2025 Detroit Tigers General Discussion Thread

[papalawrence]

As bad as this has been, the Tigers are a now a half game up in the AL, and a half game back overall. 

[monkeytargets39]

I know stat nerds are going to vehemently disagree, but Riley Greenes K rate is a bit of a problem.

This is a team that thrives on things like taking the extra base, aggressively tagging up, etc.  Putting the ball in play should continue to be priority #1.  Don’t get me wrong, Riley’s been great this year—but he is a bit too easy of an out and it hurts during stretches where the role players are slumping.

[Tiger337]

17 minutes ago, monkeytargets39 said:

I know stat nerds are going to vehemently disagree, but Riley Greenes K rate is a bit of a problem.

This is a team that thrives on things like taking the extra base, aggressively tagging up, etc.  Putting the ball in play should continue to be priority #1.  Don’t get me wrong, Riley’s been great this year—but he is a bit too easy of an out and it hurts during stretches where the role players are slumping.

I don't vehemently disagree that his strikeouts are somewhat of a problem since they hurt his OBP.  His batting average is higher this year, so I don't know that "not putting the ball in play" is the issue"    His BB rate is down too which hurts his OBP more.  He seems to be sacrificing OBP for home runs and his home runs have been productive.  Last year, his OBP/SLG was .348/.479 and this year it is .325/.530.  The end result is the same: 135 wRC+ versus 136 wRC+.  

[Sports_Freak]

11 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I don't vehemently disagree that his strikeouts are somewhat of a problem since they hurt his OBP.  His batting average is higher this year, so I don't know that "not putting the ball in play" is the issue"    His BB rate is down too which hurts his OBP more.  He seems to be sacrificing OBP for home runs and his home runs have been productive.  Last year, his OBP/SLG was .348/.479 and this year it is .325/.530.  The end result is the same: 135 wRC+ versus 136 wRC+.  

On pace for over 200 strikeouts this season. Mind numbing bad, no matter what other stats show. It's really not what you want for your #3 hole hitter. But sometimes, when he hits the ball, it goes a long way. I just wish he could shorten his swing with 2 strikes and hit a few more singles.

[Tiger337]

2 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

On pace for over 200 strikeouts this season. Mind numbing bad, no matter what other stats show. It's really not what you want for your #3 hole hitter. But sometimes, when he hits the ball, it goes a long way. I just wish he could shorten his swing with 2 strikes and hit a few more singles.

He could hit a few more singles and a few fewer home runs. I think the trade off would be negligible.  It would be great if he could do both - make a lot of contact and hit a lot of home runs.  Then he'd be a superstar, but he's not  that.  At least not yet.  

[gehringer_2]

10 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

He could hit a few more singles and a few fewer home runs. I think the trade off would be negligible.  It would be great if he could do both - make a lot of contact and hit a lot of home runs.  Then he'd be a superstar, but he's not  that.  At least not yet.  

But it's gotten recently to where he's not hitting enough HR to compensate for the low OBP. His July OPS is under 700, which would make it his worst month of the season by far. He was on fire in June with only 29K in 109 PA = 26.6% K rate. He's is 32% for the season. So it isn't actually true that he has to K to get to the OPS. His best OPS month he had one of his lower K rates.

[chasfh]

4 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

On pace for over 200 strikeouts this season. Mind numbing bad, no matter what other stats show. It's really not what you want for your #3 hole hitter. But sometimes, when he hits the ball, it goes a long way. I just wish he could shorten his swing with 2 strikes and hit a few more singles.

Do you believe a 136 wRC+ with 200+ strikeouts is substantially worse than a 135 wRC+ with 156 strikeouts?

[Tiger337]

2 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

But it's gotten recently to where he's not hitting enough HR to compensate for the low OBP. His July OPS is under 700, which would make it his worst month of the season by far. He was on fire in June with only 29K in 109 PA = 26.6% K rate. He's is 32% for the season. So it isn't actually true that he has to K to get to the OPS. His best OPS month he had one of his lower K rates.

Most sluggers are streaky and there was no way he was going to keep hitting home runs at the same rate he did in June.  He's not Aaron Judge.  I'm not sure what people expect from him.  In no season has he been an elite hitter.  His overall production this year is as good as it's ever been.  Strikeouts are difficult to watch, but weak ground balls to second base are too.  

[papalawrence]

His long swing sort of reminds me of Bellinger's, who is also extremely streaky. 

[monkeytargets39]

When the team is firing on all cylinders, all or most of the lineup is really working counts and driving up the pitch count.  That’s more what I want to see than anything with Riley.  If he strikes out a lot, then ok…..but make them work to strike you out.  Same thing has been going for Carpenter this year too.  If a pitcher gets ahead in the count against either of them, then they just start swinging for the fences and the at bat becomes less competitive.  
 

We’ve been strong this year because guys like Gleyber, Javy, Tork, and McKinstry have done a much better job YoY in at bat quality.  I’d just like to see Riley be the face of that and truly become an elite hitter.  We all know he has that potential.

[Tigermojo]

Carp in right for Toledo tonight.

[1984Echoes]

4 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

He could hit a few more singles and a few fewer home runs. I think the trade off would be negligible.  It would be great if he could do both - make a lot of contact and hit a lot of home runs.  Then he'd be a superstar, but he's not  that.  At least not yet.  

I think he would get a lot of doubles going for contact with two strikes on him...

I would take a lot of singles and doubles in lieu of a few HR's and lots and lots of K's.

Just my 2 cents.

[Tiger337]

I wonder if Greene and the Tigers staff has though about going for more contact instead of swinging for the fences or if Greene is just mindlessly swinging for the fences because he doesn't know any better?  

[tiger2022]

Home runs pay the bills.  

[Arlington]

What was the phrase, Singles hitters drive Chevy's while Home Run hitters drive Cadillacs.

[Sports_Freak]

5 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

But it's gotten recently to where he's not hitting enough HR to compensate for the low OBP. His July OPS is under 700, which would make it his worst month of the season by far. He was on fire in June with only 29K in 109 PA = 26.6% K rate. He's is 32% for the season. So it isn't actually true that he has to K to get to the OPS. His best OPS month he had one of his lower K rates.

It just seems like his cold streaks go on forever and then he gets hot for 2 or 3 weeks. Not even looking at stats, which can be very misleading, but just watching him day in and day out. He's one of the players I mentioned the other day when I complained about Hinch using the same lineup every day. When a guy like Greene goes cold, move him down in the lineup until he comes out of it. But, it's only real bad when most of the rest of the team is slumping. It just stands out more. And nobody is really hot enough to stick in the 3 or 4 spot.

[Sports_Freak]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

I wonder if Greene and the Tigers staff has though about going for more contact instead of swinging for the fences or if Greene is just mindlessly swinging for the fences because he doesn't know any better?  

Maybe he'll learn to shorten up his swing with 2 strikes? He is really good and he is still really young. Hopefully these struggles will make him better.

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, tiger2022 said:

Home runs pay the bills.  

Home run hitters drive Cadillacs.  

[gehringer_2]

Riley has 1400 career AB with a K rate of about 27%. For him to continue as he is now at over 30% is not inevitable, I don't think it is even likely. But the sooner he fixes it the better.

[tiger2022]

34 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Home run hitters drive Cadillacs.  

Chicks dig the long ball.

[Tiger337]

30 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Riley has 1400 career AB with a K rate of about 27%. For him to continue as he is now at over 30% is not inevitable, I don't think it is even likely. But the sooner he fixes it the better.

It will probably drop, but that won't necessarily mean an overall improvement in performance.  I'm more concerned with his lower walk rate this year.  Sluggers who don't make a lot of contact usually need to walk a lot to be successful.  

[gehringer_2]

31 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

It will probably drop, but that won't necessarily mean an overall improvement in performance.  I'm more concerned with his lower walk rate this year.  Sluggers who don't make a lot of contact usually need to walk a lot to be successful.  

Unless he is playing through a sub-clinical injury, it's just not that likely a hitter at his age has lost the ability to do what he did as recently as last year. He's probably replaying his verson of Torkelson's travails of last season - thinking he hasn't changed anything when he really has let his approach drift.                                                                                           

[Motor City Sonics]

Were the Tigers showcasing Melton to the Pirates yesterday?  

[casimir]

13 hours ago, papalawrence said:

His long swing sort of reminds me of Bellinger's, who is also extremely streaky. 

In my completely amateurish and wholly unqualified opinion, the swing path worries me because of how extreme it is.  When its in, its on, and its glorious.  But does that severe uppercut lend itself to being off easier than a more level swing?  I would think so.  And I'm just talking about the bat swing.  I think that affects the SOs and contact quality.  I don't think it affects his ability to draw BBs, at least not directly.  I guess one could say the more swing and miss pitches earlier in the count could lead to more BBs rather than early pitch contact outs, but I don't know.

I guess furthermore considering other parts of his game, is he going to be a burn bright early and burn out quicker?  We've also discussed his running gate and he's had some injuries in his past.  We can talk about Skubal's contract situation and "hope" for an extension.  I'm not sure how I would feel about a Greene extension.  Obviously its all about the details.

Edited July 24 by casimir

[casimir]

On 7/21/2025 at 4:59 PM, chasfh said:

Believe me when I tell you that Alex Cobb is not happy with his circumstances at the moment.

 

On 7/21/2025 at 5:06 PM, Tiger337 said:

I would think not.  There is nothing more frustrating for a competitive athlete than not being able to compete due to injury.  It's nice that he doesn't have to worry about money, but I would assume the desire burns just as strong.    

It sucks.  With all of the glitter and champagne that gets tossed about Harris, there are some whiffs on his Tiger striped resume.  I thought Maeda was a fine move, Cobb less so but somewhat understandable.  Obviously neither is working out.