DETROIT >> Wenceel Perez’s face lit up when he was asked where his confidence level was right now.

“Oh my gosh,” he said. “It’s so high right now.”

Admittedly, minutes after he produced a homer, triple and knocked in three runs in the Tigers’ 7-3 win Tuesday, that was a leading question. But his answer wasn’t bravado. His confidence has been hard-earned.

“I’ve worked so much during the offseason,” he said. “I’ve worked so much my entire career. That’s why I have that confidence. I work so much, I know what I’m able to do.”

The switch-hitting Perez, still only 25 years old, is off to a sizzling start, with five homers in 62 plate appearances and hitting .316 with a .702 slug and 1.057 OPS.

“He’s a really good hitter,” Javier Báez said. “He takes almost every at-bat deep, like to 3-2. He sees a lot of pitches. And he’s really focused on what we try to work on every day here.”

We are watching a hitter mature right before our eyes and the real growth has come from the right side of the plate. That’s always been his least productive side of the plate. Not so much any more.

“He’s messing up some scouting reports that have him stronger from the left side,” manager AJ Hinch said. “And he has been. But there’s some pop in that bat and he flexed it tonight.”

He flexed it two games in a row. He doubled and homered off Reds’ lefty Wade Miley on Sunday before lining a pull-side homer off Pirates’ lefty Bailey Falter on Tuesday.

Perez went into Wednesday 5 for 12 with two homers and two doubles against left-handed pitching. Last season, albeit in a much larger sample size, he slashed .209/.292/.302 with one home run.

Two things have helped him get to his right-handed A-swing more often. One is a mindset. He’s no longer just trying to put the ball in play from the right side.

“He going to make contact,” Hinch said. “And that’s huge. But now he’s hunting damage, which is encouraging as he’s trying to contribute in different ways.”

The second adjustment has been mechanical.

“I’ve turned my front (left) foot in trying to stay more inside to the ball,” Perez said. “I had been opening up a little too quickly.”

If you open your hips too quickly, you pull off the ball and lose the power in your swing. Statcast data shows Perez, batting right-handed, is standing three inches deeper in the box than he was last year and is getting off his fast swing 3% more often.

Additionally, he’s squaring up 66.7% of the balls he’s put in play in the small sample, compared to 28.9% last season.

Vierling pushing it

Matt Vierling, for the second day in a row, increased the intensity of his throwing program. He was simulating throwing on the run and was throwing nearly full speed.

“Just trying to do my best to stack heavy days,” he said.

“So when I come back, I am used to the volume and intensity and be prepared.”

Vierling has missed all but four games this season working his way through a rotator cuff injury.