfully marry the two.

“I’m so long, and I think it’s very easy for me to have a long swing,” Pacheco said. “In today’s game, everyone is throwing 95 to 100 mph, and that just is not going to work. So, I worked with my hitting coach back home, and his big thing is to be short and quick to the ball. I think because of my long levers, I can use that as my strength. If I’m short and quick to the ball, I’m going to have the power to explode on the ball where I don’t need to do so much. You know what I mean?

“It’s really about trying to be a little bit tighter in my body. Then, when I go to fire, how direct can I be with my hands and my barrel to the ball? After that, letting whatever happens, happen. I think in my setup, trying to be tight, because if I’m long in my setup, I’m going to have a long swing. I’m going to wrap around the ball. I’m going to pull balls. So, I think just being in my setup, being short and tight, and then when I go to fire, how direct can I beat the ball?

“To be honest, I don’t think too much of my lower half. I try and just stay into the ground in my setup. And then I’m not a big guy where I think about my back hip or stuff like that. I think that my legs are already rooted to the ground. I like to say like tree trunks, tree trunks in my setup. Then I let them just naturally go to the ball, and I try not to think too much about them.”

2025 Regular Season

In his return to High-A West Michigan, Pacheco’s swing work continued with new West Michigan hitting coach Matt Malott. This meant more cage work, mechanics tightening and hitting off the tee.

The results weren’t immediate, and as Pacheco has learned, the refinement process doesn’t happen overnight.

In April, the 22-year-old slashed .212/.366/.364 with seven hits, three extra-base hits and three RBI for the Whitecaps.

“Head down and keep working.”

Fast forward to May, a switch flipped, and Pacheco exploded. Over 24 games, the Texas native cranked out 28 hits, 15 extra-base hits, 22 RBI and raised his April OPS of .730 to 1.067. The League took notice, and Pacheco was named Midwest League Player of the Week.

If you know Pacheco, you won’t be surprised that the work didn’t stop there. He was back on the field and in the cage with Mallot, polishing and pushing to get a little bit better.

“Matt [Malott] does a great job of sending out reports of the bullpen a couple days before we’re going to face them,” Pacheco said. “I like to watch videos. I like to take notes on the pitchers and little stuff that I see. For my cage routine, I like to do tee. I like to set it up in the middle of my body, so I can kind of stay direct, like we talked about. Maybe backspin it a little bit to the left side, then I’ll do tee. I’ll do side toss, which I like to do because it helps me stay more direct. I don’t do front toss because I feel like it’s a little bit easier to manipulate your swing, which is why I like to do side toss because it’s a little bit harder to stay on top.

“Then Matt and I will do dead arms. He throws fastballs to me for one round, and then the next round we’ll do mixed where he tries to get me out basically. A little more game-like situations. I just do machine after, but it’s super simple. I’m not a huge drill guy. I love my tee. That’s my bread and butter. I’ve been doing that since I was three years old. I love it. Especially when you struggle, I think if you go back to your tee and the ball’s just sitting there, you can really work on mechanics or whatever you work on.”

On May 25, before the game, Pacheco used his early work in the cage to focus on facing pitches he had been struggling against, specifically cutters away.

That evening in the bottom of the ninth inning, Pacheco came to the plate and punched a walk-off grand slam, the first in West Michigan’s franchise history.

And the pitch he drove over the wall? A cutter away.

“Head down and keep working.”

Defensive Work

At the third base corner, Pacheco is continuing to tighten his rhythm. He’s been there before, but this year is tighter. Even scouts have remarked on a noticeable boost in confidence behind his footwork and arm slot in the field.

“That’s not the same kid I saw last year,” an American League scout said. “I didn’t even write him up last year. That is not the same guy. He’s tighter, swing looks so much better, and you can tell he trusts himself a lot more. He grew up.”

Under the watchful eye of Tigers’ roving infield instructor Alan Trammell, Pacheco is treating his defensive development the same as his work in the batting cage.

“Head down and keep working.”

“We’re working a lot on my backhand and different types of foot patterns,” Pacheco said. “When I know I have more time, I can do a certain type of play with my legs, and if I know I have a guy that’s a fast guy, I’m going to have the ball out quick. So, just working on that and different arm angles in the backhand. We have some amazing coaches here. I try and long toss as much as I can. I think that helps a little bit. Whenever we’re doing infield work, I try and work on getting on top of the ball, get a little bit of backspin.

“If you’re playing second, it’s a little bit easier to flick the ball. You can still flick it at third when you’re running in, but the backhand plays or the hard shots right at us, we have to get a little more on top. I think it’s all muscle memory, to be honest. I think if we work on it a lot, and if you trust it, then you go in the game and naturally you’ll be all right.”

With the postseason right around the corner, if you get to the park early enough, you’re likely to see Pacheco out at third base before the game.

Step, step, step, step…scoop, throw.

Still shy of his 23rd birthday, the Friendswood High School alum currently holds single-season career-highs in home runs, RBI, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS and has tied his single-season highs in runs scored, doubles and triples.

“Head down and keep working.”

Routine is what Pacheco knows, and it comes easy for him. But, knowing there is a stronger version of himself attainable, don’t expect him to slow down anytime soon.

“Everyone has a different journey to the big leagues,” Pacheco said. “I don’t call them my struggles; they were my learning experiences. I wouldn’t change my journey for anything.”