Yes They Canha?

 

There's three teams that are currently turning heads in the AL Central. The Guardians, out in first, the Royals, who've been very hot recently...and the Detroit Tigers, who've mellowed to 10-7 but are still very much a factor in this race. It is very cool that I get to write about this team in a positive light after a good decade or so of dreary baseball.

The funny thing about this lineup is that there's not a lot of middle ground in it. People are either hitting .300 or so or hitting .210. Some people, like Javier Baez and Parker Meadows, aren't hitting whatsoever. And there are people who are producing a lot of runs for this team but aren't hitting for average, and that's how you'd describe two of their best hitters right now, Riley Greene and Mark Canha. They both have 3 home runs and 7 or 8 RBIs, but aren't hitting enough to top .250. Canha has been a fun little addition for Detroit, and he's one of those guys that it helps to have around because he does so much, but I think everyone wishes he was hitting a little better. And Greene is supposed to be the hero of this team, but with the way he's striking out he's worrying people.

Meanwhile, the people hitting .300 aren't they ones you'd expect. Gio Urshela's hitting .300, and he's doing it without many XBHs or defensive perks. Matt Vierling's hitting .300, he's more an extra hand than a real star. And Kerry Carpenter's hitting .300, and he's supposed to be the power guy. So I think things do need to be ironed down a bit more, which should happen with time. We also need to see if people like Colt Keith and Carson Kelly are the answers in the long term this year, or if they'll be phased out.

The good news is that the pitching's doing literally everything it needs to right now. Skubal, Olson and Mize have formed a solid homegrown three-headed-dragon, and Jack Flaherty's having a comeback season after struggling in Baltimore. Foley, Holton, Lange, Miller and Faedo are all awesome in the 'pen. Basically, having this many excellent pitchers is keeping this team from falling further under, and the prospect of guys like Matt Manning and Sawyer Gipson-Long coming back and further improving it at some point fills me with optimism.

The Tigers are going to outpitch their opponents. They need to work on outhitting them, because as they are right now I don't see them as a double-digit scoring team, and to win this division they need to get there.

Coming Tomorrow- It's so weird how he's the Contreras brother with all the power now..