Detroit Tigers: First Week Overreactions
An IBWAA writer reviews the good and bad from the first week for the Tigers
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . The Detroit Tigers on August 4, 2024 trailed the Cleveland Guardians by 15 games and trailed the final Wild Card by 10 games. From that point, the Tigers went 32-16 to earn a Wild Card spot, coming within 6.5 games of the Guardians in the division by the end of the season.
. . . Incredibly, the 2024 Tigers in the first half and second half had nearly equal offensive output. The team hit .234/.300/.388 in the first half and hit worse (barely) in the second half, .234/.300/.382. It was the pitching that fueled the remarkable turnaround, as the Tigers allowed 4.33 runs per game in the first half, but cut that by nearly a run in the second half, allowing 3.42 runs per game.
Leading Off
Detroit Tigers: First Week Overreactions
By Joe Underhill
The first week plus of baseball is in the books, and fans of the sport are trying to decide if what they have seen so far will continue for the season. Will this be the season of the “torpedo” bat? Will Aaron Judge hit 138 home runs (no, he won’t), will the Dodgers win 140 games (no, but they will win a lot), and for fans of the Detroit Tigers, here are a few overreactions and reality checks.
Riley Greene will finish in the top three for AL MVP. Greene is off to a sizzling start, hitting over .340 with an OPS over 1.000 and an OPS+ over 200. The reality? Greene probably won’t maintain a .340 batting average, but if he can continue to have good at-bats, coupled with his very good outfield defense, he easily will become the first Tiger since Miguel Cabrera to finish in the top five in MVP voting.
Spencer Torkelson will win the comeback player of the year award. Torkelson has had a phenomenal start to the season. He’s slashing .320/.469/.520 with an OPS of .989. Those numbers will probably come down, but the reality is that Tork looks comfortable in the box and is looking like the hitter everyone thought he would be when he was selected first overall in 2020. Torkelson still needs to fight to keep a spot in the lineup. He’s getting first base reps with Gleyber Torres on the IL, but when he returns, Colt Keith will slide back to first, unless, of course, Tork continues to obliterate baseballs.
Tarrik Skubal will finish the year with an ERA above 5! Um…Nope. The first two starts have not been Skubal’s best work, but he has shown he is still able to dial into elite stuff, and after a rough start in Seattle, Skubal locked in and struck out eight Mariners. Skubal is still one of the elite pitchers in baseball, and if Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize continue to pitch like they have, the Tigers will have an elite rotation.
The Tigers will have a roster crunch soon. Not an overreaction. Right now, Justyn-Henry Malloy has played better offensively than his counting numbers currently show; he’s played well enough, in fact, that he, along with Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter, is creating a good challenge for manager AJ Hinch. All three have DH as a central part of their current roster role. Both Carpenter and Torkelson can play at least average defense but don’t have a position to call their own with the current roster construction. When Vierling and Perez are ready to come off the IL, the Tigers will have to start making some hard decisions.
Javy Baez and Kenta Maeda will be cut before the trade deadline. Javy has looked healthy this year, and he is playing good defense at both third and his traditional shortstop. However, he is making almost no impact offensively, and if that doesn’t turn around the defense and the contract won’t be enough to keep him on the roster. Maeda is facing a similar challenge. He lost out on the competition in spring training for the rotation, and, so far, he has not been able to find the rhythm he had coming out of the bullpen in the second half of last season. If he does not find a way to be more effective soon, the Tigers will eat the rest of his contract.
Joe Underhill is a high school administrator and diehard baseball fan and fan of the city of Detroit. Joe currently writes for the HTP Newsletter. You can follow Joe on Twitter @TransplantedDet and @transplanteddet.bsky.social
Extra Innings
Today is the first birthday that Adrian Beltre will celebrate as an inducted Hall of Famer. Beltre was inducted in July 2024 and celebrates his 46th birthday today. Here is his Hall of Fame speech from last year: