Hated former Tigers utility man's unlikely surge with Twins has fans in shambles

Detroit Tigers fans may remember former utility man Ryan Kreidler from his subpar play over the last few seasons with Detroit. He has landed with a division rival in the Minnesota Twins and is on fire right now, as he already has two home runs on the season which matches the number of home runs he hit across four seasons in Detroit.

Kreidler's hitting .214/.389/.714 with two homers and four runs driven in across five games and 18 plate appearances. That may not seem all that remarkable, because it isn't. But for Tigers fans who had to suffer through Kreidler's poor play over the course of the last four seasons, there has to be some shock that this guy suddenly looks like a serviceable hitter at the plate.

Kreidler's solid start wiith Twins has come out of nowhere

In Kreidler's time with the Tigers, he slashed a collective .138/.208/.176 with two homers and eight runs batted in. He played in 89 games and tallied 188 at-bats, striking out 67 times while drawing 16 walks and stealing seven bases while getting caught stealing four times. He had a -0.7 bWAR in his Tigers career.

Drafted in the fourth round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of UCLA, the Tigers likely didn't have any illusions that he was going to be the next Miguel Cabrera. His calling card was always his glove and defense, which is why he got so many opportunities even though he never hit well for the Tigers.

Maybe in Detroit's wildest dreams, the hope was that he could be a sort of Ben Zobrist-lite, moving around the diamond as needed while hitting decently enough to be a reliable bench option or starter if there was an injury.

That's just not how things worked out, so the Tigers finally, mercifully, decided to designate him for assignment last year. The Pittsburgh Pirates claimed him but he did not appear in a game for them and was DFA'd again shortly thereafter and was scooped up by Minnesota.

He slashed .214/.405/.357 with one homer and three driven in down in Triple-A, and that was enough to earn a call-up on April 11.

Since then, he has looked like a normal big league hitter while also serving in his utility role. It's annoying for Tigers fans, especially since he is now with a division rival. Hopefully he doesn't torch the Tigers at some point this season, otherwise fans might truly melt down.

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