Yes, Miggy Can Still Hit

 

So, what are we thinking? Miggy's hitting 3000 this week, right? He's got to, right?

As I write this, he's at 2995 hits. He's had 8 hits to start the season, and while some misses brought his average down to .276 today, he still seems to have some stuff left in the tank. It's almost definite that Miguel Cabrera is going to cross 3000 hits and add yet another milestone to the books for his HOF resume right after notching his 500th home run last year [I always figured he'd get 3000 hits before 500 homers, but whatever works]. The hit will come, the fireworks will happen, the tip of the cap and the applause will drown out the rest of the game...

and then, hopefully, the Tigers can move onto the real business of this season, which is establishing their own dominance in the AL East.

Call me crass, but I am kind of glad we're getting Piggy's 3000th hit out of the way early. If it were to happen later in the season it could feel like a consolation prize for yet another botched playoff effort. But we're doing this in April, getting that glory out of the way, and continuing Cabrera's presence in the lineup while also highlighting some other figures that could get this team somewhere. 

For instance...Spencer Torkelson. After a dry spell to start his major league career, Tork's bat seems to have arrived, and he's currently hitting .240 with 6 hits, 5 RBIs and 2 homers. This is the kind of production that the Tigers had been hoping for, and I can only imagine it's going to build from here. You're also seeing younger players like Matt Manning and Tarik Skubal coming into their own, which is good timing on both of their parts considering that Casey Mize [you know, the OTHER #1 draft pick on this damned team] is gonna be on the IL for a bit.

It also does help that the recruits, like Austin Meadows and Javier Baez, are off to monster starts, and doing enough to lift the team without overshadowing Torkelson, Jeimer Candelario and Akil Baddoo. Yes, Eduardo Rodriguez hasn't gotten back to his Boston self yet, but he seems to be on the right track. And while a lot of big pieces of this team haven't started really performing well yet, it's still early enough that they could, and there's still a lot of potential this team could still reach.

Let's just see how Cabrera passes the 3000 hit mark and we'll see what we've got after that.

Coming Tonight: One of many Yankee prospects whose goal seems to be making Brian Cashman regret every last decision this year.