The Tigers are 7-4, and Scott Harris likes what he sees.
"We got off to a fast start," the team's president of baseball ops said Tuesday on MLB Network before Detroit's 5-3 win over the Pirates. "We have a young group so you never really know how they're going to transition from spring training to the regular season, but I was really pleased how we did on that first road trip."
The Tigers banked five wins on a six-game road trip to start the season, with each game being decided by one run or in extra innings. Harris praised the bullpen, which "made some really big pitches in tough spots," while noting that "our starters gave us a chance to win every night and our young lineup came through."
"They scratched across some really important runs for us late," he said. "Riley Greene hit a big home run in New York, Colt Keith had a big opposite-field double in New York, Andy Ibañez came though in Chicago and then when we got home, Gio Urshela punched a ball down the right-field line to help us close out the A's for our home opener.
"Overall, been really impressed with the young group staying mentally tough in big spots, staying calm, determined and scratching across runs late. A good start in Tiger Land right now."
Tuesday's win was big for the Tigers, who were staring at a four-game skid had they lost. And they were staring at a 3-1 deficit in the 9th inning when they put together a four-run rally, with Urshela hitting a game-tying two-run single and Kerry Carpenter delivering the go-ahead single two batters later.
The win means the Tigers come home for a four-game series with the Twins 1.5 games behind the Guardians for first place in the AL Central. As early as it is to be watching the standings, this is a division that the Tigers know is up for grabs.
"Everyone knows we can win this division," Spencer Torkelson said this spring.
"Our division is pretty wide open and it's ours for the taking if we want it," said Tarik Skubal.
Harris and A.J. Hinch, meanwhile, have avoided such talk. They don't think the Tigers have done enough yet to talk on that level, something Harris reiterated Tuesday. In fact, asked about rising expectations for this year's team, Harris said, "I don't know if expectations internally are all that different this year."
"We have to stay focused on the step right in front of us," he said. "Candidly, this organization has been through some rough patches in recent years and we haven't really earned the right to talk about playoff berths yet. We've earned the right to try to beat the Pirates today, so that's what we focus on internally."
The Tigers have one of the youngest position playing groups in the majors. They are counting on significant contributions from outfielders Riley Greene and Parker Meadows and infielders Torkelson and Keith, all of whom are under the age of 25. Harris noted that "the middle of our lineup is populated by young hitters, and with youth comes variance and unpredictability." Indeed, that quartet is 27-of-145 to start the season, for an average of .186. (Greene does have three homers.)
"But we gotta keep giving these guys opportunities, we gotta keep helping them make adjustments to find their way and be consistent every night. And we gotta keep leaning on the veterans we brought in this offseason, guys like Mark Canha and Gio Urshela who are both off to really big starts at the plate but also helping mentor some of our young hitters in the clubhouse," Harris said.
"If we stay focused on the here and now and on putting together long stretches of competitive baseball, the rest of those expectations are going to take care of themselves," he said.
