Detroit Tigers: 2021 first half grades. There is progress

The Detroit Tigers are progressing under manager A.J. Hinch and his coaching staff. Let’s break down the first half of the season.

The Detroit Tigers start the second half of the season at 40-51. They came into the All-Star break looking tired as the bullpen in Minnesota coughed up leads in all four games in the series. But overall, despite being eleven games under .500, the Tigers have been entertaining to watch.

Manager A.J. Hinch has not been afraid to try out various lineups and use Toledo as much as possible to get the best results possible based on the limited depth the Tigers currently have. As a result of Hinch and the work of pitching coach Chris Fetter, names you did not expect to contribute, have, and continue to be key pieces.

Even the roster move announced this morning was one indication that Hinch will continue to churn over the roster for results.

Before we look at the various parts of the roster, let’s take a look at how many moves exactly the Tigers have done since the season began.

Detroit Tigers injuries and key call-ups

placed Julio Teheran, Spencer Turnbull, and Rony Garcia on the 60-day IL

placed Matthew Boyd on the 10-day IL

placed Michael Fulmer on the 10-day IL

placed  Wilson Ramos on the 10-day IL (later designated for assignment)

placed Grayson Greiner on the 10-day IL (later optioned to Toledo)

designated Christin Stewart for assignment

designated Renato Nunez for assignment

designated Buck Farmer for assignment (back with the team)

designated JaCoby Jones for assignment

Victor Reyes was sent to Toledo

designated Beau Burrows for assignment (picked up by Minnesota)

May 6th: called up Kyle Funkhouser

May 7th: recalled Jake Rogers from Toledo

May 12: selected the contract of Eric Haase from Toledo

recalled Matt Manning from Toledo

released and resigned Franklin Perez (out for the year)

selected the contract of Wily Perlata

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There are three key transactions we will circle back to shortly that have made this season much more fun to watch. We also saw departures in the coaching staff as Jose Cruz Jr and Chip Hale both accepted jobs to run their alma maters.

So without further ado, let’s break down the Detroit Tigers roster by starting pitching, bullpen, outfield, infield, and bench.

Detroit Tigers Bullpen Grade: C

Gregory Soto, Jose Cisnero, Michael Fulmer, Kyle Funkhouser are among the standout performances in the Tigers bullpen in the first half of the season. The reality is the Tigers are 24th overall in fWAR for the bullpen but that could be due to the early-season struggles.

While Soto’s All-Star appearance is worthy, you still worry about his walk rate at 13.5%. That could be due to learning to close on the fly but you can like the K per 9 of 10.94. On the right-handed side, Jose Cisnero has been clutch, allowing just 2 earned runs in his last 12 innings of work with an ERA of 1.50. He has 11 holds and four saves on the season so he has been a jack of all trades so far for the Tigers.

Michael Fulmer was explosive for the Tigers in the bullpen before he went down with a neck injury. He has six saves and four holds on the season, as Hinch said he would mix up the roles and he has very effectively. The home runs allowed are an issue but having a healthy Michael Fulmer back in your bullpen can give some relief to Cisnero.

The one pitcher who has stepped up in his absence is Kyle Funkhouser, who was an afterthought after being of the first players sent down to alternate camp. His fastball velocity is up and he has limited allowing barrels to just 2.1%. The secret? He is throwing his sinker more, which allows his slider, which is his best pitch, to be utilized more. Then, when possible, he will throw his fastball up in the zone to generate strikeouts.

According to Baseball Savant, he has thrown that pitch 99 times this season and has generated 11 strikeouts and teams are batting just .107 against it, compared to last season in which when he threw it 92 times, only generated two strikeouts and teams hit .333 and he was only generating a whiff % of 12.8, compared to this season, where he is generating that same pitch at 23.5%.

Overall, you would like to see more consistency from lefties Tyler Alexander and Daniel Norris but Hinch has been able to pick and choose when to use them most effectively although, it can be an adventure.

While Joe Jimenez was getting into low leverage situations to boost his confidence, it seemed to work for a while but the walks are still an issue. Detroit really does not have a viable solution down in the minors, outside of riding the hot hand. Alex Lange still has command issues and both Buck Farmer and Derek Holland have struggled to hold leads.

Detroit Tigers Outfield: C+

As a collective, the Tigers are ranked 26th in fWAR but like the bullpen, there are several performances that make the Tigers outfield much more exciting this season. One is Akil Baddoo, a good combination of speed and making solid contact at the plate. The other is the power of Eric Haase, who has been playing left in addition to catching and has given the Tigers 13 home runs this season.

Robbie Grossman’s ability to generate walks and come up with the big clutch hit has made him one of the better free agent signings by the front office.

However, the defense has seen some lapses in time as Baddoo is still learning the position and during his time up in Detroit, Victor Reyes in centerfield was an adventure. Beyond those three names above, JaCoby Jones and Nomar Mazara did not provide much help consistently.

Will Jacob Robson get an opportunity down at some point? Who knows but despite the learning curve for Baddoo, he has been a player the Tigers can use as a cornerstone in the outfield for years to come.  The same question can be asked for Riley Greene, who has been mashing the ball well down in Erie.

Derek Hill, who is back with the team, showed off his glove impressively and was off to a good start before his injury. He will be a player to watch in the second half to see if he can continue to grow along with Daz Cameron.

Overall, they need to improve on a defense that has them ranked in 28th in Defensive Runs Saved at -15. But that hopefully will come soon.

Detroit Tigers Catchers: B-

Detroit Tigers Infield: C-

Let’s start with catching. Since Jake Rogers and Eric Haase have been behind the plate, the combo has a DRS of 4 with Rogers at 3 and Haase at 1. Greiner (-3) and Ramos (-4) were a -7. If you noticed when Rogers and Haase were called up back in May, the pitching staff seem to perform better under those two. It is no coincidence that the Tigers back to back months of over .500 baseball were due to the small part these two played in pitching framing, defense, and timely hitting.

Since June 30th, Rogers has been hitting .269 with 2 home runs and six RBI, four of which, came on a grand slam on Sunday against the Twins but its the wRC+ during that stretch (153) that stands out and overall on the season, he is over 100 at 112.  His ISO is over .200 and he has been making hard-hit contact, averaging 38.5%. Now compare that to his 2019 season of 20.6%, Rogers seems much more comfortable behind the plate.

Haase caught Turnbull’s no-hitter and while known for having a good arm, he has been a better defender than advertised. He does get into slumps but he has an impressive wRC+ of 121.

As far as the infield is concerned, the rotation at first base of Schoop and Cabrera offensively speaking, have been solid. Cabrera is marching towards 500 home runs at a better pace than perhaps people thought and Schoop carried the Tigers in the month of June, hitting 10 home runs and batting .340 while also splitting time at second base.

They are combined a -7 DRS but considering that Schoop has never played the position until this season, it could be a lot worse.

Now, as far as second base is concerned, the experiment with Willi Castro should be over. He struggled at the plate but his defense at second got him a DRS of -10 and sometimes extending innings for Tigers pitchers. Harold Castro and Niko Goodrum, who saw the rest of the lions share at second outside of Schoop, were serviceable.

The Tigers’ biggest weakness was exposed and that was at shortstop. Detroit should address that this off-season as outside of Zack Short, who in 136 innings produced a DRS of 1, everyone who played the position was negative. Goodrum was -6 in 345 innings of work. Harold Castro in 116.2 innings of work was -7 and Willi Castro was -2 in 149.2 innings of work. (Paredes saw time, just 38 innings of work)

Short has shown some power and perhaps Hinch will give him more innings there in the second half to see what he is capable of.

Jeimer Candelario offensively speaking is hitting better after a bad June in which he hit just .194. He is still walking at a 10% clip and has a wRC+ of 102. He has had some defensive lapses but then he has some fantastic moments, including this one to preserve the no-hitter.

https://twitter.com/BradGalli/status/1394883884051992584?s=20

The Detroit Tigers are fun to watch again

Overall, the expectations for this team heading into the season because of lack of spending, etc, etc, were not promising. But A.J Hinch has pulled together a squad that has a lot of the same elements from last year and made them a nightly watch.

Even when they are down, like in Sunday’s game against the Twins, they come back and surprise you. The second half of the schedule while favorable, there is cause for concern. The lack of depth is coming back to haunt the pitching staff and with the trade deadline looming, they may trade Schoop and Grossman but the return may not be to the liking of Tigers fans.

Hinch has said the Tigers will not settle for a bad return so that is a positive sign to see. The start of the season was absolutely brutal. But credit to Hinch and his staff for sticking to the plan and trusting his rookies in Mize and Skubal and being patient with various parts of the bullpen.  His use of the bullpen alone deserves major kudos.

Detroit still has ways to go but at least the feeling heading into the second half is that with Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson representing the Tigers at the Futures Game, you can at least possibly have something to watch come September to look forward to.

Tigers fans are running out of patience but at least, there is something to watch for a change.