Looks like Miggy will pass Beltre in the next week or so - he's 8 hits away. Still an outside chance of catching Cal, he needs 26 more hits, but he probably needs to play a little more for that to happen.
He's been racking them up more regularly the last month+. He probably needs 30 or so at bats for 8 hits. Maybe two weeks.
He had 15 his in his first 27 games. 55 hits in 54 games since. So yeah, 2 more weeks for Belte and he's not catching Cal.
To come down from the high of the Lions, I caught up on the Tigers. How did Manning break another bone? And lol Tork is really gonna hit 30?
This guy is dominating the Baseball America daily emails this week: Jace Jung, 2B, Tigers: Jung came into this week with 22 home runs, making a run at 30 home runs this season seem not only unlikely but almost impossible. It’s not crazy any more. Jung homered last night for his 27th home run of the season, as he’s now hit five in the past three games. He needs three homers in his last nine games to get to 30.
He has a 168 wRC+ and 1.000 OPS in Erie right now. He strikes out too much, but I hope he's given a chance next year in spring to win the 2B job.
Two Tigers on this week's Baseball America Hot Sheet. The ranking numbers are meaningless, but the capsules have some interesting info on Jobe's K% and Jung's defense. No. 8 Jackson Jobe, RHP, Tigers Team: High-A West Michigan (Midwest) Age: 21 Why He’s Here: 0-2, 2.70, 10 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 13 SO, 2 HR The Scoop: Since returning from an early-season back injury, Jobe has been tremendous. The righthander quickly moved from Low-A to High-A, where he’s put up video game numbers. Since debuting in the Midwest League, Jobe has struck out 54 and walked just three over 40 innings. His strikeout total in that time ranks fourth in the minor leagues, just four off the lead in that span. (JN) 13. Jace Jung, 2B, Tigers Team: Double-A Erie (Eastern) Age: 22 Why He’s Here: .280/.400/.880 (7-for-25) 6 R, 5 HR, 10 RBIs, 5 BB, 11 SO. The Scoop: It’s weird to highlight this in a week where Jung hit five home runs to get him to 27 home runs overall, but Jung’s most present surprise this year is his defense. This isn’t to say Jung is a future Gold Glover in the majors, but his work at second base has been better than expected and gives him a solid shot to stick at the position. That’s good news for a Tigers team that doesn’t exactly have anyone at second base standing in his way. (JC)
I wouldn't bury Meyer too soon: "Apparently, Mayer could have been healthy enough to finish the season had he addressed the injury sooner. He took the blame for the injury while explaining how and when it occurred during a recent appearance on the "Baseball Isn't Boring" podcast. “I’ll go back to the day it happened,” Mayer said. “It was May 7, we were playing in High-A in Asheville. I was 3-for-3 and I needed a triple for the cycle. I ended up hitting a ball in the gap. I tried to leg it out for the triple. I ended up stumbling past second base and fell. I didn’t really feel it on impact and then the next day I wake up and can’t lift my shoulder at all. I ended up taking that week off, come back playing a little too soon because the competitor in me wanted to play and didn’t want to rest. So I got used to playing hurt and ever since then it became a cycle and never really got better. “It’s a good learning lesson on my end. Looking back at it, I should have definitely taken care of it. You’re here to play and obviously it didn’t work out for me because I thought it was going to get better over time, but it just kept getting worse and worse and worse so I decided to say something to the trainers.” Mayer's splits before and after May 7, as pointed out by SoxProspects.com's Ian Cundall, show he was significantly impacted by the shoulder ailment: April 6 - May 7: 111 plate appearances, .337/.414/.582, 15 extra-base hits, 21.6 strikeout percentage. May 14 - August 2: 243 plate appearances, .190/.256/.366, 19 extra-base hits, 25.5 strikeout percentage."
Tork is now a 1.00 WAR player on the year, with a 109 OPS+. Since his lowest point in May 3rd, he has a .823 OPS over 499 plate appearances. Not bad for a guy who just turned 24 last month. Hopefully he'll continue the upward trajectory next year.
He's shown the power is at least somewhere close to advertised. But the next step is he needs to either hit for a BA at least 25 points higher, or he needs to walk more than 15+ percent of the time. Because a .320 OBP with some pop is batting #6 or lower in a competent offense, not 3rd or 4th.
Yep, he really needs to be a .275 hitter to maximize what he has, which seems more likely than him walking 15% of the time. Only 4 qualified hitters are at 15% and 11 total are over 14% Although, as the power comes, the BB% will probably also increase. .260 with a .360 OPB and 30+ jacks would be a very good player.
His expected wOBA is 25 or so points higher than his actual one, which kind of passes the eye ball test. Especially from early in the season when I was paying more attention and he was hitting line drives at people a fair amount. I think .250 needs to be the base line for him going forward. .275 would be ideal. And if he's hitting .275 with 30+ HR, the walks will go up, too, as you said. But .230 isn't going to cut it going forward even if he's hitting 40+ HR.
That context is interesting. His babip seems low, but I don't know what the baseline should be for a dude like him.
When did Savant change their graphics? Tork's offensive metrics look decent, but he is godawful at first base. Do expected stats adjust for park factor - he may always underachieve in BA and SLG being a RH power hitter in a park that has a horrible HR factor for RH hitters. Comerica is an 85 for home runs for RHH this year. This defensive numbers are bleak. Taking a RHH 1B at pick 1.1 is generally really stupid, but I'll give Avila a bit of a pass given how bad this draft class looks overall. While some may still develop, that is a really unimpressive Top 20 looking back at it now. Really crappy year to have the 1.1 pick.
Still sucks at defense and can’t hit his weight. Get back to me when he has an OPS over 800 and I will look at removing him from the bust list.
Post all star break, he is at .248/.339/.534 (.873 OPS). I don't think anyone is saying his 2023 season results are good enough long term, the hope is that he continues to improve with more experience. I'm definitely grading on a curve, too, since I thought he was a lost cause early this season. Now if he ends up just being a valuable contributor in the future, I will be pleased.
He did literally just turn 24 a couple weeks ago, which is the average age of double-A position players, so hopefully he keeps improving.
Skubal has a 3.25 ERA and 2.28 FIP in 13 starts. 10.9 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9. The innings/start are still low because they've babied him off the injury, but those are Cy Young contender peripherals if he carries it forward into next year.
Avila year in review. Not bad. Colt Keith - top 25 prospect - drafted in 5th round. 27 homers, 99 RBI's, .950 OPS Jace Jung - 28 homers, 82 RBI's, .880 OPS Reese Olson - traded for Daniel Norris - 4.30 ERA, 92 IP, 91 K's. 1.1 WAR Sawyer Gibson Long - future MLB ace. Just had team high in K's on season. Traded for Michael Fulmer Torkelson - best player from draft class. Close to being removed from Vinegar's bust list. Rodriguez would have been traded if it weren't for our shitty GM. Baez sucks and worst player in the league.