Remembering Alex Avila’s greatest Detroit Tigers moments

Alex Avila will retire after 13 years; most of it spent with the Detroit Tigers

Longtime Detroit Tigers catcher and son of GM Al, Alex Avila announced he will be retiring after the season, according to multiple reports. The left-handed-hitting backstop is with the Washington Nationals this season, putting together a .179./.347/..333 line across 29 games.

Avila dealt with a calf injury as well as a ‘COVID-19-related’ stint which kept him out for essentially the entire months of July and August. Despite his low batting average and limited playing time, though, Avila was able to amass a 0.7 bWAR, at least in part thanks to his perennially strong on-base numbers.

Avila spent 8 of his 13 years with the Detroit Tigers, amassing moments unforgettable to fans who were able to witness those excellent teams from 2009-2015. Perhaps his greatest campaign in a Detroit Tigers uniform came in 2011 for his age-24 season, where he was an all-star and finished 12th in the MVP voting while also bringing home a Silver Slugger award.

During that year, Avila slashed .295/.389/.506 with 19 home runs, 82 RBI, and a 5.1 bWAR across 141 games.

2016 was spent with the Chicago White Sox before signing with Detroit for a one-year deal in 2017. He would appear in 77 games before getting traded to the Chicago Cubs with reliever Justin Wilson in exchange for Jeimer Candelario and Isaac Paredes.

Avila then spent two years in Arizona where he would hit .184/.324/.358 for the Diamondbacks across 143 games. The shortened 2020 year brought Avila back to the AL Central where he’d post similar numbers for the Minnesota Twins before rounding out his career in Washington.

Avila, in many ways, was ahead of his time—a time in which on-base percentage numbers still weren’t fully appreciated or embraced by the general public. A time where framing and sequencing were completely overlooked, and a time where batting average was all-too-often pimped as a be-all-end-all stat for the success of a player.

For those reasons, Alex Avila was likely under-appreciated during his time with the Detroit Tigers. We look back fondly at his top five greatest moments in a Detroit Tigers uniform.

5. Alex Avila hits a walk-off for the Detroit Tigers against the New York Yankees on August 28, 2014

It was technically a single, but Alex Avila hit a bomb off Yankees reliever Shawn Kelley in the bottom of the 9th with two outs to score the winning run against the New York Yankees at Comerica Park.

The game was a low-scoring affair; starter Kyle Lobstein spun 6 innings of two-run ball without recording a strikeout with Blaine Hardy, Joba Chamberlain, and Phil Coke holding things down to allow for the late dramatics.

The hit was Avila’s only knock of the game, but he did have a sacrifice fly earlier in the game in his two-RBI performance.

4. Alex Avila catches Justin Verlander’s second no-hitter in Toronto against the Blue Jays

Throwing a no-hitter is tougher, no doubt, but catching one might be one of the more under-appreciated tasks by a catcher, especially those who call their own game. It encapsulates all the preparation, skilled framing, and leadership necessary to get through a game.

On May 7, 2011, Alex Avila would catch Verlander’s second no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays– a game in which the Detroit Tigers won 9-0. It could have been easy to venture from the game plan after the Tigers were able to rack up six runs off starter Ricky Romero, but Verlander and Avila stayed locked in and were able to pull it off.

Verlander strikes out Rajai Davis for the last out and meets Avila halfway between the mound and home plate. Alex Avila would also hit a home run in the fourth inning of the game.

2. Alex Avila hits a grand slam off Stephen Strasburg to break the tie

Avila has always had a good deal of thump in his bat and he had it on full display on July 30, 2013, against the Washington Nationals at Comerica Park.

Stephen Strasburg was at the height of his stardom at the time; a season in which he’d pitch to a 3.00 ERA across 30 starts; striking out over a batter per inning and supplying a 2.9 bWAR with electric stuff.

Avila would propel the team to a 5-1 win thanks to his grand slam to one of the deeper parts of the park which broke the tie in the sixth inning. Anibal Sanchez was the starter for the Detroit Tigers; he went seven innings before handing it off to Jose Veras and then Joaquin Benoit to finish it out.

1. Alex Avila hits a go-ahead home run for the Detroit Tigers in the 9th inning against the Cleveland Indians on August 5, 2013

Just a week after his heroics against the Washington Nationals, Avila would mess around and hit a go-ahead home run in the top of the 9th off of Cleveland Indians reliever Chris Perez opposite-field to put the Detroit Tigers ahead.

Anibal Sanchez went 7.2 innings and struck out 11 batters during this game; meanwhile, Corey Kluber matched him with 7.1 innings of scoreless ball himself until the Perez implosion.

If memory serves me right, I was actually at this game, which is likely most of the reason this is number one for me. The crowd was debilitated and if I remember correctly, Chris Perez either completely went off on the media after the game or refused interviews altogether and eventually lost his closer job in part because of it.

We flipped on Cleveland sports radio on the way home and the anger was affable. Stay salty, Cleveland.