Detroit Tigers first half report cards

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It may be hard to believe, but we are officially 81 games into the first half of the 2023 MLB season. That means we've reached the halfway point. That's crazy to think about, but here we are.

The halfway point only means one thing — it's report card time. It's time to take a look at how the Detroit Tigers have performed in key areas thus far.

From hitting, to pitching, to defense, to even the coaching staff and front office, we're going to look at how the team has performed so far. The overall team record sits at 35-46, so one would think the grades won't be kind, but the team has actually performed quite well in some areas.

Enough stalling. It's time to hand out some grades, starting with the offense.

Hitting — D

If I were to grade last year's offense, I would give it an F. They weren't good at anything. They didn't walk, they struck out way too much, and they didn't hit for any power. This year, while the overall run production still hasn't been there, there have been improvements on offense.

As of this writing, the Tigers currently sit at 17th in MLB with a walk rate of 8.7%. Last year, they were dead last with 6.5% walk rate. That's a significant improvement from a year ago. Scott Harris wants to dominate the strike zone, and this is a good start.

They're also hitting the ball much harder. They are 12th in MLB with team hard hit rate of 32.8%, compared to 26.1% a year ago, which was also dead last.

They're also hitting the ball on the ground less frequently than they were a year ago. They were 7th in the league with a 44.7% ground ball rate last year, but they're 15th with a 42.4% ground ball rate this season. Where they still need siginificant work is in the power department. They were dead last in the league in homers last year, and they're 28th this year. They have the second-worst team slugging percentage.

And lastly, we can't forget about how bad this team has been with runners in scoring position this season. They have improved slightly as of late, as they're up to .227 with RISP on the year, but that's still fourth-worst in the league. They have the second-worst average with the bases loaded this year at .169. One. Sixty. Nine. Only the Twins are worse. That's horrifically bad.

So at the end of the day, while they're certainly have been improvements from last year, this offense still has a long way to go. I think a D is pretty fair.

Starting Pitching: C+

It's very hard to grade the starting pitching since there's been so many injuries. If Reese Olson ends up hitting the IL before this article comes out, that could be eight starters on the IL. Just absurd.

However, the results of the starting rotation, despite the all the injuries, have been halfway decent. Michael Lorzenzen has been a nice, cheap find in free agency. E-rod was outstanding before he got hurt. Reese Olson and Alex Faedo showed flashes before they, too, got hurt.

Matthew Boyd and Spencer Turnbull were pretty disappointing before their respective injuries. But if there is one thing that's been shared in commone between every starter except E-rod, it's that they haven't gone deep enough into games.

There have been way too many 4-5 inning or less starts from Tigers starters this year. Due in part to that, the bullpen is taxed. The injuries haven't helped, but the fewer innings the starters go, the more stress it puts on the bullpen, and we are starting to see that.

Because of that, I have to knock down their grade. The 4.85 starter ERA — 25th in the league — also brings that down. With several starters set to return after the All-Star break, we'll look to see more out of the rotation in the second half of the season.

Bullpen: B

If the season was just one month long, the bullpen would have had a first-half grade of an F. There were terrible the first two weeks of the season. Nobody could throw strikes. Up until recently, it had gotten its act together.

From April 15 to June 15, the Tigers bullpen had an ERA of 3.40, good for eighth in the league. Over the last week, it has an ERA of 4.76. Again, part of that is because they are taxed and have had to eat more innings than they should have, but they have started to show cracks.

The All-Star break should help with that a little bit, as should the return of several starting pitchers. But that turnaround over the previous two months was quite impressive.

Chris Fetter, Juan Nieves, and Robin Lund have done a stellar job with what they've been given. Heck, they made Tyler Holton into a shutdown lefty. Who saw that coming?

Jason Foley has been unreal. His ability to induce groundballs at an insane rate is just ridiculous.

Alex Lange has struggled recently, but his stuff is just as good as anyone in baseball. If they can get him to throw strikes consistently, look out.

The Tigers bullpen has been pretty good overall. They get a solid B for the first half.

Defense: C

The Tigers got off to a very good start on defense this year. There was a time where they were near the top of the league in defensive runs saved (DRS) and outs above average (OAA). Sadly, that time has passed.

The Tigers are currently tied for fourth in baseball with 49 errors as team (tied with the first-place Braves, funny enough). They are middle of the pack in both DRS and OAA now. They have come back down to earth on defense.

For how terrible Javier Baez has been with the bat this season, he's been one of the best defensive shortstops in the league. He's third in the league among SS with an OAA of 9. Weirdly enough, Zack Short has a higher DRA at shortstop than Baez this year (3 to 1, respectively).

Without Riley Greene, the Tigers outfield has not been good defensively. Matt Vierling isn't nearly as good in CF as he is in the corners. Kerry Carpenter is pretty bad out there. Andy Ibanez...let's just say he should never play the outfield.

So while the Tigers aren't horrible defensively, they aren't very good either. I think a C is fair.

Manager: A-

I won't spend too much time on this. As frustrating as Hinch's platoons can be, the reality is he is one of the best managers in baseball. He's really good at playing chess with his decisions.

The only time I've really been upset with him with this season is when he kept running out Jose Cisnero in leverage situations when he clearly wasn't cut out for it. Cisnero has improved over the course of the year, but the fact he kept going to him in high-leverage situations when he was clearly struggling was just very frustrating.

Other than that, his bullpen management has been pretty spot on. Again, the platoons can be pretty annoying, but I think that's more of a Scott Harris thing than a Hinch thing. Hinch didn't platoon nearly as often before Harris got here.

Be thankful Hinch is still the Tigers manager. It could be so, so much worse.

Scott Harris/front office: C

It's been a pretty up-and-down first season as president of baseball ops for Scott Harris. He's had his moments — Zach McKinstry and Tyler Holton have both been pretty good finds. But he's also had his fair share of hiccups.

Matthew Boyd was not a good signing. He had a 5.45 ERA is roughly half a season before having to undergo Tommy John surgery. The Gregory Soto trade hasn't exactly been great either. Soto is doing quite well for the Phillies, and Nick Maton just got sent down. Matt Vierling has been okay, but that hasn't been the greatest trade for the Tigers so far.

But the thing that frustrates fans the most is that he is way, WAY too stingy with prospect promotions. Colt Keith should have been promoted about a month ago. Parker Meadows should be a big leaguer right now. Jace Jung should be in Double-A.

All this talk about earmarking at-bats for young players, and he's giving at-bats to Tyler Nevin and Andy Ibanez, and Jake Marisnick. It just doesn't make sense.

It's been a lot of talk, and not a whole lot of walk for Scott Harris so far. However, I'm keeping the grade at a C because I need to see how he does in the draft and at the trade deadline. If he has a good draft and gets a nice return or two at the trade deadline, maybe we can bump that grade up at the end of the year. But for right now, I'm not all that impressed.

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