Detroit Tigers: Five things keeping the Tigers interesting

Jonathon Schoop’s Breakout

I am going to put aside Jonathon Schoop’s trade talks for the sake of this article because what he has done this season has been remarkable. On May 21st, he was batting a meager .211 and it looked like he was destined to be DFA’d, benched, or needed to undergo a serious reboot. Since then, he has been nothing short of dominant. In the month of June, he batted .340 with 10 home runs and 27 RBIs. He was being tabbed as the “Hottest Player in Baseball” for most of that month and was picking up national attention. For reference, one of the leading MVP candidates, Fernando Tatis Jr., batted .300 with 10 home runs and 19 RBIs. Schoop had 10 more total bases than him, and while I don’t think Schoop is near Tatis’ level, he has played like an All-Star over the better part of the last two months.

He followed up his month of June with a .326 average in July, including a 15-game hit streak that he is currently riding (knock on wood). On the season, Schoop is slashing .288/.330/.460 and has posted solid defense at first base. He has been a consistent veteran presence in the clubhouse and is a perfect mentor for the young players coming up. He plays the game hard and the right way, and has been rewarded with a very productive career thus far. Schoop has been a bright spot on this team and the Tigers hope he can continue this production.

Here he is doing what he does best, consistently finding holes: