It’s hard to overstate how poorly the Tigers offense has performed through the first two months of the season. As May turns to June, the club is in the big-league basement in almost every major offensive category and on pace to score the fewest runs in a full season in franchise history.
Remember the 2019 Tigers who lost 114 games, second most in franchise history? They managed to score 582 runs. Remember the 2003 Tigers who lost 119 games, second most in MLB history? They managed to score 591 runs.
These Tigers are on pace for 455 runs.
No MLB team has scored fewer than 500 runs in a full season in the last 50 years. And these Tigers probably won’t either. Eventually, hitters like Javier Baez, Jeimer Candelario, Jonathan Schoop and Robbie Grossman will produce like they have in the past and Detroit will produce like a self-respecting big-league team in 2022. Eventually. We think.
But right now, the Tigers are defying logic. They trotted out a starting lineup for the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader against the Twins that featured six hitters batting below .200. On May 31. Two-thirds of the order. Below .200. There were only nine qualified hitters across the American League batting below .200 entering Tuesday. Five of them play for Detroit: Schoop, Baez, Candelario, Grossman and rookie Spencer Torkelson.
"I don’t think about it in those terms," A.J. Hinch said after the Tigers' 8-2 loss when asked about the depth of his lineup's struggles. "I understand the question, but obviously, it is what it is. I’m into facts. And the facts are, we’re where we’re at in the season, the numbers are where they are. We need to figure out a way to Game 2 today. Regardless of whether we had good numbers or bad numbers for the first two months, it doesn't impact how we approach the game tonight."
It's not just that the Tigers have scored the fewest runs in the majors. It's that the Dodgers have already scored more than twice as many. It's not just that the Tigers have hit the fewest homers in the majors. It's that nine clubs have already hit at least twice as many. It's that the Tigers are being lapped by the competition about a third of the way through the race.
Detroit's best hitter so far has been a 39-year-old who's a shell of his former self. That is less of a tribute to Miguel Cabrera, who ranks outside the top 75 MLB players in OPS, than it is an indictment of everyone around him. (Still, Cabrera and his near-.300 average in his 20th big-league season are worth beholding.) Detroit's top four hitters in plate appearances entering Tuesday -- Schoop, Candelario, Grossman and Baez, in that order -- are all batting below .200.
Take stock of that for a moment. Chew on it like a withered piece of gum. And try not to spit it out when you consider this: Only two other AL teams have a single hitter who ranks among their top four in plate appearances batting below .200. And to repeat, the Tigers were four for four on the final day of May.
When does this stop? Whenever Detroit's purported best hitters start hitting. And perhaps whenever Riley Greene arrives from Toledo. The quartet of Baez, Candelario, Grossman and Schoop combined for 13.8 Offensive WAR last season, per Baseball Reference. They have combined for minus-0.2 this season. If your top four hitters have had a quantifiably negative impact on the offense, there's nothing positive to be said.
Except that, well, those four are bound to come around. Baez hit the second most homers among big-league shortstops over the past five seasons. He's hit three this season. Candelario tied for the big-league lead in doubles last season. He's tied for 139th this season. Schoop hit .278 each of his first two seasons in Detroit. He entered Tuesday hitting .185. Grossman joined the 20-20 club last season. He has zero homers and three steals this season.
We'll see if Torkelson finds his way. He did pick up his second straight three-hit game in Tuesday afternoon's loss. And soon we'll see about Greene. Their talent says they'll be fine.
"There’s no panic with Tork, and we’ve never panicked about him," Hinch said. "I like the fact that he’s barreling the ball to all parts of the field. That’s good. Tork’s a really good player. He’s learned a lot, he’s got a lot to learn, but we’re certainly happy with him."
The track records generally say the Tigers will be fine, too. But they grow harder to trust with each passing game, harder to remember with each step toward offensive infamy. We think this offense should come to life. Eventually. But as the calendar flips to June, eventually only matters so much.