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| Through three games, C.J. Cron has been... on. [Reinhold Matay/USA Today] |
Going into the baseball season, I was briefly thinking about doing a blog about every single game out of 60 that I caught live. I still might do individual game recaps if games are eventful enough or the Tigers stay competitive (big asks), but I thought that after Detroit got killed in the first game of the year that series summaries might be a better bet. So here we are!
And now it might be the only series review I do all season, since a third of the Miami Marlins roster has tested positive for COVID-19. That puts the entire season for all teams at risk. If the season is actually called, the Tigers end the year with a winning record in a first-place tie for the American League. Truly a season to remember.
Let's get down to it.
MV-C.J.: The big story for the Tigers so far is the impact of first baseman C.J. Cron. Cron was signed to a one-year, $6.1 million deal last offseason. Early returns on that investment are looking mighty positive. Cron's home run in the first game of the season was just about the only positive thing about that game. He followed that up nicely in the next two games, going 3-for-8 with 3 RBIs and another home run. Cron has easily been the most consistent Tigers bat for the first few games. He's backed that up with good fielding, making quite a few heads-up plays and snagging several line-drives at first. He especially seemed to have Joey Votto's number this series. Let's hope he keeps it up.
The Schoop Of All This Rebuilding: The Tigers' other one-year, $6.1 million signing, second baseman Jonathan Schoop, has also paid off nicely. While his Sunday effort wasn't as good (0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts), Schoop looked solid the other two nights. He went 3-for-5 on Saturday night and was one of the only three players to get a hit in the season opener.
Strikeouts, Strikeouts, Strikeouts: Detroit struck out 46 times over the course of three games. I don't think I need to say much more other than "that's very, very not good." They found a way to win two of three games (the one loss was the game they struck out the least), but even considering Cincinnati's top-tier pitching, you'd hope the lineup looked less silly out there. Speaking of looking silly...
More Like Miguel Cab-where-a, as in, where the heck is this guy's bat, am I right?: Expecting too much out of a 37-year-old pure-DH with an injury history like Miguel Cabrera is probably foolish, but reports going into the season focused on how slim and healthy Miggy was looking. The future Hall of Famer was largely a non-issue in this opening series. Cabrera did hit a clutch home run in Saturday's game, but that didn't prevent him from earning the Golden Sombrero for striking out in his other four at bats. That homer does prove that Miggy can still be a threat, but I was really hoping to see him on base a couple more times in this series.
Jonesing for JaCoby: If C.J. Cron didn't look so stellar in these first few games, JaCoby Jones would be the team's MVP so far. He hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the ninth inning on Saturday, and he's made some really nifty catches in center field.
Pitching: Ask Again Later: Matthew Boyd had a wild start to his season. He hit two of the first four batters he faced, and walked another. Batters earned four runs against him including a home run, and he only recorded two strikeouts. He seemed to lack control on a lot of his pitches. I hope it was just jitters for his first Opening Day start, because he did not look like the guy he was last season.
Ivan Nova made his Tigers debut and also had a shaky start through five innings. He's a pitch-to-contact guy so his two-strikeouts aren't as alarming as Boyd's, but two of the three batters who got hits off of Nova hit home runs. Nova also walked four batters. Absolutely not what you want to see.
Spencer Turnbull, after posting a 3-17 record (pitcher wins are a terrible stat, but still) and 4.61 ERA last season, easily had the best outing of any Tigers starter. He only allowed three hits and one run while doling out 8 strikeouts. He still walked batters four times, but Turnbull looked like he had a lot more confidence out there than the other two starters. After such a shaky 2019, could Spencer... Turnbull it around this year? We'd love to see it, folks.
In the bullpen, setup man Buck Farmer has looked nice in his two innings of work. Closer Joe Jiminez has two saves, but he came close to a disastrous outing on Sunday after giving up two hits, a run and beaning a batter in the ninth. Gregory Soto has looked like the team's best reliever in 2.2 innings, only putting one batter on base (via hit by pitch) while striking out five. He's one of many Tigers that would like to put last year behind him, and he's off to a very nice start.
Ask Again Later: Like most Tigers batters, I'd like to see more out of leadoff man Niko Goodrum. He's gotten on base more than some of the guys in the lineup but hasn't really flashed much. Goodrum has looked really solid at shortstop so far, though.
Christin Stewart has been completely invisible. He's been walked twice, but otherwise has gone 0-for-7 with 6 strikeouts in three starts. Cameron Maybin in his two starts has gone 0-for-6 with 3 strikeouts. Jeimer Candelario went 0-for-7 with 3 strikeouts in his two starts.
Getting any sort of read after only three games is a fool's errand, and it seems especially so with this Tigers squad. Detroit has had mediocre-at-best pitching from its starters, and a good chunk of the lineup has flat-out stunk.
And yet, despite playing a Reds team with lethal pitching that looked really good going into the season, the Tigers leave the weekend with two wins by some divine providence. That's probably more proof that anything can happen in baseball than the team actually being any good, but wins are still wins.
To keep those wins going, the Tigers are probably going to have to score runs with better at bats. Detroit's two wins are largely the result of clutch home runs than anything else. Only the White Sox and Twins hit more dingers over the weekend. Meanwhile, the Tigers have struck out more than anyone else and are posting the third-worst OBP in the league through three games. Unfortunately, their rate of striking out is probably more sustainable for them than home runs. I could always be wrong about that, of course. Even in a shortened season, three games is extremely difficult to gauge anything about a team. If anything, I'm interested in seeing how Detroit responds to having its first winning record in quite some time, if it even has an opportunity to respond.
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