No matter how you look at it, the Detroit Tigers are playing some horrendous baseball right now, but is there a specific reason why?
Short answer, yes. It’s the bats, they’re completely dead.
The team as a whole are hitting .191 in the last nine games, which shouldn't be surprising seeing they’re only hitting .221 throughout the season, which is good enough for 27th in the league.
A good portion of the team isn't hitting well, but the most disappointing hitter as of late has to be Josh Harrison. He is struggling at the plate, with only six hits in his last 30 plate appearances. The dependable second basemen signed with Detroit as a career .273 hitter and has struggled all season with a miserable .164, not at all the hitter the Tigers thought they'd be getting.
Harrison, who is hitting .200 even just missed out on joining the six hitters that are under .200 during the skid. Jeimer Candelario (.125), John Hicks (.091) and Dawel Lugo (.118) all have an excuse, none have been to the plate more than 20 times. Grayson Greiner (.048), Christen Stewart (.148) and Niko Goodrum (.179) don’t.
If you can’t hit, you won’t get on base, which means you can’t score and that ultimately leads to more losses. It’s really that simple. We’ve all seen Moneyball and listened Jonah Hill break that down. It’s all about scoring runs, something Detroit seems to be allergic to.
The Tigers haven’t eclipsed four runs in any of the last nine games and have only scored five or more runs nine times all year. Detroit’s 29th overall in runs scored this season and during this losing streak. The Tigers are being outscored 68-21 over the past 10 days and 256-158 over the course of the year.
There has to be some bright spots right? It can’t all be bad.
JaCoby Jones seems to be hitting his stride for Detroit, hitting .250 over the last nine, .203 in the month of May, with two home runs.
However, the best news in Detroit is that Miguel Cabrera is back to being old Miggy. He’s hitting a mean .298 on the year and carrying the squad with his .320 over the last nine. It seems he’s finally healthy and is seeing the ball well at the plate.
The Tigers look to end the streak against the New York Mets (24-25) tonight, but have to go up the 6-foot-6 righty, Noah Syndergaard.