These Tigers are catching heat for current cold streak, but who actually deserves it?

On Sunday, the Tigers snapped a three-game losing streak — one at the hands of the Pirates, two against the Rays — their longest losing stretch since being swept by the Guardians in late May and only their third of the season. Granted, the Tigers have been playing worse baseball as of late and are barely over .500 in June, but they've still only been swept twice all season and have the best record in baseball by a considerable margin.

Tigers fans should be pretty used to seeing this team lose by now, but maybe their excellence this season has made some of us even more protective (maybe to a fault) of what they have going this year. Amidst the drama of the Pirates series and after suffering a blowout in the opener against the Rays, the fingers started pointing.

It's a little absurd to begin with that some Tigers fans are panicking to such a degree when the Tigers are still playing winning baseball and some regression had to be expected, but Kerry Carpenter, Tyler Holton, Trey Sweeney, Jake Rogers, Jack Flaherty, and Parker Meadows have all been called out for recent struggles. And some of them definitely don't deserve it.

Kerry Carpenter, Tyler Holton, Parker Meadows, Trey Sweeney and more catching heat for Tigers' mini-slump in June

Meadows already sort of quieted the noise after a three-RBI performance in Sunday's game against the Rays, all of which came on his second home run of the season. He's still readjusting to being back in the majors after coming off of the IL just a few weeks ago.

Along with Meadows, fans might be criticizing Carpenter and Holton a little too harshly. Carpenter hasn't been hitting well through June, but he's still the Tigers' third-best power hitter and is tied with Javy Báez for the third-most runs scored (with far fewer at-bats than Riley Greene in second place). Holton has been getting hit a lot more as of late, but fans should look at his 2.15 ERA in almost 180 innings pitched in 2023 and 2024 and give him a little more runway before declaring him washed.

On the flip side, Sweeney, Rogers, and Flaherty are more genuine causes for concern. Sweeney hasn't been in the majors long enough to warrant the same goodwill as Carpenter; Holton and has an OPS under .600 (though he has been hitting better over his last seven games); Rogers has been relegated to a backup catcher role and is batting below .200; and the Tigers could be stuck with giving Flaherty (4.83 ERA after his latest blowup against the Rays) $20 million next season if he exercises his player option.

Overall, the Tigers are still performing at a level no one expected them to. While digging into recent numbers could lead to overreactions from fans, they've have by no means flipped a switch and turned back into the 2019 Tigers overnight. There are definitely some yellow flags and reasons to be concerned if struggles continue, but a little more patience is necessary here.