Last Friday, Spencer Torkelson hit a two-run homer in the seventh to lift the Tigers to a 2-1 win in Kansas City. In nine games since, during which time 20 big-league players have hit at least three homers, the Tigers have two as a team. With bats like shovels, they are digging themselves into a hole.
The Tigers have six wins three weeks into the season. And they have eight home runs, last in the majors. Anthony Rizzo of the Yankees has that many homers himself. The long ball is down across baseball, but it has all but disappeared in Detroit, where the Tigers are on pace for the fewest home runs (76) in a full season by any big-league team since the 1992 Royals (75) and the fewest in franchise history since ... 1944.
Look, this won't continue. The Tigers have played the bulk of their games in cold, power-averse conditions -- not that frigid temps stopped Max Kepler from taking them deep three times the past two nights in Minnesota -- and they have too many proven hitters to keep hitting like this. Jeimer Candelario, Jonathan Schoop and Robbie Grossman, who combined for 61 homers last year, have so far combined for one.
Moreover, this can't continue. Not if the Tigers have designs of playing meaningful baseball this summer -- and they do. Their power swoon has already dropped them five games below .500 and 3.5 games off pace in what's so far the worst division in baseball. This team has the pieces to compete, but not necessarily to climb out of a crater. It's only 'still April' for another few days.
The Tigers are hitting one home run about every 68 at-bats. That's hard to fathom. Then again, they hit one home run in 201 at-bats during last week's 2-4 homestand against the Yankees and the Rockies. And they have one home run through 62 at-bats against the Twins. They managed three total base runners in a 5-0 loss on Wednesday.
"I think it’s all individual," said A.J. Hinch. "Collectively when you don’t hit, you’re always looking for a theme, but each guy is battling a little something different. We’ve gotta get our guys jumpstarted to have a better offense.”
Home runs win games. Torkelson proved that last Friday. Javier Baez tried to prove it again with a clutch three-run bomb on Tuesday, before, well, you know. The Tigers lineup is like a giant roulette wheel, the losses mounting with every spin. In the realm of hard to fathom, this team is on pace to finish with fewer homers than half the teams in baseball in the 60-game season of 2020.
This won't continue. It can't. But the longer it does, the further the Tigers will damage the rest of their season. Not that it falls on three players alone, but Candelario, Schoop and Grossman have produced eight extra-base hits in 175 at-bats. They have to get going for the team to do the same.
After the Tigers wrap things up Thursday in Minnesota, six of their next eight games come against the Dodgers and Astros. It will be May this weekend. An over-achieving bullpen and a weak division have been April lifelines. But they shouldn't depend on either for much longer. They need to make noise at the plate to make noise this summer, a summer that won't keep waiting for the Tigers to heat up.