How do i deal with button mashers?

First of all let me preface by saying that im new to tekken and fighting games in general. I've played some street fighter where i played Ryu. Here in tekken 8 i chose to learn Kazuya as he was said to be an honest character. Ive learned my character a bit where i can at least execute the f, d, df moves besides the basic moves and learned a basic 60 dmg combo. defensively i struggle a little bit by sometimes somehow missing power crush and opponent getting counter hit instead, but what i struggle the most is against button mashers. Ops who will spam a safe string on block and proceed by either a throw or a fast low/mid depending on if im standing/crouching. I quite enjoy the mind games when ops arent button mashers, but lately as i reached rank dominator there are more and more button mashers who i feel i cant counterplay with kazuya and is very unfun to play against. This is not a rant, nor do i want a button that wins you the game, i just want to know if im missing something how do i counterplay this, or should i just change to another character who has faster moves and more options