3 Early Red Flags About the Detroit Tigers’ 2022 Season

The Detroit Tigers are 5-7, but early signs suggest things may get worse.

Detroit Tigers Offensive Struggles

It’s too early to refer to anything as a “slump,” but the slower starts of the Tigers heart of the order are a slight cause for concern, or at least cause for questioning. While we’re not even a month into the 2022 season and the Tigers have only played a handful of games, the offense has been less than spectacular.

Many are quick to assume it’s directly linked to the shortened spring training, and this may very well be true, but there is a definite spark and competitive edge missing within the clubhouse.

Let’s see where the Tigers rank across the American League based on offensive categories, as of Thursday:

AVG .210 (11th)
OBP .304 (t6th)
H 79 (13th)
HR 6 (14th)
K% 24.4 (10th)
BB% 10.9 (2nd)
SB 1 (14th)

Those aren’t exciting numbers, and if we expand the sample to including the National League they look even worse. And it’s the veteran hitters who are raising some eyebrows, because they’re not producing at the plate. Jonathan Schoop is 5-for-45, Jeimer Candelario is 7-for-45 and Tucker Barnhart is 3-for-18, all relatively low batting averages. That’s not something you want when you need to rally for a win.

The Tigers are ranked 4th in the AL with 47 walks, but they need to take advantage of those opportunities to stay competitive. Looking back at Tuesday’s game against the New York Yankees, the Tigers totaled eight walks and went 0-for-6 with RISP, leaving ten on base. A slightly better outing on Wednesday saw them go 3-for-11 with RISP and leaving eight stranded.

It’s clear there’s a disconnect and players aren’t utilizing those walks to their advantage, putting pressure on team morale. While the team is starting off slow offensively, the veteran bats need to start making an impact.

Detroit Tigers Injuries

The first and biggest blow to the Tigers was when Riley Greene left Spring Training with a foot fracture. Around the same time Spencer Torkelson got his call up to the bigs, reports surfaced that Greene would have come up right beside him, something fans have been waiting to see.

After having such a successful spring where he slashed .429/.500/1.548 with two home runs, it would have been interesting to see if that success would have continued in the majors. You have to wonder how much of a difference him being in the lineup would have made so far.

Greene joins Jake Rogers, Javy Baez, and Derek Hill as some of the injured, but much needed offensive players lacking in the Detroit Tigers lineup.

Tigers pitching took a huge hit when they lost three starters and four relief pitchers. Spencer Turnbull, Jose Cisnero, and Kyle Funkhouser all have lengthy rehab assignments, but over the last few weeks it seems to have gotten worse. Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Rony Garcia, and Andrew Chafin are all plagued with injury, as the Tigers start to bullpen dive, shuffling players around to fill the gaps.

This could work to A.J. Hinch’s advantage, as he’s intent on using pitchers outside of the norm, but it could be problematic when trying to prepare for pitching matchups. With the recent call up of Beau Brieske from triple-A Toledo, we’re starting to see just what the depth of Tigers pitching is capable of and with Michael Pineda going scoreless through five innings during Thursday’s game, I’d say we have some reason to be impressed.

Let’s face it, the Tigers are one of the most injured teams in baseball. But at least we’re first in something.