Heart pounding, Riley Greene ran out to center field and took a deep breath. Then a few more. Then he said a prayer. Even for the No. 2 prospect in baseball, the nerves were real. As A.J. Hinch likes to say, you only get one big-league debut.
And you only get one first big-league at-bat. Greene’s came in the bottom of the first on a sunny Saturday at Comerica Park against southpaw Taylor Hearn of the Rangers. On the second pitch he saw and the first swing of his career, he lofted a single into left field. Of course he did: the lefty-hitting Greene hit .347 against left-handed pitching in the minors, .368 last season.
“Not really surprised he got it done in his first at-bat,” said Greene’s close friend and once-again teammate Spencer Torkelson. “Riley just hits. I remember when I got my first hit, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I’m sure he feels the same way. It just frees you up, and it looked like he was already playing pretty free.”
It sure did. Greene lined out in his second at-bat against Hearn, again going the other way, then led off the fifth and fell into an 0-2 hole against right-hander Jesus Tinoco. He battled back to work a walk, laying off a slider, a curveball and a sinker in successive pitches to reach first. Of course he did: Greene posted an on-base percentage of .400 last season with Triple-A Toledo.
“Walks are a lot to me,” he said after the Tigers’ much-needed offensive outburst in a 14-7 win. “Being able to get on base as many times as I can and being able to spit on those pitches in the dirt, that means I feel good about myself and I’m seeing the ball. The walks are a big part of what I’m trying to do.”
He worked another in his fourth trip to the plate, this one against right-hander Jose Leclerc. It was patience personified. With the Tigers up big and Miguel Cabrera standing on third, Greene could have jumped at the chance to bring home a Hall of Famer for the first RBI of his career. No one would have blamed him. Instead he let Leclerc beat himself with four pitches out of the zone.
“I’m more impressed by the walks,” said Hinch. “Obviously the first hit is always going to be memorable for him, but the quality of at-bats for five straight is pretty awesome. That’s something that we’ve needed and one of the reasons that we’re excited about him.”
Greene is a pure hitter, as the saying goes. So is he process-oriented. He saw 21 pitches in five trips to the plate Saturday, which isn't something he takes lightly. Back when he was playing A-ball for West Michigan in 2019, just a couple months after the Tigers had drafted him fifth overall, Greene said he wasn't all that interested in fancy stats like launch angle. He said he preferred to focus on something he called QAB's: quality at-bats.
"If you have multiple seven-, eight-, nine-pitch at-bats, that’s a pretty good day. Even if you don’t get a hit, you’re still seeing the ball well. You’re fouling pitches off, you’re having a good A-B," he said. "I feel like that would be one of the more important (stats) because it shows that you battle up there, it shows that you don’t want to get out."
Three years later, Greene was retired once in his Tigers debut. He put the finishing touches on his afternoon with another opposite-field single on an 0-2 sinker from sidewinding lefty John King in the eighth. He's the first Tiger to reach base four times in his first MLB game since Scott Livingstone in 1991. Livingstone would hit .286 in four seasons with the Tigers, .281 in an eight-year career. Much bigger things are in store for Greene, thanks in part to his precocious approach against lefties.
“He’s going to face the best lefties he’s ever faced at this level, so I’m glad he’s got confidence and comfort and the ability to hit the ball the other way,” said Hinch. “He does let the ball travel, he can hit spin. It’s no surprise. That’s why there was no hesitation when he’s going to play. He’s here to play every day. It’s a good start to continue that confidence that he’s had in the minors.”
Indeed, Greene looked so confident it seemed to rub off on Torkelson. Hitting behind his buddy as he often did last season, Torkelson doubled in the fourth and singled in the fifth for his first multi-hit game this month, a weight off his own shoulders. The twin pillars of the Tigers’ future went 4-8 with four runs scored in their first game together in Detroit.
“He’s my best friend and I’m really happy he’s here,” Torkelson said. “It’s something to build off of today. I think we’re headed in the right direction.”
At one point Saturday, Hinch was standing next to Greene on the steps of the Tigers dugout when he turned to the 21-year-old and said, “Riley, thanks for coming. You fixed Tork. Make sure you guys stay close to each other.” It was Greene who sought out assistant hitting coach Mike Hessman in the dugout after his first big-league knock.
“I told Hess, I was like, ‘Now we go.’ Once I got that first one out of the way, all the nerves went away,” Greene said on the field after the game. “Now we go.”
He’s here to play every day. He’s here to win. Greene is here to give the Tigers a jolt, and it sure seemed to work on Saturday. With 14 runs, Detroit set a season high and matched its output over the prior nine games combined. Two of them came from Greene, who rolled into the big leagues and did what he does.
“Typical Riley Greene performance,” said Torkelson. “Not trying to do too much, took his (walks) and got a couple knocks out of it. I expect nothing less.”
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