Detroit Tigers: Diving deeper into Scott Harris’s 3 fundamental concepts

The Detroit Tigers need to own the strike zone on both sides.

The last thing that the Detroit Tigers’ new president of baseball operations mentioned is owning the strike zone. Scott Harris gave a quick testament about why dominating the strike zone on both sides of the baseball is important.

For example, the Detroit Tigers need to find pitchers who can live in the zone and be efficient while employing hitters who can own the strike zone. It’s more than throwing strikes and hitting strikes.

For pitchers, being someone who goes out and shoves, dominating on the mound, the Tigers do not have to reach into their bullpen as often, which helps the durability. Guys who are in a battle on the mound, not with the hitter, but with themselves and the strike zone, are a problem.

Being able to work the zone as a pitcher and be effective influences the outcome of the game. On the flip side, the Tigers do not just need hitters who will go out and hit strikes. They need players who are able to have awareness of the zone and also stay committed to an approach.

Being able to hammer fastballs, hunting the heater, and adjusting to offspeed is one way to get it done. Instead of chasing at 56-foot-breaking balls in the left-handed batters’ box as Javier Báez likes to do, being able to hunt fastballs and punish breaking balls that pitchers leave over the plate is the best way.

It’s another one of those instances where owning the strike zone can attribute to more than just a few hits.

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The Tigers need to own the strike zone, and Harris is going to try and work with members of the organization to ensure this happens.