Tagged: Brandon Inge

Tigers take on Nationals tonight on FSD

Detroit TigersWashington Nationals The Detroit Tigers take on the Washington Nationals tonight at 6 PM, televised on Fox Sports Detroit. Jim Leyland has said that starters will go 7 innings, suggesting that the lineup he runs out today will most likely be his opening day lineup, with the probable exception of Miguel Cabrera. It will give fans a good opportunity to see the regulars play as a group for nearly an entire 9 inning game.

Several things to note –

1) It was announced today that Andy Oliver has been assigned to Triple A Toledo, meaning the battle for the 5th spot in the rotation is down to rookie Drew Smyly and Duane Below, who made several starts for the Tigers last year. Or, it is still entirely possible that the club could be looking for a trade to fill in that final spot.

2) While Brandon Inge is a fan favorite, it is hard to justify his spot in the team at this point. Leyland has openly said that Danny Worth provides more value with his above average defensive ability at several infield positions, and Inge probably did himself no favors with his critical view of Cabrera playing 3rd base. Plus, he is batting below the Mendoza line this spring (.184), even though Leyland is sticking with his belief that Inge is hitting the ball better than his average would indicate. In my opinion, if you are not getting on base, scoring runs or driving in runs, you do not provide an abundance of value to a major league club, especially one of Detroit’s caliber.

3) I find it hard to believe that Cabrera would not be in uniform opening day (next Thursday at 1 PM vs. the Boston Red Sox). He has missed over a week now with the fractured orbital bone, but was back on the field yesterday, taking batting practice and grounders at third. Is the luck on Detroit’s side this season? A pair of sunglasses protected Detroit’s $152 million man. Let’s hope that the bad luck of year’s past with injuries and collapses down the stretch does not creep into the picture this season.

Spring Roundup

A week ago I tweeted (@optimisttiger) that the Detroit Tigers had started the spring 6-0.

And a week later, they have lost 1 game (12-1). The biggest reason? The 8 pitchers who could be considered starters for the 2012 season have a combined ERA of 2.35. Some notables:

  • Andy Oliver – 0.00 ERA. 9 IP, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K. Opponents are batting .071 off this lefty.
  • Justin Verlander – 0.93 ERA. 9.2 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 13 K. Could he possibly be on track to avoiding another rough April?
  • Doug Fister – 1.00 ERA. 9 IP, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. Beginning right where he left off. Poised for a huge year.
  • Drew Smyly – 1.13 ERA. 8 IP, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K. The 22 year old is having a fine spring and may be a dark horse for the 5th spot.
  • Rick Porcello – 1.80 ERA. 10 IP, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. Hopefully there is less pressure on him starting the year, having a similar type of pitcher in the rotation in Fister who he can work with.

You’ll notice that in those 45.2 innings, only 10 walks have been given up combined by these pitchers. Max Scherzer is pitching less remarkable so far (3.38 ERA, 8 IP, 3 ER, 5 BB) but still solid for it being March.

Also of note, a player who we might see at some point in the Tigers bullpen and was signed mid-December is Chris Bootcheck. He has appeared in 5 games with 5 IP, 0.oo ERA, 1 BB and 4 K. I like a trusty reliever out of the pen who keeps runners off the bases. I will be keeping an eye out on him.

All of this talk about pitching, but the Tigers hitters have had some hot bats this spring, as well. Some notables:

  • Delmon Young – .519 BA. 8 R, 3 HR, 15 RBI. I know there are some questions about his defense, but it is clear the Tigers are favoring bats over covering the field this year.
  • Ryan Raburn – .458 BA. 6 R, 5 HR, 16 RBI. 5 of his 11 hits have been homers, and 5 of his 6 runs have come from those homers, which irks me. Having a good spring, but he is still a player that needs to be more consistent with his bat throughout the year.
  • Brandon Inge – .240 BA. 6 hits in 25 ABs. 2 doubles. 1 HR. I wish he would realize he is not a power guy and would try to hit more opposite field. He would be a much better all-around player.

Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder are both putting up solid springs and I did not feel the need to note their stats. They are going to be at the top of the league in nearly every major category at the end of the year, granted there are no injuries or unexpected issues. Danny Worth (.353 BA) is having a steady spring as well, and I hope that he gets a chance to stay with the team. I would much rather have him at 2B than either Raburn or Inge, but manager Jim Leyland will give both of the veterans every opportunity in the world to succeed. You cannot expect to run a player out once a week and have him perform the way he is capable of, and I don’t think Worth has been given the opportunity to perform to the best of his ability. Don Kelly (.385) and Andy Dirks (.429) are also having great spring’s so far.

One player of concern right now is centerfielder and lead off man Austin Jackson. He has a .276 average, but has struck out 11 times in 29 ABs. That is far too many yet and really needs to be corrected if he is going to continue to be a lead off hitter. Imagine what type of havoc the team could create having a lead off man get on consistently with Boesch, Cabrera, Fielder, and even Young coming up next. There is nothing to pitch around.

Again, I do not put much stake in spring training, as other teams are running out pitchers who may never see a major league mound during the regular season, and a lot of fine tuning goes into pitching and at bats, but if the spring is any indication of the year the Tigers are going to have, it should be a fun ride.

Most 3-strikeout games this year

Buster Olney, a senior baseball writer for ESPN, sent out a tweet this morning that caught my attention.

Most 3-strikeout games in majors this year: Adam Dunn, 18; Austin Jackson, 9, Ryan Raburn 9; Curtis Granderson, Miguel Olivo 8.

Hey, look. A player who many Tigers fans would have given their head for last year, along with 2 current Tigers and a former Tiger now donning the pinstripes.

According to my calculations, Ryan Raburn strikes out 3 times a game approximately every 9 games he plays. It might do Raburn some good to focus on hitting the ball to all fields instead of swinging for the left field fences every time he comes up. His groundball-flyball ratio is 0.52, far lower than his previous career low. It could be an indicator of a player who is pressing, or simply one who doesn’t care about making the adjustments. It’s been one of my biggest frustrations with Raburn watching him the past few years, along with Brandon Inge. Baseball is not a game of programmed motions. Your swing adjusts unconsciously, and the slightest change can make a huge difference in your results. Both Raburn and Inge refuse to make the necessary improvements and they don’t get the results they want. However, Inge has been swinging the stick well down in Toledo – maybe a forced demotion makes players really evaluate themselves and make those changes you need in order to succeed.

Austin Jackson has a long swing, similar to that of  Granderson. With time, you would think things will come together and he’ll break out like Granderson has this year. He has too much talent to be included in a dubious list such as this, one where you’d expect to see the lumberjacks of the league who either hit a monstrous homerun or, well, hit nothing at all.