Every Detroit Tigers fan out there is probably using some type of foul language towards the Tigers players. As of May 24, 2016; The Tigers had a four game winning streak. May 25 they lost it.
The real question here is; Have the Tigers officially lost it?
Since the start of the season the Tigers have been on a winning/losing streak. Having a three to four game winning streak, and then the next game they lose. A lot of people blame Brad Ausmus for this because, let’s be honest here, this isn’t the first season that it has happened. But is it truly Ausmus’ fault? Former Tigers player Craig Monroe defends Brad Ausmus, stating that it is the Tigers Players fault, not his. In this video we hear Monroe saying that it is not Ausmus out their catching or hitting, this is why we shouldn’t blame him.
A lot of Tigers fans would agree that our hitting is the problem, because we are not making enough contact with the ball; So let’s take a look at the batting averages of our main players as of May 25th for the 2016 season:
- Cameron Maybin – In 33 at bats; .545
- Victor Martinez – In 160 at bats; .338
- Nick Castellanos – In 163 at bats; .337
- Miguel Cabrera – In 174 at bats; .322
- Ian Kinsler – In 183 at bats; .306
- J.D. Martinez – In 176 at bats; .261
- Jose Iglesias – In 139 at bats; .223
- Justin Upton – In 166 at bats; .223
- Jarrod Saltalamacchia – In 91 at bats; .198
- James McCann – 66 at bats; .152
For it still being really early in the baseball season, one would think that these batting averages are really good. But that isn’t really the case for the Tigers, people always expect better than average out of the Tigers. Will the players still be able to get an above .250 batting average the farther we go into the season? Some fans call what the Tigers do at the plate as “hacking away”. Not focusing on the ball or only focusing on hitting home runs. Now, I’ll be the first to tell you that I think the Tigers are more than capable of hitting home runs every single game. Although on the other hand, I also think that we should be focused on getting the ball down and driving in runs. Miguel Cabrera hit his 500th career double on May 23rd. Cabrera is known around the baseball world as one, if not, the best hitters in the game. If each player hit doubles every single game, we would drive in runs.
This should be our primary goal: driving in runs and getting outs.
Our fielding has gotten better, as most would say we have some of the best defensive players on our team such as: Jose Iglesias, Ian Kinsler, J.D. Martinez, Justin Upton and Nick Castellanos, to name a few. We can get the outs and get the double plays, the only problem is; we need more.
Have the Tigers officially lost it? As a fan looking at the stats; I would say yes. Craig Monroe sums it up really nicely and says what every fan is thinking. We need to hit more and throw more outs.
Hope to see you in October, Detroit Tigers.
