It’s way too early for Tigers to be overreacting to Zyhir Hope’s numbers since Dodgers trade

It’s been a little over two weeks since the Detroit Tigers traded Tarik Skubal to the Dodgers for a return of a few minor league stars, headlined by surging outfielder Zyhir Hope.

The talented outfielder was absolutely mashing in Double-A with the Tulsa Drillers, hitting .293 with 23 home runs and 87 RBI. But since he was dealt to Detroit’s Double-A affiliate, he has been ice-cold, hitting a paltry .077 (3-for-39) with a home run and five RBI. He’s also struck out 15 times in 39 at-bats, which gives him an alarming strikeout rate of 38 percent.

Some people are beginning to panic about the 21-year-old outfielder, who was selected in the 11th round by the Cubs in the 2023 MLB Draft, but it’s just way too early for that.

10 games is just way too small of a sample size to really know if the Tigers made a good deal or not, especially since Hope is a player who’s been a consistent hitter since signing his first deal with the Cubs back in 2023. He’s also gotten off to slow starts in the month of August before and he’s turned it around in a hurry.

In fact, just last year, he started the month of August in 2025 hitless through six games (0-for-20) while striking out nine times — that’s almost a 50 percent strikeout rate. He settled in shortly after, hitting .240 for the remainder of August with a home run and 11 RBI. He also had a stretch in August in 2024 where he went 1-for-21.

If anything, he just hits a mini slump every August before settling in and finishing strong. Hope hit .266 to finish August 2024 and then over .300 in September.

If Hope’s minor slump continues past the 1.5-week stretch and turns into a month-long cold streak, then there could be a discussion about how the Tigers should be worried. For now, it’s unfortunately just an annual mid-August slump that has plagued Hope for years.

The Tigers need to find out what makes Zyhir Hope tick

Trading for a top prospect and watching him immediately hit a slump isn’t easy for an organization because they have to figure out what makes him tick. The only way that’s going to happen is by spending more time around him and making sure that his mind is intact through the slump.

Hope has been traded before and he was able to seamlessly transition from one organization to another. Plus, he was raking before the Skubal deal.

The No. 28 prospect in baseball was hitting .372 in July with 10 homers and 28 RBI, so it’s not like the Dodgers dealt him because he was already slumping.

Every professional goes through a slump, Hope’s just happened to come at the worst time because it’s causing panic within the Tigers’ fanbase. He’s had nine bad games in a 103-game sample size. People need to realize that he played 94 games before getting traded and if he had already been in the Tigers’ organization all season, we wouldn’t even be talking about this 3-for-39 stretch.

You can’t be mad about adding a guy hitting .273 with 24 home runs and 90 RBI.

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