Four things we learned about the Detroit Tigers in May

2. Akil Baddoo’s growth into a regular

Chris Brown wrote last week how Akil Baddoo has bounced back but let’s put that into perspective from a standpoint as far as Tigers rookies go from the past, without going into the same diatribe about Chris Shelton or Brendon Bosch.

Travis Fryman had an OPS of .833 in his first 34 games after he was called up in July 1990 while Baddoo is at .826 and using the first 34 games of his 2005 season after he was called up, Curtis Granderson was rocking an OPS of .908. 

Why do I use these two players of the past,  Because simply put, they were cornerstones of the Detroit Tigers.  A.J Hinch as Chris said in the article, gave him the opportunity to thrive and he has ran with it. He has shown tremendous upside with his speed and power. The rookie mistakes have shown up from time to time but for someone who is making the adjustment from Low-A, you have to be impressed with the output. There has not been a Tigers rookie like this in quite some time that has an eye at the plate.