By Morris Phillips
OAKLAND–The last seven seasons for the Detroit Tigers have been losing ones. That’s a tough stretch, especially after one losing season in the nine prior to that, three consecutive ALCS berths and one World Series appearance in 2012.
What was desperately needed was a youthful core with promise, and manager AJ Hinch has that offensively even if he has to reference his crew of young hitters somewhat negatively when asked about some of the statistical oddities the group has compiled in a season filled with fits and bursts.
“We have a lot of young hitters,” Hinch admits.
And young hitters do confounding things. The Tigers hitting group—subtracting the oft-injured Javier Baez, and the pair traded at the deadline, Gio Urshela and Mark Canha—is similarly under age 30 and getting their first opportunity to do damage at the Major League level in Detroit. One head scratching pattern that’s emerged is the group doesn’t hit for average, but they do hit significantly better with runners in scoring position.
And if that’s hard to digest, Sunday’s methods should explain. The Tigers’ pitching, led by bulk dude Ty Madden, shut down the A’s for seven innings, and a 3-1 lead was realized. But in the eighth, the Tigers batted around, pushed across six more, and cruised 9-1.
“Eighth innings have been kind to us all year,” Hinch summarized.
Colt Keith, who had two of the Tigers’ 16 hits, and the seventh and final hit of their big eighth, piggybacked Hinch, saying, “we do play all nine innings.”
Riley Greene is the key guy, the barometer for the hit club at Comerica Park. The 23-year old was the fifth overall pick in 2019, but his ascent has been slowed by a broken foot in 2022 and Tommy John surgery on his non-throwing elbow in 2023. Completely healthy this season, he was named an All-Star for the first time. Greene has career-bests in extra-base hits (50) while drawing 23 more walks than he did in either of his first two seasons. Greene’s biggest strides will come after he reduces his strikeouts, and he has work to do with 135 in just 119 games in 2024.
Matt Vierling, in his second season with the Tigers after bits of two seasons with the Phillies, also is establishing himself. But Vierling needs to improve his on-base ability while also cutting down on strikeouts (101 in 127 game appearances).
Wenceel Perez is another big name in Detroit’s renaissance, but he’s currently on the injured list with an oblique strain. In his place, and with Canha moved, Kerry Carpenter had a big August, renewing the promise he showed in 2023.
Keith, a rookie, had his big month in July and has parlayed his durability into the second base job with 111 starts this season. Spencer Torkelson had his breakout in 2023 despite hitting just .233. When his batting average dipped to .201 this year, he was demoted to Triple-A Toledo. But Torkelson is back in Detroit for playoff push and looking to realize the faith put upon him as the first overall pick in the 2020 draft.
The Tigers maintain a slim, 7 percent chance to make the post-season as they are handicapped by not having any remaining games against the Twins, the team closest to them in the wild card standings. At 72-70, the Tigers need to take full advantage of remaining home series against the Rockies and White Sox, the teams currently with the worst records in baseball.
A’s WELCOME FAN FAVORITE ADAM ROSALES: A look into Adam Rosales’ big league career is an invitation to witness frequent injuries, numerous stops, starts, and the needed resilience to navigate it all. Rosie had it rough, but he made it through 11 seasons by being a valued, unwavering source of positivity in Cincinnati, Texas, San Diego, Arizona, Cleveland, but mostly with the A’s in Oakland.
Rosales, back in Oakland, as part of the A’s successful campaign to bring back former players on home Sundays this season, recounted his career, and immediately pointed to 2012 as his most memorable season. Rosales pointed to then manager Bob Melvin as the key guy in his corner.
“The A’s let me develop,” he said. “Melvin was my favorite manager, and he always found a way to make me feel special.”
After hitting just .098 in 61 at-bats in 2011 with the A’s, Rosales could have evaporated. Instead, he remained in the team’s plans for 2012 in part due to his clubhouse presence along with his burning desire to stick at the big league level. But injuries, modest numbers, along with the looming presence of Grant Green (the A’s heir apparent at second base at that time) kept the organization from genuinely investing in Rosales.
But even that didn’t keep the Chicago native from making his mark. Rosie soon became known for his full sprint around the bases on homers he hit. The perpetual smile on his face told A’s opponents to back off from telling Rosales off regarding his showy trips around the bases. Rosales revealed a rationale centered in humility for his home run sprints.
“There’s too much emphasis on one hit,” he explained, in wanting kids that were watching him to know that the best celebration of a home run was quickly retreating to the dugout and planning to do something big in their next at-bat.
Ultimately, Rosales didn’t fit the Billy Beane profile for seeing a lot of pitches and hitting successfully deep in pitch counts. In fact, it was never clear if Rosales was a true big leaguer or a guy better framed as a “Four-A” prospect. He was released by the A’s in 2013, then in the next 11 days, released by the Texas Rangers without playing a game. The A’s reacquired Rosales, only to release him a second time. But those aren’t the stories he tells.
“I remember Grant Balfour coming into the game,” Rosales said, a nod to Balfour Rage, and the closer’s ridiculously hyped entrances to the Metallica song, “One.”
Sports Radio Service 