Scott Harris' message to Tigers should set the right tone for 2025

Few teams took the league by storm this season quite like the Detroit Tigers. The club was not projected to even sniff the postseason this year and actually had a 0.1% chance of making it that far at the All-Star break.

But yet, this young and exciting team traded away one of their best starting pitchers in Jack Flaherty and then went on a wild run all the way to the playoffs. Sure, this run didn't result in a World Series ring, but it didn't have to. At least, not yet.

Followers of the Tigers, as well as the club's players and front office executives are surely over the moon with how quickly the team has jumped back into the thick of things in the AL Central.

Scott Harris, the Tigers' president of baseball operations, told reporters at the MLB GM meetings that he wants his players to be proud of what they were able to accomplish this year, but not to become complacent.

"We have to stay hungry," Harris said, as relayed by Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. "We have to find ways to raise the bar for all of us. We are a really young team. The beauty of building a young team is young teams get better. Each of these guys as individuals are going to get better, and our entire team is going to get better."

Tigers' Scott Harris saying all the right things to raise hype level for 2025

Petzold goes on to mention that Harris made sure to highlight three players in particular that took significant strides in their respective developments this season: Kerry Carpenter, Matt Vierling and Riley Greene.

It's hard to argue with Harris there, as each of these players turned themselves into integral parts of the well-oiled machine that is the Tigers. Vierling raised his bWAR from 1.5 in 2023 to 2.9 in 2024 while setting career highs in doubles, home runs, RBI, runs scored, OPS and OPS+ along the way. He also demonstrated a ton of defensive versatility, spending time in all three outfield spots as well as a career-high 51 games at third base.

Carpenter, 27, raised his bWAR from 1.9 to 2.2 all while appearing in 31 fewer games than he did in 2023. Injuries held him back this year, but he still managed to hit 18 home runs and drive in 57 runs while posting a ridiculous .932 OPS. It's scary to think about what he could've done had he played the full year, so next year should be fun.

Then there's Greene, the obvious face of the Tigers' franchise. He raised his bWAR from 1.9 all the way up to 5.4 while making his first career All-Star Game in the process. He hit 24 home runs while posting an .827 OPS and 133 OPS+, putting together a season that should earn him some stray MVP votes when all is said and done.

On this trio, Harris said, "We have to find a way to raise the bar for each of them this offseason. All of a sudden, you're going to start stacking those gains, and the 2025 Tigers are going to be a lot better than the 2024 Tigers."

Detroit is sitting pretty in the AL Central. The aforementioned trio is just a small part of this club. Parker Meadows is one of the best defensive center fielders in the game; Colt Keith is still just 23 and full of upside; and the Jace Jung-Trey Sweeney pairing on the left side of the infield should be a blast to watch for years to come. And that's just on the position player side of things.

Tarik Skubal is going to win the AL Cy Young Award this offseason while Reese Olson turned in a strong campaign as well. The Tigers bullpen was put together of waiver claims and minor-league signees and promptly finished fifth in the league in bullpen ERA. Don't forget about that Jackson Jobe kid, too.

Oh yeah, and the team's only free agent this winter is Shelby Miller. It seems that the vast majority of this year's squad will be returning in 2025, which is going to be a good thing for the Tigers. Harris is clearly happy with what he's seeing, and he has every right to be. But they're not stopping here.