Detroit Tigers offense will be much-improved next season

Detroit Tigers fans saw the team’s offense struggle mightily down the stretch last season. However, the unit could improve by the time next season rolls around.

Detroit Tigers batters didn’t have the best month of September at the plate.

The Tigers finished 29^th in WAR and on-base percentage, 25^th in wOBA, 24^th in ISO and wRC+ and 20^th in slugging percentage.

That being said, the lineup featured a hobbled Miguel Cabrera, no Victor Martinez and was still reeling from the trades of J.D. Martinez, Justin Upton and Alex Avila.

That same lineup routinely featured some combination of Efren Navarro (.299 wOBA), Tyler Collins (.269 wOBA, 62 wRC+), JaCoby Jones (.229 wOBA, 34 wRC+), Bryan Holaday (.236 wOBA, 39 wRC+) and Andrew Romine (.274 wOBA, 65 wRC+) as well as John Hicks, who turned in a .501 OPS and a 33 wRC+ in September.

Moving forward, Detroit might just be improved offensively in 2018.

Not only are the bulk of the aforementioned players who struggled no longer on the 40-man roster.

However, some of the team’s incumbent players should bounce back.

Hicks will rebound, while a healthy Miguel Cabrera is a prime bounce-back candidate.

There’s also Nicholas Castellanos, who looks set to continue his development as a middle-of-the-order run producer after mashing 26 home runs to go along with a .218 ISO, a 111 wRC+ and an .811 OPS in 665 plate appearances last season.

The middle of the order

Likely joining Cabrera and Castellanos in the heart of the order will be Jeimer Candelario, who was a revelation down the stretch.

The former Cubs farmhand posted an .874 OPS, a .379 wOBA and a 137 wRC+ in 106 plate appearances.

Obviously, his production was impacted by a sky-high .392 BABIP.

However, Candelario showed a solid plate discipline with an 11.3 walk rate and consistently sprayed the ball to all fields.

Throw in steps forward from Mikie Mahtook (107 wRC+, .335 wOBA) and James McCann (.733 OPS, .162 ISO) offensively, and the Tigers have the makings of a solid offense.

The offense will only improve more if the likes of Christin Stewart and Mike Gerber make early impacts in the Majors, providing more offensive alternatives to Jones in the outfield.

Even if the Tigers end up parting with veterans like Jose Iglesias or Ian Kinsler, the offense should be able to stay productive.

Shortstop

In Iglesias’ case, Detroit has a ready-made replacement in Dixon Machado, who posted similar offensive stats last season in an admittedly smaller sample size. Iglesias logged 489 plate appearances, while Machado checked in with 181.

Still, for comparison’s sake, the production is similar.

Jose Iglesias: 71 wRC+, .283 wOBA, .255 batting average, .288 on-base percentage, .369 slugging percentage, 4.3 walk rate, .114 ISO, a .285 BABIP and a 13.3 strikeout percentage.

Dixon Machado: 64 wRC+, .273 wOBA, .259 batting average, .302 on-base percentage, .319 slugging percentage, 5.5 walk rate, .060 ISO, a .311 BABIP and a 17.7 strikeout percentage.