Tigers: 2 players who proved their spring training was a fluke, 1 who was legit

Some players for the Detroit Tigers have proved that you shouldn't read too much into spring training stats

We're almost halfway through the season at this point, which is hard to believe. The Detroit Tigers had quite a few top performers in spring training this year, but only a couple of them have proved they were for real.

There were a couple minor leaguers in Parker Meadows and Andre Lipcius who had great springs, but haven't done too well in Triple-A, though Meadows has perked up a bit in June. For this article, we'll be focusing on players on the major league roster.

Here are two players that had fluky spring training performances and one who has lived up to their hot spring.

Two players who proved their spring training was a fluke: INF Nick Maton

Maton was hitting bombs all spring. Pitchers were throwing him fastballs, and he was crushing them. He looked pretty good.

In 48 spring at-bats, Maton slashed .313/.400/.667 with five homers. He looked like someone who could be a legimate piece of the Detroit Tigers future, as well as some highway robbery by Scott Harris in the Gregory Soto trade.

But after a solid start to the season, Maton has been dreadful. He's currently hitting .156 with an OPS of .574. The league has figured out that he can't hit breaking balls, and he hasn't been able to adjust.

He just looks lost at the plate. I don't know how the team can keep running a guy with an OPS well under .600 out there every day. I understand there aren't many good options to replace him, but this is getting really tough to watch.

At some point, something has to give, and Nick Maton will have to go down to Triple-A. But we'll always have his spring training performance, I guess.