Detroit Tigers: Three Potential Top of the Order Combinations Without Maybin

Detroit Tigers general manager Al Avila made the first trade of the offseason Thursday, sending Cameron Maybin to Anaheim. Here’s how the Tigers could replace him at the top of the order.

Detroit Tigers lineup cards often featured some combination of Ian Kinsler and Cameron Maybin at the top of the order.

The Tigers needed to move Maybin to save money, but the team did break up an extremely successful pairing.

Of Kinsler’s 149 games started last season, 148 of them came as the leadoff hitter. Batting first help the former Texas Ranger put together one of his best offensive seasons.

In 153 games, the second baseman hit .288 with a .348 on-base percentage. He also added 117 runs scored, 83 RBI, 29 doubles, 28 home runs, 14 stolen bases and four triples.

On most occasions, Maybin hit behind him in the second spot in the order. Of the outfielder’s 94 games played, 65 of them came batting second.

Maybin turned in an excellent season in his return to the Motor City, especially in the second slot in the lineup. In 65 games he posted a .359 on-base percentage while collecting 48 runs scored, 31 RBI, 27 walks, 12 doubles, nine stolen bases, four triples and three home runs.

That will be tough to replace, but the Detroit Tigers have the potential to make up for the loss of the former first-round pick.

With Maybin now in Anaheim, here are three ways the Detroit Tigers could fill in the first two spots in the batting order.

Scenario #1 Jose Iglesias Leads Off, Ian Kinsler Hits Second

While Kinsler enjoyed a fine season as a leadoff hitter, he won’t experience too much—if any—drop off by moving down a spot.

Iglesias may seem an odd choice for the leadoff spot given his .306 on-base percentage and .283 wOBA in 2016, but he could succeed there.

The shortstop has certainly flashed the potential to hit atop the lineup before. Iglesias hit .303 and .300 during the 2013 and 2015 seasons respectively. What’s more, his on-base percentages during those two seasons were .349 and .347.

Even if his batting average hovers around .250 again, Iglesias is still an excellent choice for the leadoff spot. The reality is that leadoff hitter is only the first batter of the game once. It’s just one at-bat.

Deploying Iglesias as the first batter could work for the Tigers, especially considering the shortstop ability to make contact.

Out of all qualified hitters, Iglesias was the hardest batter to strike out in the American League with a league-low 9.7 strikeout percentage. Additionally, the 26-year-old has a knack for grinding out long at-bats and making the opposing pitcher work.

If he can do that as the first batter in the game, it will go a long way towards Detroit’s offense eating into opposing bullpens and winning games.

Scenario #2 Ian Kinsler Leads Off, Justin Upton Hits Second

Justin Upton didn’t do so well hitting second for the Detroit Tigers last season.

In a small, 18-game sample size, the outfielder batted just .211 with a .238 on-base percentage.

However, most of this happened early in the season before Upton broke out and started destroying baseballs in the second half.

During the course of a season, a team’s best hitters should be getting the most at-bats. This gives them more opportunities to be successful compared lesser hitters.

Justin Upton is one of Detroit’s best hitters.

Nick Castellanos and Victor Martinez may have warranted looks here, but Castellanos doesn’t take enough walks to warrant hitting for second. Martinez would be ideal given his knack for getting on base, but his base-running output (-11.4 BsR) takes him out of the running.

Upton could find success hitting directly in front of Miguel Cabrera as opposing pitchers could give him more pitches to hit.

The Toronto Blue Jays employed a similar tactic last season, as Josh Donaldson hit second ahead of Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Troy Tulowitzki and Michael Saunders.

Obviously the Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays don’t have identical rosters, but the strategy didn’t stop the Jays from finishing in the top 10 in the league in runs scored, on-base percentage and OPS.