Detroit Tigers: 3 under-the-radar players who will help most in 2024

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Full squad workouts are underway down in Lakeland. Everyone has been accounted for for the Detroit Tigers. Pretty soon, we'll be watching Tigers games on our TVs again. We can't wait.

Before we do that, we have to go over what we have here and who could be in for a breakout season, Specifically, players you may not expect to help out in a big way this season, but very well could.

All of these players will be players who played for the Tigers last season. We are not including any offseason acquisitions. The Tigers are putting most of their chips in on some of their young talent, so we're going to look and see who could have a big year in 2024.

The Tigers are going to need a few breakouts this season if they have any aspirations of winning anything of importance this season. Here are three players who could be those breakout sensations.

Parker Meadows

Finally, I get to gush about Parker Meadows, I did it a little bit in our bold predictions article last week, but now I get to fully unleash my feelings about him in 2024...that sounded a little weird. Anyway, Meadows is obviously my personal favorite to have a breakout season. He's always had the talent and the tools, but now that he's had a cup of coffee at the big league level, he might just have the experience to begin to put it all together.

Meadows' overall numbers in his short big league stint last season weren't all that pretty. He slashed .232/.331/.368 in 145 plate appearances. That's good for a 94 wRC+, which is 6% below league average. But what was impressive is that he was somehow still about to rack up 1.0 fWAR in that same 37-game timeframe because his defense was that good.

He had 4 outs above average (OAA) in the span. Racking that much OAA in 37 games in awfully impressive. His speed and arm strength in center field was on full display quite a few times from late August onward.

Because of his strong defense, all he has to do is be a slightly above average hitter and he could easily be a 3-4 WAR player this season. He has the eye — he walked nearly 12% of the time in the majors, and walked 11% of the time in Triple-A. He has a history of hitting for power in the minors. He's going to get some hustle doubles — and triples — because of his 90th percentile sprint speed. He's going to strike out a good bit, but you can live with that considering he doesn't everything else pretty well.

Parker Meadows could be the Tigers' centerfielder for the next several years. He could even be their leadoff hitter by season's end. It's going to be fascinating to watch his development this season.

Jake Rogers

You might not think of Jake Rogers as someone who is under the radar. After all, he should be the starting catcher for this team. But what he showed from about June onward last season was quietly very impressive.

Rogers slashed .221/.286/.444 with 21 homers and a 97 wRC+ in 365 plate appearances. He also struck out 32.3 % of the time, but he offset that with a .224 ISO. The strikeout rate was actually 4% lower than 2021. This cumulated into a 2.2 fWAR, which was 10th in baseball among catchers with at leasr 350 PAs. ahead of names such as Alejandro Kirk, Gabriel Moreno, and J.T. Realmuto.

Rogers should get more playing time in 2024, so he should be even better. Rogers is who he is as a hitter. He's going to swing and miss. He's going to strike out a ton. But he's also going to take his fair share of walks, and hit at least 20 bombs because of his classic uppercut swing.

Defensively and receiving wise, he's one of the best in the game. He was in the 90th percentle in blocks above average and 80th percentile in framing according to Baseball Savant. Basically, he's borderline elite at blocking pitches in the dirt and great at framing pitches.

One area where he surprisingly struggled last season was throwing out runners. He caught just 16% of would-be basestealers in 2023. This is strange, because he was usually upwards of 60% in the minor leagues, which is absurd. The league average is 31%, so he's going to have to be better in that area. But last year was also his first season back from Tommy John surgery, so there was an adjustment period. It was also the first season with the new rules that encourage stealing bases (pitch clock, two pickoff attempts, etc.).

Rogers now has his first full MLB season under his belt. He did a lot of things well. This could be the year he enters that upper echelon of major league catchers.

Jason Foley

Technically, Jason Foley had his breakout season in 2023. He had a 2.61 ERA, a 2.73 FIP and a 1.96 walk rate in 69 IP. His 57.1 groundball rate was 14th in the league, and his 1.5 fWAR was tied for 13th among relief pitchers.

But the one thing that he struggled with was getting left-handed hitters out. Lefties have hit .306 with an .813 OPS against him in his career. Thanks to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, we know he has a plan to fix that. He mentioned on the "Days of Roar" podcast last week that he's added a four-seam fastball to his pitch mix. Last season, he added a changeup, and it had mixed results. Now he's re-adding the four-seamer to his repetoire.

He already has that 98 mph bowling ball sinker. He's going to consistently get groundballs. If he gets lefties out at a more consistent rate, we're talking about one of the best relievers in baseball — maybe even the Tigers' new closer.

Foley could very well have an ever better year than he had in 2023, and cement himself as one of the best relievers in baseball in the process.

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