Detroit Tigers: What’s happening to Ronny Rodríguez?

Detroit Tigers infielder Ronny Rodríguez was absolutely on fire for a while after joining Detroit’s big league roster in mid-April but has cooled down significantly over the past couple of weeks.

Just a few weeks ago, Detroit Tigers fans were getting hyped up over the outstanding performance of Ronny Rodríguez. The 27-year-old infielder was on a tear in the batter’s box for much of late April and early May, inspiring some hope that Detroit may have found an everyday run producer for the lineup.

However, over the past couple of weeks, Rodríguez seems to have fallen into a slump that has brought most Tigers fans back down to Earth concerning his true potential, with some even calling for Ronny’s demotion to Triple-A.

Between April 14th and May 14th, Rodríguez was on fire at the plate and was probably the hottest hitter in Detroit’s lineup for much of that time, not that that’s saying too much this year. In that time frame, Ronny had 17 RBI with 6 home runs and had a BA at or above .300 for a majority of the time.

May 14th, an 11-4 loss to the Astros for the Detroit Tigers was actually Ronny’s last big standout performance to date. That night, Rodríguez 2-4 at the plate with three RBI including a two-run homer in the sixth inning.

In the two weeks since then, Rodríguez has been having a tough go of things, with his performance and reputation with many Detroit Tigers fans regressing. Since May 14th, Rodríguez has only two RBI and has seen his BA drop from a solid .312 to .231, and he even went 0-10 at the plate through the entire series in New York against the Mets.

Along with his recent struggles in the batter’s box, Rodríguez has been having troubles with his fielding all season. His six errors are a team high and his .960 fielding percentage is the lowest of any position player on the team who has played in at least 20 games.

With his poor play in the field and at the plate recently, there is the possibility that Rodríguez could be making a trip down to Toledo soon to try and regain some of his mojo. If Jeimer Candelario needed to be sent down in order to “find himself” then Ronny may be in need of the same type of treatment.

Speaking of Candelario, the third baseman has been tearing it up in Triple-A since his unexpected demotion. Through eleven games with the Mud Hens, Candelario is hitting .357 with 13 RBI and three homers, which could mean he might be ready for a return to the big league lineup for Detroit sometime soon, possibly as part of a roster move that sends down Ronny Rodríguez.

A few weeks ago, I, like many Tigers fans, was all aboard the Ronny Rodríguez bandwaggon. His early offensive pop added some much-needed juice to Detroit’s lineup, but his recent form has shown him regress to the same dull, subpar level that we have seen from most of the Tigers’ batting order this season. Jeimer Candelario is clearly ready to return to the majors, so maybe a short stint down in Toledo could do some good for Rodríguez as well.