Former Tigers infielder is absolutely tearing it up with A's to Detroit fans' frustration

The 2023 Detroit Tigers roster featured a few names that fans might have already forgotten were Tigers, whether it's because they only appeared in a few games or because we've forcibly wiped them out of our collective memories because of how they fared in Detroit. Nick Maton, Jonathan Schoop, Isan Díaz — these are names that might ring a bell, but they're far outside of fans' zone of awareness by now.

Tyler Nevin was definitely among them for a while. He spent a season with Detroit and played in 41 games in the majors as a fill-in utility man, acquired from the Orioles in exchange for cash during the offseason. Through those games, Nevin hit .200/.306/.316 and had a -3 OAA during appearances in the corners of both the outfield and infield.

The Tigers traded him back to the Orioles (again for cash) during this past offseason and hit well during spring training but failed to make Baltimore's incredibly competitive 26-man roster by Opening Day and was DFA'ed. He was picked up by the Athletics a few days later, and that should've been the end of that, right? Unfortunately not.

Tyler Nevin on a nine-game hit streak with the Athletics is a hard pill for Tigers fans to swallow

Nevin has been close to an everyday player for the A's, and the numbers he's been putting up in Oakland have been ridiculous. As of May 1, he's on a nine-game hitting streak (and the last four have been multi-hit games) with four home runs and seven RBI during that span. His batting average over the entire season so far is .325, but he's hit .393 over his past seven games, making him the A's best hitter by far.

It's both bizarre and incredibly frustrating that A's are the team that was finally able to pull what could be a real major leaguer out of a former first-round draft pick who's seemed adrift throughout his entire major league career. Although he looked great in Triple-A for the Tigers last year, he could never manage to translate that to the big leagues.

Until now, evidently. The A's, while still carrying a losing record, are by no means just limping through the season; they're third in the AL West, 3.5 games ahead of the Angels and four games above the Astros.

Nevin went hitless against the Tigers the last time he saw them on April 5, but if he can actually continue this tear, he'll be a most unwelcome opponent when the Tigers see the A's again in September.