Detroit Tigers: Situational hitting continues to be a massive problem

The Detroit Tigers must improve their hitting with runners in scoring position

The Detroit Tigers have improved offensively in several categories when compared to last season. Their team walk rate is 8.4%, which is slightly above league average, and they're 14th in hard-hit rate at 32.5%. But the results are largely the same—one of, if not the worst in offense in baseball.

They're still dead last in runs scored this year. The Tampa Bay Rays have scored the most runs in the league this season and they have almost doubled the Tigers run total on the season. This offense is still pathetic.

The problem hasn't been getting guys on. Like we already established, they can draw walks. They also put the ball in play at a decent clip. The problem is that they usually end up stranded.

The Tigers are hitting .212 with RISP this season. That's the second worst in baseball. The Padres are the only team that's worse in that department. They have scored the fewest amount of runs with RISP in the league this season.

They're third-worst with a .333 slugging percentage with RISP. The Padres and Phillies are the only teams worse there. That leads to another problem: they don't have any power.

They're fourth-worst in baseball in home runs, second-worst in overall team SLG %, and third-worst in ISO. This was an issue last year as well, and the front office chose to do nothing to address it.

This continues to be an incredibly frustrating issue. If they could even be slightly below average with RISP, this offense would be so much better. Even .230-.240 with RISP would be a massive improvement.

We're not asking them to hit .300 with RISP, though that would be nice. We're asking them to not be woefully awful. This offense has been pathetic to watch for the second year in a row. All they have to do is not be this bad.

I don't know how to fix this issue in the short term. What I do know is that doing nothing is not the answer. I think we're due for a bit of a roster shuffle on the offensive side.

Get a bat or two up from the minors. It could be Justyn-Henry Malloy, it could be Parker Meadows, it could even be Colt Keith. They just need *someone* to start hitting with RISP. What they have going right now clearly isn't working.

If the Tigers are serious about being competitive, they'll make some changes here soon to try to fix this issue.