Season Opener Tomorrow!

Yes Spring Training is over and the Tigers have broken camp headed north to take on the Yankees in the opener.  So how did they do?  Who had a good spring and who struggled?  Are there any surprises, any concerns?

The Tigers had one of the best Spring Training records they have had in a long time (20-14), but as we well know Spring Training numbers don't matter much in the regular season.  So how did they do?  One highlight has been the pitching this spring.  Even after facing tougher players in the last two weeks of camp, the Tigers still managed to have the second best team ERA (3.03) of every Major League team breaking camp, bested only by Atlanta (2.75).  If they can carry this performance into the regular season, it could be a very good year for the Tigers.

Justin Verlander dialed in.

How did the pitching staff do? Who had a good spring?  Who didn't?  Justin Verlander came to camp focused on wiping out his April slump, and worked hard to be in May-June form for the start of the season, and by all accounts..he is.  On the other side of the coin, starter Max Scherzer had a very rough spring, and it may be hard for him to shake it off and focus on being in regular-season form.  Expected to be one of the top pitchers for the Tigers, he may still have some work to do to live up to that expectation.  Look for some early season issues from Scherzer while he finds his groove.  Off season relief pitching acquisition Joaquin Benoit was a highlight this spring showing the same strong stuff he displayed in the playoff run for the Tampa Bay Rays last Fall.  In addition the Tigers highlighted several pitchers of the future who could very well find themselves filling in if called up from the Minors.  Lefties Adam Wilk and Charlie Furbush had decent spring camps.  Wilk in particular was very close to coming north with the team.  Top prospect right-handed starter Jacob Turner looked good as did left-handed starter Andrew Oliver.  So one of the highlights this spring was the depth at all levels of the pitching staff.

Concerns?  The only concern for the pitching staff appears to be middle relief, with newcomer Brayan Villarreal as yet untested in the big leagues.  Another unknown is how lefty Daniel Schlereth will perform with only 39 Major League regular season games under his belt.  Will Ryan Perry choose this year to become his breakout year?  Stay tuned, and we will see.  The Tigers haven't seemed to be able to keep all three phases of their pitching game (starting, middle relief, closing) together in recent years.  They have the talent to do it this year, and if they can manage it, they should win a LOT of games.

To win games, it's not enough to pitch well.  The team has to hit and field.  So how was it this spring?  Spring Training is a hard time to gauge hitting, since there are so many Minor League pitchers as well as hitters in camp for all of the teams.  What we can track however is improvement over time.  Most professional hitters like Miguel Cabrerra, Magglio Ordonez and Victor Martinez are expected to  improve each day closer to the end of Spring Training, and for the most part this is what we saw.  (See Hitter Trends page.)  Magglio got a slow start, mostly due to the Tigers playing it safe with his off-season healed broken ankle, but he turned on the hitting right at the end of camp.  Cabrerra started slow then hit at a high level all camp and stayed there, slipping a bit in mid-camp, but turning it on again in the last week.  Victor Martinez dialed it up gradually and hit his spring peak 2-3 days before the end of camp.  All three are ready, and they will be a potent force in the 3-4-5 spots of the lineup and should be tough hitters for opposing starting pitchers to face.  One surprise this spring was the hitting of outfield Minor League prospect Andy Dirks, who lead the team in hitting through most of the spring, tailing off only in the last few days before missing the cut.  Another pleasant surprise was the resurgence of lefty Brennan Boesch as a hitter.  Boesch managed to keep pace with the more experienced hitters Martinez and Cabrerra, finding his stroke and being ready for Opening Day right along with them, even surpassing Cabrerra by the end of camp.  Look for Boesch to get more at-bats than most reserve outfielders usually get during the regular season.

Austin Jackson

Concerns?  Several.. mostly at the bottom of the order.  Peralta and Inge had less than stellar Spring Training sessions in the batter's box.  Both players hovered just above .200 all camp and both tailed off during the last week of camp.  Another perhaps more serious concern is the leadoff hitter.  Austin Jackson did not end the spring in Florida on a high note.  "A-Jax" showed a constant downward trend in his hitting from the 21st of March until the last game on the 29th. (See Hitter Trends page.)  This may not bode well for the top of the batting order, however semi-regular number two hitter Will Rhymes' trend was in the exact opposite direction getting consistently better behind the plate as the last week wound down to a close.  Expect Rhymes to continue strong as the season opens, and don't be surprised if Austin Jackson is not very sharp right out of the box.  One other concern will be how well utility outfielder Casper Wells will hit when called upon.  Casper ended camp on a serious down-swing on the hitting side of the equation.. even striking out 4 times in one late-camp spring game.  Casper is a valuable fielder making only 1 error in 22 spring games (compared to 2 errors in 17 for Ryan Raburn), but don't expect his hitting to be stellar at the start of the season.

Galarraga starts with Arizona.

One quick note on former Tigers.  Dontrelle Willis missed the cut with Cincinnati and will be stretched out in the Minor Leagues as a starter.  As mentioned below Armando Galarraga made the cut with the Arizona Diamondbacks and will be their 5th starter.  Adam Everett also made the cut with Cleveland and we will see him as a utility infielder for the Tribe when we play them this season.  As mentioned before Gerald Laird is the backup catcher for St.Louis as well.  Both Laird and Everett ended their spring camps having hitting issues.  (See WATN Trends page.)

That's the Rob Hall Report Spring Training wrap-up.

The regular season is finally here!  Spring and Summer are right around the corner.  Now it's time for the "Boys of Summer" take the field and PLAY BALL!!

GO TIGERS!    ---Rob


Photo Credits:
Austin Jackson by Robin Buckson - Detroit News
Armando Galarrage by Sancya - Associated Press
All others by Rob Hall - Rob Hall Report