The Detroit Tigers have not had a winning April since 2016. This season, they could be on the cusp of changing that and finally beginning the year on a positive note.
It’s been an interesting first 24 games. There have been cold bats and frustrating mistakes. There have also been thrilling wins, a lockdown bullpen and a lot of fun moments with a young team.
But what does it all mean? And what are the biggest questions the team faces going forward?
Let’s answer some reader questions to take stock of the Tigers’ season so far.
Is this team any good or nah? — Justin R.
Terrific question and one we talk about every week on the podcast. Here’s where I stand: The Tigers haven’t played very good baseball (though Monday’s win against the Tampa Bay Rays was one of their best overall games in years). They entered Tuesday ranking 25th in OPS. They do have pretty good pitching — their starters ranked ninth in ERA. The bullpen has been dominant but could be due to regress. Opponents have a .204 BABIP against Tigers relievers, the lowest in the league by a long shot. What’s most encouraging: The Tigers are 13-10 despite being far from hitting on all cylinders.
I don’t think this offense is ever going to take the league by storm, but I think it will get better as the year goes on. Right now, they’re not that good of a team in comparison to the league’s big boys. But if they can keep banking some wins, maybe we’ll look up at season’s end and feel pretty good about where they’re at.
Casey Mize is striking out 6.8 batters per every nine innings. Does he have enough swing-and-miss stuff to become a top-of-the-rotation starter? — Thomas W.
Back before Mize had Tommy John surgery, the ability to miss bats was the big talking point. It hasn’t quite translated to higher strikeout totals yet, but I’m actually more encouraged than ever about Mize’s ability to generate strikeouts. The improvements in his fastball have been well documented, and we’ve seen the splitter finally look like the potent pitch it was always billed as. I was, however, surprised to see Mize is so far generating fewer whiffs (19.6 percent) than he was even in 2021 (22.6 percent). It’s definitely something to monitor going forward.
Joey Cora and George Lombard are working extensively in the field with younger players like Colt Keith and Kerry Carpenter. What is the team doing to help reverse what appears to be another bad year of Spencer Torkelson’s fielding? — Holly H.
It’s not like those guys aren’t working with Torkelson, too. Torkelson put a ton of work into his defense this offseason and is out working with the coaches every day. It just hasn’t translated. I don’t have the exact answer, but Torkelson’s defensive woes are puzzling. He’s a good athlete and moves well for a first baseman. The scoops he makes on throws indicate he has good hands. Yet he often plays himself into tough hops, inexplicably misses balls and seems to get caught in curious situations. I still think Torkelson can improve. But if there were an easy fix, I think the coaches would have found it by now. Torkelson is worth minus-5 defensive runs saved. Miami’s Luis Arraez is the only player at any position who grades out worse so far.
Are the Tigers mistaken in treating Akil Baddoo as if he can’t hit lefties? So far this season in 18 plate appearances vs. LHP he is hitting .375/.444/.813 (1.257 OPS). In 56 PAs vs RHP he’s hitting .229/.339/.313 (.652 OPS). In ’22 (larger sample) he batted better against LHP as well. — Assad C.
It’s good to see Baddoo hitting lefties well this year in Triple A. But the reality is he has only three extra-base hits and zero home runs against left-handers in 160 MLB plate appearances. His career OPS vs righties in the majors is .724. Against lefties the OPS is .523. His OPS against left-handers was still slightly lower than the OPS against right-handers in 2022 (and neither was good).
So no, I don’t think the notion Baddoo struggles against lefties is unfounded.
Do you look at this season so far and say, ‘Oh the Tigers offense is bad again?’ Or do you look at it as, ‘Oh (the Tigers) always struggle in April, but they’re winning games even when the offense is struggling,’ and be optimistic about the offense heating up in May/June? — Cam H.
Can I go with both? I do think the offense will improve as the season goes along, largely because that’s just what tends to happen with young hitters. That being said, I never expected this team to be very good offensively. There’s a reason I keep referring back to what Scott Harris said in spring training: “We should expect these young hitters to struggle at times. We should be expecting the offense to sputter at times.”
The team was intentionally young and designed to have some growing pains. The president of baseball ops basically came out and said the offense isn’t going to be very good! That was Harris’ way of being transparent about where the team is at, and it tells you a little bit about how he views the plan for this year and beyond.
Do you think the key to improving the offense is in Toledo? — Pablo A.
Honestly, no. This is kind of a common thing every year. Some players in Detroit struggle, and everyone starts calling for promotions from the minors. Then guys come up from the minors and they struggle, too. Jace Jung may be the only player in Toledo right now who really projects as an MLB regular. Justyn-Henry Malloy’s bat has merit. It’s even been nice to see Keston Hiura play well. But you could do a full line change and I’m not sure the team would perform a whole lot better at the MLB level. These things take time. And it’ll likely take the Tigers adding at least one big bat from outside the organization if they’re ever to arrive as one of the league’s best offenses.
Why are there only 39 players on the 40-man roster? They have their pick of anyone to add and bring up in place of Parker Meadows. Why is he getting such a long leash? — Joey L.
Did you see the home run Meadows hit Monday night? That’s one reason.
The 40-man went down to 39 after Sawyer Gipson-Long went on the 60-day IL. Knowing Harris, he’s more likely to keep that spot open until he’s able to make a successful waiver claim rather than immediately promote, say, Malloy.
I get Meadows has really been scuffling and at times looked overmatched at the plate. But I am a bit puzzled why people think he is getting an unusually long leash. Meadows entered Monday with only 63 plate appearances this year. That’s nothing. Beyond that, he is going to get extra grace because of how important he is to the construction of the roster. Meadows is already worth five defensive runs saved in center field. And if you send him down, who’s playing center? Matt Vierling was the backup plan, but with Gio Urshela and Andy Ibáñez both hurt, you need a lot of Vierling at third base.
Obviously Meadows needs to start producing more regularly at the plate. I never thought it was a given he was going to thrive offensively this season. But regardless of what I projected or what the fans think, the Tigers are going to try like hell to make this work.
Who is the unexpected best defender? In a year where the defense has ranged from “lackluster” to “average,” I’m eager to hear about someone’s defensive success. — Peter I.
This one is a layup. It’s Colt Keith. And despite some of the team’s ugly and untimely errors, the Tigers rank seventh in defensive runs saved. Keith has been a big part of the team’s defensive success.
The more we’ve seen, he has not been perfect. There are some small technique things that still need cleaning up. But he’s more than capable of making routine plays at second and has made several plus plays, as well. I’m not calling him a Gold Glover, but he deserves credit for how much his defense has improved over the past two years. He entered Tuesday at plus-1 out above average, and though his defensive runs saved has already dropped to even, you can feel pretty good about the way he’s played second base.
Colt gets 🆙 pic.twitter.com/wXFW0GN40a
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) April 23, 2024
Who would be your “way-too-early” MVP of the team so far? Who do you think it could be down the stretch, and any early All-Star predictions for this year’s team? Still banking on two All-Stars? Thanks, love your stuff! — Dakota N.
Tarik Skubal is living up to all the offseason hype. He gives you a serious chance to win every fifth day, so he’s my MVP. The runner-up right now is Kerry Carpenter, who is starting to be a real threat every time he steps to the plate.
I still think the Tigers will have multiple All-Stars this season. Skubal is an obvious pick. Jason Foley is pitching like an All-Star. And don’t sleep on Riley Greene, who hasn’t even fully gotten going yet but still has an .811 OPS, six defensive runs saved and has been worth 0.9 fWAR, the highest of any Tigers position player.
(Photo: Mike Carlson / Getty Images)
