Detroit Tigers: Top 5 moments from the 2022 season

2. Riley Greene’s walkoff home run on July 2

Riley Greene missed the first two months of the season with a fractured foot. He finally made his big league debut on June 18 against the Texas Rangers, where he hit a bloop single in his first at-bat for his major league hit.

Then on July 2 against the Kansas City Royals, Greene stepped up to the plate in a tie game. Victor Reyes had just gone yard to tie the game at 3. Then on a 1-0 pitch, this happened.

Greene sent a fastball 420+ feet to dead center for a walkoff homer—the first long ball of his career. Everyone had been waiting for that first career homer—especially Greene himself—and he had finally done it.

Greene hasn’t shown a ton of power over the course of his rookie season, with just five home runs. But when he does run into one, he doesn’t get cheated. Take this 450-foot blast off Shohei Ohtanti to the deepest part of Comerica Park, for example. It hasn’t been a spectacular rookie campaign for Greene, but he’s still got a bright future ahead of him.