Now that we have gotten through an entire month of the 2010 baseball season I feel it might be time to create a progress report regarding the Tigers’ rookies.
Luckily the Tigers off-season moves seem to be paying off in incredible ways. I thought I was going to miss Curtis Granderson and his bad routes to balls, make-up speed, crazy diving catches, and late-inning home runs far more than I do. It’s weird seeing an outfielder camp under fly-balls or coast into position for ball hit well over his head. I don’t know if Detroit will ever see a long-ball robber better than Granderson, but they currently have a kid who’s better at the routine stuff.
Austin Jackson was the Yankee’s premier Minor League prospect. Now he’s the Tigers’ everyday Centerfielder. He is also leading the American League in Hits and is third in Runs Scored. After the first month of the season he is still batting .369 and has a .421 On Base Percentage. The guy is impressive.
Jackson is tied for third in the majors with three triples thus far, but I’m not sure if he is going to be the 20/20/20 guy that Granderson was. He also seems to lack the power stroke that we had grown accustomed to in the Tigers former Centerfielder.
The 35 Strikeouts that that Jackson has accumulated over the first month seems quite reminiscent of Granderson however; unfortunately. But the upside of Austin Jackson seems unlimited.
I went to the Tigers last preseason game this April and saw Austin Jackson hit about a 415 foot homer to straight-away Centerfield. I know what you’re thinking, “oh yay, a home run in a preseason game (in a monotone drone).” But the way he hit this homer is what was impressive. Jackson was clearly guessing fastball and saw a curve instead.
From beside the First base dugout you could clearly see him begin his swing and hitch before his hands began moving too far forward. While the ball was still cruising toward him, Jackson re-set his hands and re-began his swing. His timing was impeccable. With a fluid stroke he met the ball and sent it directly off the hitter’s background at Miller Park. To see that in person was amazing.
When Evan Longoria did the same thing in a Sunday Night Baseball game in 2008 he became the front-runner for rookie of the year almost immediately. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Austin Jackson take home those honors this fall.
Impressive defensive prowess, plus great hands and good reads on pitches equal all you could possibly want out of a young ballplayer. great things happen from there.
Good, But Not Austin Jackson:
Jackson seems to be miles ahead of the other kids fresh on the Tigers roster. Scott Sizemore has all the skills necessary to become a household name though. I’d guess that the biggest compliment paid to him thus far in his career has been fact that the Tigers let Placido Polanco sign with another team knowing that Sizemore was ready for promotion.
Polanco won two Gold Glove Awards while playing Second base for the Tigers. He finished the 2007 season without making an error and accompanied that with a .341 batting average and 105 runs scored. Those a huge shoes to fill for a 25 year old.
So far Sizemore’s glove has been a bit shaky. The young converted Shortstop has already committed four errors and his range factor per game is lower than the league average. That just means that he makes fewer plays per game than many other Second basemen. And given that his fielding percentage is lower than average he also makes more errors than many other Second baseman. That’s not what you want to see when your team gave up a gold glover so that the guy could play every day.
The positives however, are that has more hits than strikeouts so far and that he can play any role on the team. He can both bunt and hit with power and he has a quite high baseball IQ. Last season in 130 games – time spent between class AA and class AAA – he hit 17 homers, stole 21 bases, batted .308, scored 80 runs and collected 160 hits.
Like I said above, the guy has skills. He just might need a bit more time than someone like Austin Jackson to get settled in.
Other Detroit youngsters include Brennan Boesch (Bosh) a left-handed outfielder with some significant pop in his bat and possibly some vision problems. He like Sizemore, has struggled a bit in the field this season. He has a Reggie Jackson-esque fielding percentage (terrible) and is well below league averages in range factor and fielding percentage. He has made two rather costly errors in the outfield already this season.
He can hit, though. In ten games, 38 plate appearances, Boesch has two big homers – one of those a grand slam – ten total RBI, five doubles and only five strikeouts. He has clearly shown his ability at the major league level.
Last year in the minors – 131 games for class AA affiliate Erie SeaWolves – Brennan Boesch hit 28 home runs, collected 93 RBI, hit 26 two-baggers and scored 89 runs. Not too shabby.
He, like all of the Tigers, needs to shore-up the defense, however.
Alex Avila is moving into a majority share of the Catching duties despite veteran Gerald Laid’s ability to throw out would-be base-stealers. Laird was the opening day back-stop for the Tigers but has continued to struggle with his bat.
As things stand Avila has started 12 games while Laird has started 18.
Avila and Laird are both hitting below the Mendoza (or Uecker) line of .200, but the 23 year-old Avila has more homers and walks than Laird while striking out less. What makes this a rivalry is that Avila his 12 homers while driving in 55 and scoring 52 runs for the Erie SeaWolves last season. His 52 walks made a statement about his patience and his .365 On-Base Percentage makes him appear to be a very disciplined hitter.
He is also a very talented Catcher. While laird threw out 42 percent of major league base-stealers, Avila pegged 44 percent in class AA ball. Both are impressive when you take into consideration that Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk’s career Caught Stealing Percentage is 34 percent.
But like I said, both guys are currently struggling so i don’t even know who to side with at this point in the season. …Gerald Laird is a very good sacrifice bunter…
Other Names:
Last season we saw a cavalcade of young outfielders filling in for Curtis Granderson, the mentally broken Magglio Ordonez, or just playing left because someone had to. Don Kelly, Clete Thomas, Josh Anderson, and Wilkin Ramirez were all thrown out in the outfield at one time or another. Ryan Raburn, who’s been with the team for a while now held down the fort on most occasions.
Since then the Tigers have shipped Josh Anderson off just like the Braves did, sent Clete Thomas back to AAA – where he is currently struggling mightily – and sent Wilkin Ramirez back down to AA for more developmental time.
Don Kelly is up with the big club right now though and doing just about as much nothing as he did last season. He’s batting .200 with one homer and three RBI as he fills in for the injured Carlos Guillen. Kelly is a solid resource, however. Now only does he have the speed to track down fly balls in the outfield, but he is also a viable option on the infield – particularly at Third base.
We will likely see Kelly go back down to the minors when Carlos Guillen gets back, and pop up a couple more times throughout the season. Jeff Larish, a corner infielder, cannot play the outfield, but can hit with more power than Kelly and also has a better eye at the plate. He will also show up from time to time throughout the 2010 season. (I don’t know how many options he has left though so he might be limited to only one or two call-ups.)
Wilkin Ramirez is a work in progress. He was picked up in the amateur draft in 2003 and has spent quite a bit of time in the minors now (seven seasons), but is still only 24 years-old. He has very good speed and legit long-ball power, but his plate discipline and selectivity are lacking.
Either later in the season or next year, he may very well become the Tigers everyday Left fielder. With Ramirez next to Austin Jackson, the young Detroit outfield of the future looks dangerous.
Other Tiger pups whose names may appear in the box scores are middle infielder Brent Dlugach, Catcher and corner infielder Robinson Diaz, and middle infielder Danny Worth.
Daniel Schlereth the fire-balling set-up-man-in-training will also be heading to the big club before too long. He was acquired from Arizona in the Curtis Granderson/ Edwin Jackson deal that landed the Tigers Phil Coke, Austin Jackson, and Max Scherzer. There is also some connection with him and his dad, football, blah blah blah… the guy is going to be good. He is a talented lefty who is being groomed for late-inning match-ups and holds.
All and all the Tigers are not in bad shape. When Sizemore and Boesch get the holes in their gloves sewn up the Detroit youngsters might actually start making the Tigers look like a threat in the AL Central.
