Toledo Mud Hens
Overall Record: 16-14
Week of 5/2 - 5/8: 3-3

5/2: Charlotte, Lost, 0-4, LP: Alfredo Figaro
5/3: Suspended, made up on Tuesday
5/4: Charlotte, Game 1, Won, 8-3, WP: Daniel Schlereth
5/4: Charlotte, Game 2, Won, 3-1, WP: Phil Dumatrait, SV: Jay Sborz
5/5: Day off 
5/6: @Norfolk, Lost, 7-12, LP: Jason Waddell
5/7: @Norfolk, Lost, 2-3, LP: Jay Sborz
5/8: @Norfolk, Won, 10-3, WP: Alfredo Figaro

Runs scored: 30
Runs allowed: 26

The Hens lost ground to the Clippers and are now finding themselves in a fight for second place with the Indianapolis Indians. This week saw Jay Sborz give up his first run of the season when on Wednesday, he allowed a long ball to the only batter he faced to take the loss. The next day, the team suffered a similarly rare breakdown in run prevention as they were tagged for a season-high 12 runs.

However, that just serves to make it a little more impressive that they were able to win the week in terms of outscoring their opponents. It might even be more impressive that they managed to average five runs a game despite being shutout last Sunday. The big bopper on the week was Clete Thomas, as he drove in a third of the team’s runs and had RBIs in four of his five games played.

I don't want to draw this out, so I will just say that it would be hard for me to admire somebody I've never met more than I admire Mr. Ernie Harwell.

Edit: I went back downstairs to watch the game and remembered Ernie Harwell's Hall of Fame speech has to be one of the best ever, if not the gold standard, and thought it would be a nice tribute to post it here. I found myself tearing up as I read it and I wasn't sure it was because of our loss today as Tiger fans or because of how beautifully it describes this game I love so much. That may sound disrespectful to Ernie, but if you grew up in Detroit Ernie Harwell was Tiger baseball. To love one was to love the other and I doubt there are many fans in Detroit who don't love the game more because of Harwell's contribution to it. Getting back to the speech, here it is in its entirety, from baseball-almanac.com.

Thank you, Ralph Kiner and thank you folks for that warm Cooperstown welcome. This is an award that I will certainly cherish forever. I praise the Lord here today. I know that all my talent and all my ability comes from him, and without him I'm nothing and I thank him for his great blessing. I'd like for you to meet my very best friend and she is my best friend despite the fact that this month we celebrate our 40^th wedding anniversary, Lulu Harwell. Lulu, will you stand up please. My son, Bill, right next to her, his wife Diane, their youngsters, my son, Gray, his wife Sandy, and their three youngsters, and my daughters, Julie and Carolyn.

I'm very proud of this award, but I'm even more proud of my family. You know the life and times of Ernie Harwell could be capsuled I think in two famous quotations, one from a left handed, the New York Yankee pitcher and the other one from a right handed English poet. The Yankee pitcher, Lefty Gomez, once said, "I'd rather be lucky than good. " And the poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson, once wrote in his epic poem Ulysses, "I am a part of all that I have met." Well, I know that I'm a lot luckier than I'm good. I've been lucky to broadcast some great events and to broadcast the exploits of some great players.

When I went to Brooklyn in 1948 Jackie Robinson was at the height of his brilliant career. With the Giants I broadcast the debut of Hall of Famer Willie Mays. When I went to Baltimore the great Brooks Robinson came along to replace my good friend George Kell at third base. Kind in my 22 years at Detroit it's been a distinct privilege to watch the day by day consistency of Hall of Famer Al Kaline. Yes, it's lucky that I've been there and I've been at some events too. I want to tell you about one that Ralph mentioned Bobby Thomson's home run October 3^rd. I felt a little sorry for my Giant broadcasting partner that day, Russ Hodges. Ole' Russ is going to be stuck on the radio, there were five radio broadcasts and I was gonna' be on coast to coast TV and I thought that I had the plum assignment. Well, as you remember it turned out quite differently. Russ Hodges' record became the most famous sports broadcast of all time, television, no instant replay, no recordings in those days, and only Mrs. Harwell knows that I did the telecast of Bobby Thomson's home run. When I got home that night after the telecast she said to me, she said, ''You know Ernie when they turned the camera on you after that home run I saw you with that stunned look on your face, and the only other time I had ever seen it was when we were married and when the kids were born.”

That other saying, I'm a part of all that I have met, I think that would have to begin with my wonderful parents back in Atlanta when I was a youngster five years old I was tongue tied. They didn't have much money, but they spent what they had sending me to speech teachers to overcome the handicap. I know that a lot of you people who have heard me on the radio probably still think I'm tongue tied, but through the grace of God officially I'm not tongue tied any more. Also I'm a part of the people that I've worked with in baseball that have been so great to me, Mr. Earl Mann of Atlanta, who gave me my first baseball broadcasting job. Mr. Branch Rickey at Brooklyn, Mr. Horace Stoneham of the Giants, Mr. Jerry Hoffberger in Baltimore and my present boss, here's too the greatest ever, Mr. John Fetzer and Mr. Jim Campbell. I'm also a part of the partners that I've worked with and there have been so many great ones, beginning with Red Barber and Connie Desmond at Brooklyn and continuing on to my present partner WJR's Paul Carey.

But most of all, I'm a part of you people out there who have listened to me, because especially you people in Michigan, you Tiger fans, you've given me so much warmth, so much affection and so much love. I know that this is an award that's supposed to be for my contribution to baseball, but let me say this I've given a lot less to baseball than it's given to me and the greatest gift that I received from baseball is the way that the people in the game have responded to me with their warmth and with their friendship. Yes, it's better to be lucky than good and I'm glad that I'm a part of all that I have met. We're all here with a common bond today. I think we're all here because we love baseball.

Back in 1955, Ralph referred to this, I sat down and wrote a little definition of baseball to express my feelings about this greatest game of all. And I know that a lot of things have changed since then. Especially in this strike filled year but my feelings about the game are still the same as they were back then and I think that maybe yours are too. And I'd like to close out my remarks for the next couple of minutes with your indulgence to see if your definition of baseball agrees with mine.

Baseball is the President tossing out the first ball of the season and a scrubby schoolboy playing catch with his dad on a Mississippi farm. A tall, thin old man waving a scorecard from the corner of his dugout. That's baseball. And so is the big, fat guy with a bulbous nose running home one of his 714 home runs.

There's a man in Mobile who remembers that Honus Wagner hit a triple in Pittsburgh forty-six years ago. That's baseball. So is the scout reporting that a sixteen year old pitcher in Cheyenne is a coming Walter Johnson. Baseball is a spirited race of man against man, reflex against reflex. A game of inches. Every skill is measured. Every heroic, every failing is seen and cheered, or booed. And then becomes a statistic.

In baseball democracy shines its clearest. The only race that matters is the race to the bag. The creed is the rulebook. Color merely something to distinguish one team's uniform from another.

Baseball is a rookie. His experience no bigger than the lump in his throat as he begins fulfillment of his dream. It's a veteran too, a tired old man of thirty-five hoping that those aching muscles can pull him through another sweltering August and September. Nicknames are baseball, names like Zeke and Pie and Kiki and Home Run and Cracker and Dizzy and Dazzy.

Baseball is the cool, clear eyes of Rogers Hornsby. The flashing spikes of Ty Cobb, an over aged pixie named Rabbit Maranville.

Baseball just a came as simple as a ball and bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. A sport, a business and sometimes almost even a religion.

Why the fairy tale of Willie Mays making a brilliant World's Series catch. And then dashing off to play stick ball in the street with his teenage pals. That's baseball. So is the husky voice of a doomed Lou Gehrig saying., "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.”

Baseball is cigar smoke, hot roasted peanuts, The Sporting News, ladies day, "Down in Front", Take Me Out to the Ball Game, and the Star Spangled Banner.

Baseball is a tongue tied kid from Georgia growing up to be an announcer and praising the Lord for showing him the way to Cooperstown. This is a game for America. Still a game for America, this baseball! Thank you.

I just finished taking a look at some players on the Tigers’ team who I thought were viewed as unknown quantities by most fans heading into the season. A couple arguments I made over the offseason, whether it was soothing Granderson fans or talking on the radio, were that a) it’s fun not to know what to expect from your team heading into the season, and b) having players who are unknown quantities works both ways. You may not know if they’re going to be passable big leaguers, but you also don’t know whether they’re going to establish themselves as future stars.

This argument occurred to me again when I was doing my posts about the Tigers’ newbies and it got me to thinking of fandom as a whole. What I realized is how remarkably difficult it is to be kept happy as a fan. The two happiest seasons of my life as a sports fan were when the Tigers made their run in 2006 and when the Pistons shocked everybody by beating the Pacers and the Lakers in 2004.

But think of what each of those seasons brought about. Let’s start with the Tigers. The media marveled at the Tigers’ young arms in that 2006 season and couldn’t believe they were adding another by getting the sixth pick in the draft. More good fortune came their way when Andrew Miller, believed by many at the time to be the best talent in that draft, fell to them. He would be throwing fireballs from the left side to go alongside the other fantastic talents.

Even after the Tigers lost the World Series, heartbreaking as it was, there was a sense of excitement as they would try to reboot and do it all again. They added a big bat in Sheffield and made another go. Cleveland had the better team, though, and that September was miserable as the Tigers had multiple stunning losses to the very team they were chasing. Poor pitching from just about everybody besides Verlander doomed the team and historic seasons from Maggs and Granderson almost seemed wasted.

In 2008, they decided they weren’t scoring enough runs. So they shipped off more young talent to pick up Edgar Renteria and even more during the winter meetings to add Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. They were mentioned as World Series contenders and sometimes even favorites as the press and fans overlooked shortcomings on the mound, on defense and overestimated their offensive prowess. The team never got much past .500 and was a colossal flop.

This club that had been one of the league’s punching bags for almost twenty years was now acting like contenders and spending a lot of money to look like contenders. Some decisions went bad and fans and writers who were hoisting Dombrowski on their shoulders a couple years ago were wondering how much time 2006 bought him.

With so much money tied up in the 2007 and 2008 squads that had not generated playoff revenue, the Tigers pulled back the reins a bit in 2009. There were still major questions about the rotation and bullpen and instead of making a big splash during the offseason they signed or traded for guys like Adam Everett and Gerald Laird. Defense was the way to go we were told, but since that is the least understood aspect of the game, the Tigers weren’t viewed as serious contenders alongside Chicago and Minnesota. Yet, with lowered expectations, the Tigers once again made a push for the playoffs and literally came as close as a team can come without actually making it. Yes, literally. They had the lead in extra innings of Game 163, for God’s sake. Can you come any closer?

Anyway, think about the varying fan experiences during that time. You had your die-hards who went from skeptics, to defenders of this upstart team, to bitter critics when they blew the division, to raving maniacs when they beat the Yankees and A’s in the postseason. For people who had to suffer through their beloved team serving as league doormats for nearly 20 years, it’s difficult to imagine a more satisfying season. Yes, beating the Cardinals would have been great but I think most people remember that season fondly as a whole.

The next couple years, though, showed that as a fan, that type of season isn’t repeatable. You can’t play the plucky upstarts after going to the World Series. You are the favorites and the only thing left that’s progress is to win the whole thing. As we found out pretty harshly, that is a road to disappointment most of the time.

So with the last four or five years of Tiger baseball, we have covered most of the spectrum of sports fandom. We’ve loved the team that we knew sucked and didn’t “disappoint”. We’ve loved the team that was better than expected and almost won the whole damn thing. We’ve loved the disappointing favorites.

All have ended in disappointment ultimately, but I’d imagine a good half of the league’s fans envy Detroit fans. After all, the owner is obviously committed. They roll the dice every year and they’ve been competitive most years as a result. Does that bring into stark relief the precarious happiness of a sports fan?

If not, let’s talk about the Pistons. Their 2004 season wasn’t really a parallel to the Tigers’ 2006 season. They were expected to compete and were generally considered a contender to win the “weaker” Eastern Conference. The other difference was in the postseason, the Pacers had them beat. They were down, Reggie Miller stole the ball and went for a layup to ice the series when Tayshaun Prince came out of nowhere to block the shot and Indiana’s road to the Finals. It was incredible and the Pistons took full advantage of the opportunity, winning the series.

Of course, it was generally viewed as just a stay of execution since they now had to beat Kobe and Shaq’s Lakers in the Finals. How much were the Lakers favored in that series? I was in Las Vegas at an off-the-strip casino before Game 4 and noticed that the Pistons - with a 2-1 series lead - were paying 9-to-2 odds to win the series. That was more than they were paying for the Lakers and mind you, this wasn’t to win Game 4. This was to win the series.

Obviously, the Pistons won and as the underdogs, it was fantastic. They had won “the right way”. This was a different kind of team from the two superstar model we had grown used to in the NBA. Maybe this team was changing the model for success. Dreams of back to back started early and fans were heavily vested in following as the team went for it. That sounds great and all, but it made a very successful regular season seem like too many previews at a highly anticipated movie. Yes, yes, all these wins were fine but let’s get on with it. All this time was just opportunity for things to go wrong. In the end, they made it to the Finals and came tantalizingly close to the goal. I remember after that final loss to the Spurs thinking that all that time invested seemed like a waste. High expectations didn’t really allow me to enjoy it and there wasn’t the payoff at the end. I haven’t followed a Pistons season that closely again.

I bring this up because I think it’s the one level of fandom the Tigers haven’t reallly achieved. The Pistons were dynasty chasers and for a few years, a general positive feeling about any season was impossible without winning it all. For all their success and appearances in all those Conference Finals, they only achieved it once. Even with this team, the overwhelming grand picture experience was disappointment.

Can it be possible that the only truly happy fans are those of once-in-a-lifetime dynasties? The Yankee fans from 1996 to 2000? Bulls fans from the 90s or Lakers fans around the turn of the century. I guess even Detroit fans have had a taste of that with the Wings. Hell, when they won in 1997 I was running through the streets of Detroit drunk off my butt with a cigar in my mouth forcing cars full of complete strangers to roll down their windows so I could high five all the stunned inhabitants. If you were in Pizzapapalis that night wondering who that guy was holding an empty pitcher up in the air chanting, “Need more beer!” to the tune of “Let’s go RED Wings!”, sorry about that.

All these memories and disappointments bring me back to wondering, is sustained fan happiness even possible? Even dynasties have to be broken up, so is the only truly happy fan a bandwagon fan? Somebody who just sheds the team like a winter coat once the anxiety comes knocking? Let me say, I don’t really blame fair-weather fans. I’m certainly one now for the Wings and Pistons. I invest so much time in the Tigers I decided a number of years ago those teams would have to settle for my playoff attention. Even that comes only once the Tigers games are over. So if one of those teams win it all, I’ll be the idiot next to you in the bar jumping up and down saying, “I don’t even know who scored that goal, but we won! Woooo!”

I’ll bring this full circle by explaining how I’ve come to be a happy Tiger fan. I was a happy fan in 2006 and I was a relatively happy fan in 2008. I was able to shed the disappointment of Game 163 fairly quickly - though I’ll never watch it again. What am I, a masochist? How have I done it? This probably sounds idiotic or cliche, but I think I’ve learned to focus on the hope of fandom. I don’t know if it’s my immersion in the farm system or what, but the end of the season pretty much just brings on the next one.

Right after they shut off the lights in Comerica, every day has the anticipation of that next move. Will they sign that free agent? Can they pull off that trade at the winter meetings? Can that prospect step up? I guess you can’t be upset at how the season turned out when the season never really ends.

There you have it. Your choices for being a happy fan are apparently to a) latch on to a dynasty and act like you’re as happy as that team’s real fans, b) be a bandwagon fan when it looks like the team you sort of like sometimes looks like this might be the year, or c) go all in for your team to such an extent that it’s drown in the misery or grow gills so you forget it’s even there. In other words, God help you if you’re a sports fan.

Toledo Mud Hens

Overall Record: 13-11

Week of 4/25 - 5/1: 4-3

4/25: @Columbus, Won, 3-2, WP: Armando Galarraga, SV: Jay Sborz
4/26: @Columbus, Won, 10-1, WP: Enrique Gonzalez
4/27: Syracuse, Won, 7-0, WP: Alfredo Figaro 
4/28: Syracuse, Lost, 3-5, LP: Josh Rainwater
4/29: Syracuse, Won, 3-2, WP: Jay Sborz
4/30: Syracuse, Lost, 1-2, LP: Armando Galarraga
5/1: Charlotte, Lost, 5-7, LP: Enrique Gonzalez

Runs scored: 32
Runs allowed: 19

Earlier in the week, I took at three young position players who are playing important roles for the Tigers this year. Today, I'm doing the same with the Tigers' youngest starters. I realize the Tigers also have some young relievers that some people were (and are) nervous about trusting games with, but I'm not going to profile relievers today for a couple of reasons. First, we're talking about a number of innings that's equivalent to a couple of starts. I think that's too little time for even an "early look". The second reason is there were enough relievers in the mix for the Tigers' bullpen that I have a hard time looking at the fringes of the bullpen as particularly important to the Tigers' success. That explanation out of the way, let's get down to looking at Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello.

Rick Porcello

TBF: 92
H: 33
HR: 2
K%: 14.1
BB%: 6.5
GB%: 56.3
FIP: 4.35

I was a bit mystified early in the season when the general consensus among Tiger fans seemed to be that Porcello was the Tigers' number two starter. After all, he is still very young and while his ERA and won-loss records were good, there was certainly a possibility they would lead to disappointment if they were more in line with his peripherals this year. It's true I expected the adjustment to go the other way - his peripherals would catch up to the results - but it just surprised me how often I heard something like "We have Verlander and Porcello, but after that..."

Well, if you've ever made a confident statement about what you believe will happen in a baseball season, you should know by now that the sport has a way of making you feel like you don't know as much as you thought. Porcello's peripherals have been better this season. He's striking batters out at an improved rate. He's maintained his low walk rate. He's getting more ground balls and giving up home runs at a lower rate. In short, he is indeed pitching at a level that would lead us to expect an ERA close to what he achieved last year. Yet his ERA is very close to four runs higher than what it was last year, when all the cited indications point to his pitching worse.

How to explain it? His velocity doesn't seem to be down. Hitters don't seem to be making significantly better contact (12.7 LD% compared 17.1% last year) and there are no stark differences in contact rates or hitting the strike zone. He's simply the victim of more hits falling in. Last year, BABIP was his friend (.281). This year, Porcello is looking at BABIP (.427) and realizing their relationship has soured quickly. Even if they don't get back to warm and cuddly terms, they're not going to keep up the combative stage they're currently going through. Aaron Harang was the most unfortunate starter in the majors last year with a BABIP of .339. Predictably, he also led the league's starters in line drive percentage (23.7).

Both of those facts are obviously way out of whack with where Porcello is right now. He's seeing ten percent more of his hits fall in than Harang did last year despite a line drive percentage that's half of what Harang's was. That WILL NOT hold up over the season. Once his BABIP gets more in line with reality, we’ll see if he can get his rate of stranding runners (currently 62.8%) back up closer to normal (around 70%) as well.

I know it's difficult to have watch what Porcello has done so far and just take it on faith that things will get better. Still, that's just what the Tigers should do until they get a better indicator that this is more than a run of bad luck.

Note: I just want to acknowledge Billfer took a similar look at Porcello not too long ago and came to a similar conclusion, but I feel okay about duplicating his efforts. After all, how can you not look at Porcello, see he’s getting worse results despite pitching better and not come to a similar conclusion? If there’s a way, I’m not sure what it is.

Max Scherzer

TBF: 114
H: 31
HR: 5
K%: 17.5
BB%: 6.1
GB%: 36.3
FIP: 5.09

One of the reasons I was mystified at the "We have Verlander and Porcello, but after that..." sentiment was its implied dismissal/skepticism of the season Max Scherzer had in 2009. He struck out better than a batter per inning in his first full season as a major leaguer! If we still had Edwin Jackson, people would be saying, "We have Verlander, Porcello and Jackson..." and Scherzer is clearly better than Jackson right now! This was what my internal mystification at the underrating of Max Scherzer sounded like. I know he did this all in the National League, but it's not like the National League is Triple A.

A month into the 2010 season, Scherzer has struggled and it's not all tough luck struggles like I argued for Porcello. His strikeouts are way down (23.5% in 2009) and his homers are up with him giving up at least one dinger in every start but his first. A drop in walks (8.5 BB% last year) takes some of the sting out of that. Not to mention, if Jim Thome doesn't push a pitch that was low and outside over Comerica's left field fence we're not talking about much of a jump in home run rate compared to last year. (Tiger pitchers should take up a collection and pay Thome to sit out games against the Tigers. Verlander's contribution alone could probably cover his mortgage.)

Anyway, the potentially fluky homer rate isn't concerning to me. Heck, I wouldn't even be too concerned about the strikeout rate if it weren't accompanied by an alarming drop in velocity. Last year, Scherzer's fastball averaged 93.6 mph and so far this year it's averaged 91.8 mph. Maybe he's throwing more two-seamers? Maybe he needs to heat up? Well, I don't know about the ratio of two-seam fastballs to four-seamers but he didn't need to heat up last year. Last year, his velocity started higher and dropped down close (but not quite this low) to the levels we're seeing now. That's a little concerning when you also factor in that he's lost velocity on his slider and changeup as well.

Please don't take this as me being Chicken Little and screaming that Scherzer is broken. It's possible there are perfectly reasonable explanations for his drop in strikeouts and velocity. Maybe he's pulling back a bit after hearing all offseason how he's an injury risk who probably can't hold up as a long-term starter. Maybe he likes the lower velocity because it's allowed him to cut down on his walks and eventually will lead to better pitch count efficiency. One thing I did notice is with the lower velocity, he also seems to be achieving more lateral movement. Maybe he likes that. Who knows? My purpose in pointing this out is simply to show that unlike with Porcello, there may not just be a difference in results hitters are achieving. There may also be a difference in the pitches hitters are seeing. It may take Scherzer some time to make that work to his advantage.

There are some people who might say the Tigers are rebuilding this year. Such people are probably skeptical of young "unproven" players and when they saw the Tigers adding youth, chalked up 2010 as an attempt to find a new window for contending. I would contend that the Tigers are simply trying to overhaul their roster "on the fly". That stems from my belief that minor league performance can suggest what we can expect from a player and the cost savings they represent compared to veterans often warrants giving them a shot. Regardless of which camp you're in, there are definitely plenty of players on the Tigers' you will look to in making your case. I'd like to take a look at the (very) early returns on the new position players. In a later post, I'll peek at some key pitchers who are still viewed as unknown quantities.

Alex Avila, C

AVG: .107
OBP: .242
SLG: .143
BB%: 12.1
K%: 21.2
XBH%: 33.3
wOBA: .201

I'm going with the same categories we look at for prospects because of the spirit in which we're looking at these players. It's obviously not been pretty for Avila at the plate so far. He's started eight of the Tigers' twenty games and he has more walks (4) than hits (3). Let's not start the calls for Mike Rabelo quite yet, though. While Avila is having some contact issues (70.7% compared to league average of 80.8%), he's also having terrible luck with balls in play. Right now, his BABIP is just .143 despite 19% of his balls in play being line drives. That line drive percentage isn't exceptional (a touch under average, actually) but it's also not so dreadfully low as to explain his trouble with hits falling his way. It's also true that Avila will probably want to get his ground ball percentage lower than its current 52.4%. Again, that rate isn't some crazy anomaly that points to why his hits will never fall.

So when Avila's rates get back to something that's more sustainable over the long season, it will be interesting to see where his bat leaves him in terms of production. The surprising thing about Avila to me has been his work behind the plate. To my eye, he's looked pretty comfortable behind the plate and seems to be doing a good job of keeping balls in the dirt in front of him. He has two errors so far, but no passed balls, and one of those errors was that once-in-a-lifetime mistake of using his mask to pick up the ball. The more visible aspect of his defense has been his excellent work at throwing out runners. He's shot down four of seven would-be basestealers and we're not talking about shooting down Mike Sweeney on a missed hit and run. His casualties have included excellent basestealers such as Chone Figgins and Elvis Andrus.

I have to admit that when the Tigers gave him the second catching job, I didn't expect to be praising Avila's defense and explaining his troubles at the plate. That's appropriate so far, though, and if he can maintain the defense for when the offense comes around, the Tigers will feel pretty good about their young backstop.

Austin Jackson, CF

AVG: .314
OBP: .379
SLG: .453
BB%: 9.5
K%: 33.7
XBH%: 29.6
wOBA: .372

If we're not panicking because Avila's misfortune can't continue, we also shouldn't starting accepting bids for Jackson's statue outside of Comerica Park. He didn't have a game without a strikeout until his 20th game as a major leaguer and if he continues to strikeout at the rate seen above, he's not going to be a very productive hitter. Mark Reynolds is the only hitter who qualified for the batting title last year and struck out more frequently than Jackson has so far this year. Reynolds was allowed to maintain his prodigious strikeout total because he hit 44 home runs. Or maybe the DBacks harnessed the energy he generated and used it to heat their clubhouse spread. It's one of those.

In any event, Jackson isn't going to hit for the kind of power or draw the number of walks that make all those strikeouts bearable. He's also not going to continue to have half his balls in play fall in for hits. How has he been able to get half his hits to fall in to this point? Well, a third of his batted balls have been classified as line drives. Again, that's not going to hold up since that's sixty or seventy percent higher than average (20%). So bully for Jackson for what he's done so far at the plate. He's held up pretty well atop the Tigers' lineup. He's just going to need to figure out a way to adjust his game so it holds up once the numbers discussed come back down to earth.

We shouldn't limit our discussion of Jackson to his time at the plate, though, because a fair amount of his value has come in other ways. UZR has him as the best center fielder in baseball so far and Dewan's Defensive Runs Saved has him in the top five. If we were to continue to provide such solid defense, he would be likely to prevent about a win's worth of runs compared to a center fielder. Considering the level of defense provided by center fielders, that's saying something. It's also nice that it doesn't seem to be a case of the numbers bonking heads with what we're seeing. I haven't been able to watch a lot of games, but there have been a number of instances where, off the bat, a hit looked like a lot of trouble. Then when the TV coverage switched views, I found myself relieved to see the line drive falling harmlessly into Jackson's sure hands. Early returns suggest the Tigers have found another center fielder whose range will be a joy to get used to, and this one seems to have quite an arm to go with it. We'll just have to hope his defense is augmenting his value at the plate and not trying to compensate for it.

Scott Sizemore, 2B

AVG: .255
OBP: .333
SLG: .309
BB%: 10.6
K%: 18.2
XBH%: 21.4
wOBA: .296

Sizemore doesn't have the extreme highs or lows we saw above with Jackson and Avila. His batting average is probably a tick below where we'd expect or like, but 15 or 25 points of batting average at this point of this season is a hit or two. In fact, the only surprise for me in the numbers above is the lack of power he's shown to this point. He's had 14 hits and only three of them have gone for extra bases and those were all doubles. He's hitting the ball fine - a quarter of his batted balls have been line drives - but just hasn't found the gaps. Whatever might be preventing him from driving the ball, I don't think there's a problem in his approach. You can see from his walk and strikeout rates above he's not going up there hacking. His contact numbers have been solid as well, better than average in most cases. I'm not a scout - I'm even fairly new to the contact numbers I've been quoting - but I see no reason to panic.

Of course, one of the things that made people the most nervous about transitioning from Polanco to Sizemore was the defense at second base. That's one of the areas where Sizemore has made the kind of glaring mistakes that will take a long time to overcome. Dropping a cutoff throw or airmailing a throw to first while Thome chugs down the first base line are images people calling into talk radio are going to cite as they call for Sizemore's head. The numbers don't bail Sizemore out, either. Dewan's fielding numbers and UZR both snicker at his defense, too. I want to point out, though, that it's still way too early for any sort of indictment of his skill at the position. There's small sample size, rookie jitters and recovery from a broken ankle all adding static to our ability to get a feel for where he's going to settle in defensively.

As is nearly always the case when I cite stats in a post, FanGraphs.com was immensely helpful in putting this post together.

Last year I decided to stop doing daily recaps to free up more time for other types of articles. Those other articles should be easier to come by as the season progresses and sample sizes grow. What follows is a ton of information about the past week of Tigers' minor league baseball and those daily recaps have been sacrificed in favor of weekly recaps like this. The stats and records do not include games from today (Sunday the 25th).

Toledo Mud Hens

Overall Record: 9-8
Week of 4/18 - 4/24: 3-4

4/18: @ Indianapolis, Lost, 6-9, LP: Ruddy Lugo
4/19: @ Indianapolis, Won, 10-1, WP: Phil Dumatrait, SV: Scot Drucker
4/20: @ Louisville, Won, 4-1, WP: Armando Galarraga, SV: Jay Sborz
4/21: @ Louisville, Lost, 1-3, LP: Enrique Gonzalez
4/22: Columbus, Won, 6-4, WP: Josh Rainwater, SV: Jay Sborz
4/23: Columbus, Lost, 2-6, LP: Scot Drucker
4/24: Columbus, Lost, 1-7, LP: Phil Dumatrait

Runs scored: 30
Runs allowed: 31

The Hens’ bats ran a bit hot and cold as they scored six or more as many times as they scored less than three. Brennan Boesch rode his hot start to a promotion and Deik Scram doubled twice in his first Triple A game. Casper Wells was another notable this week as he cleared the fences three times. In the long run, Scram’s bat is probably comparable to Boesch’s but he’s unlikely to keep up the kind of rate Boesch had given the Hens the first couple weeks. Of course, Boesch wasn’t going to keep that up either.

On the mound, the Hens ran hot and cold as well. After giving up nine last Sunday, they only allowed nine runs in their next four games, winning three of them. Once the weekend came, though, their pitchers stalled right along with the bats. Ruddy Lugo was nearly killed when a line drive hit him in the temple on Friday and Dumatrait was roughed up Saturday.

Top prospects’ results:

Brent Dlugach, IF, 3/28 (.107), 3 BB, 12 K, E
Dlugach had a nice start but has hit the skids as his luck on balls in play has been bad right along with his strike zone judgment (or contact skills).

Jeff Larish, 1b, 5/20 (.250), 3 2b, 6 BB, 4 K, E
Larish didn’t really see the power come this week, but if he keeps up this approach at the plate, he will be one of the Hens’ best bats.

Casper Wells, CF, 8/27 (.296), 2b, 3 HR, 3 BB, 8 K, E, 1 assist
Wells played long ball early in the week before closing out the week on a 1 for 16 stretch.

Ryan Strieby, LF, 0/7 (.000), BB, K
Strieby played in only two games before being placed on the DL.

Robbie Weinhardt, 4.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 K
Weinhardt continues to flash pretty good peripherals but the hits and runs keep coming anyway.

Jay Sborz, 2 IP, BB, 2 K
Sborz almost literally could not have been any better so far this year as he’s yet to give up a run and picked up two more saves on the week.

Daniel Schlereth, 4 IP, 3 H, R, 4 BB, 5 K
Schlereth needs to find a way to get past these walks if he’s going to nudge his way into the Tiger bullpen.

Alfredo Figaro, 5.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 2 K
Two runs in five plus innings isn’t bad, but allowing ten baserunners against two strikeouts isn’t the way to state your case as a big leaguer.

Player of the Week, Brennan Boesch, RF

This was close between Boesch and Wells, but Boesch’s callup pushed him over the top. Besides, he was 9 for 19 (.474), so it’s not like this was a charity case. Of those nine hits, one was a double and another was a homer. He was also able to steal a base and nail a runner before getting rushed away to Texas for his first big league game.

Pitcher of the Week, Armando Galarraga

Galarraga must be making some of those Tiger starters a little nervous. Unfortunately for him, the ones who have struggled are the ones with the tightest grip on their spots in the rotation. That’s okay, because he seems content to keep letting the Tigers know they have another big leaguer in Toledo. He pitched a gem on Tuesday, giving up three hits, no runs and no walks in seven innings while striking out six.

Injuries and transactions:

Ryan Strieby and Ruddy Lugo went on the disabled list. Brennan Boesch was called up to Detroit. Deik Scram was called up to fill in for Boesch and Clete Thomas was activated from the DL today.

Erie SeaWolves

Overall Record: 7-9
Week of 4/18 - 4/24: 5-2

4/18: Altoona, Won, 8-2, WP: Andy Oliver, SV: Brooks Brown
4/19: Bowie, Won, 5-3, WP: Jon Kibler, SV: Luis Marte
4/20: Bowie, Won, 7-2, WP: Lauren Gagnier, SV: Luis Marte
4/21: Bowie, Lost, 3-5, LP: Duane Below
4/22: @Altoona, Lost, 2-3, LP: Thad Weber
4/23: @Altoona, Won, 6-4, WP: Brooks Brown, SV: Luis Marte
4/24: @Altoona, Won, 4-3, WP: Jon Kibler, SV: Ryan Ketchner

Runs scored: 35
Runs allowed: 22

Erie’s success at the plate and in close games this week nearly brought them all the way back from a dreadful eight game losing streak to start the season. They are not without their challenges going forward, though, as we will have to see how their lineup responds to losing Deik Scram. He homered twice this past week and was starting to heat up after a slow start.

On the mound, the Wolves enjoyed a pretty good week from their starters with only Duane Below and Andy Oliver suffering through rocky starts. Everything else was more than acceptable from their rotation and their bullpen gave up a grand total of three runs on the week despite having to throw 20 2/3 innings.

Top prospects’ results:

Wilkin Ramirez, CF, 8/27 (.296), 2 2b, 3b, HR, 3 BB, 11 K, 0/3 SB, 1 assist
Ramirez had a good enough week at the plate before you get to all those strikeouts. His being caught stealing four times already is frustrating as well.

Deik Scram, RF/DH, 6/24 (.250), 2 2b, 2 HR, BB, K, 2/2 SB
Scram was promoted after a game in which he had three extra base hits. He had a slow start, but will be interesting to watch in Toledo as his promotion has been a long time coming.

Cale Iorg, SS, 5/25 (.200), 2b, HR, BB, 7 K, 4/4 SB, 3 E
All three errors came in one game but Iorg’s defense isn’t what we need to worry about. The low average and the disparity between walks and strikeouts continue to cast serious doubt on his chances of hitting enough to move up to Detroit.

Audy Ciriaco, 3b, 6/18 (.333), 2b, HR, 2 BB, K, 3/3 SB, E
Ciriaco came back from the disabled list and got right down to making up for lost time. He hit the ball well and only struck out one time in addition to nabbing three bases in as many tries.

Andy Oliver, 11 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 7 K
He’s still struggling to miss bats and his second start was a little rocky, but I’m okay with what he’s done so far considering his debuting at Double A.

Luis Marte, 3 IP, 3 K
Marte faced nine batters and retired all nine on the way to earning a couple of saves. He seems to be the Wolves’ closer of choice when he’s available. It looks like Erie may be taking it easy on his arm, though.

Jared Gayhart, IP, H, 2 K
Gayhart did fine in his one game this week, but it was his first outing since getting tagged for six runs back on the 15th.

Player of the Week, Andy Dirks, LF

Dirks was 8 of 24 (.333) on the week and those eight hits included a double and a homer. He also mixed in five walks, two stolen bases (in 3 tries) and an outfield assist. I continue to be impressed with Dirks’ ability to make good use of what skills he possesses, good speed, good defense and an understanding of the strike zone.

Pitcher of the Week, Lauren Gagnier

Gagnier turned in the Wolves’ best start of the week on a week when that wasn’t all that easy to do. He went 7 2/3 innings, giving up just four hits, two runs and a walk while striking out seven. He did give up his first homer but continues to give Erie the best innings of any of the starters.

Lakeland Flying Tigers

Overall Record: 9-7
Week of 4/18 - 4/24: 4-2

4/18: Brevard County, Won, 3-2, WP: Luke Putkonen, SV: Lester Oliveros
4/19: Brevard County, Postponed by Rain
4/20: Brevard County, Won, 5-3, WP: Mark Sorensen, SV: Lester Oliveros
4/21: Clearwater, Won, 6-2, WP: Bryan Villarreal
4/22: @Clearwater, Lost, 2-3, LP: Matt Hoffman
4/23: Clearwater, Lost, 4-8, LP: Charlie Furbush
4/24: Tampa, Won, 13-7, WP: Ramon Garcia

Runs scored: 33
Runs allowed: 25

The Flying Tigers pounded their way to better than five runs per game with a number of hitters turning in fine weeks at the plate. Perhaps the most intriguing of the bunch is Daniel Fields, who was 7 for 19 (.368) with a double and a triple after being called up to fill in for Ben Guez, who was called up to Toledo to fill in for an injured Clete Thomas. He may prove to be a bit over his head at this level, but he’s done a fine job of hiding it thus far. 

Hitting wasn’t the only story, as Lakeland started the week 4 for 4 in terms of quality starts. Furbush and Putkonen finished out the week falling on some hard times, but overall it was a good week for the rotation. The bullpen was fine, too, even though Hoffman took a loss and Crichton was roughed up late in a game that had been largely decided (the 13-7 win on Saturday). 

Top prospects’ results:

Gustavo Nunez, SS, 8/23 (.348), 2b, 2 BB, K, 2/4 SB
Continuing to show his game on offense is all about speed and batting average, although it’s good to see him limit himself to one strikeout and no errors.

Billy Nowlin, DH/1b, 5/17 (.294), 2b, 4 K
All four strikeouts came in a game where he took the golden sombrero. The lack of power to this point (2 XBH) is more surprising to me than the struggles overall (.208/.240/.250, BB, 9 K).

Daniel Fields, CF, 7/19 (.368), 2b, 3b, BB, 5 K, 3/3 SB, 1 assist
He joined the team and has hit pretty well considering this is his first real stint in the pros. He’s also doing a good job of flashing his athleticism.

John Murrian, C, 1/11 (.091), BB, K, E
Murrian is showing the jump to Hi A from Short season ball isn’t easy. Murrian has struggled in a big way (.065/.121/.065), and he’s still looking for his first extra base hit.

Luke Putkonen, 7.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, BB, 8 K
Left his second start in the second inning, but I haven’t heard what the problem may have been. He had been pitching pretty well overall.

Lester Oliveros, 2 IP, 3 H, R, 4 K.
Oliveros was pitching very well before a problem with the bicep on his throwing arm (not thought to be serious) landed him on the disabled list.

Adam Wilk, 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 BB, K
Wilk continued to live on relatively harmeless contact as he struck out only one in a good start.

Charlie Furbush, 4.1 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 2 BB, 7 K
Continues to get strikeouts (22 in 15 IP) but is also getting hit hard (22 H and 3 HR already). We’ll have to see if his luck with batted balls comes around.

Austin Wood, IP, 3 K
Came back from the DL with a perfect inning, striking out the side.

Player of the Week, Rawley Bishop, 1b

It would be nice if Bishop could pass the secret of his success along to John Murrian. Both are trying to make the jump from Oneonta, but Bishop is having a much easier go at it so far. He was 8 for 17 (.471) this week with a double, two homers and a stolen base.

Pitcher of the Week, Brayan Villarreal

Villarreal continues to torch Florida State League hitters as his nine strikeouts in his start this week (6 IP, 3 H, R, HR, BB, 9 K) gives him 26 on the season compared with just two walks. He doesn’t have the frame (6’0”, 170 lbs) Dombrowski and the Tigers seem to prefer, but the Tigers have to like the early returns on his 2010 season.

Injuries and transactions:

Lester Oliveros and Tyler Stohr both went on the disabled list. They were replaced in the bullpen with Robert Waite and Austin Wood.

A week after losing Ben Guez to the Mud Hens, the Flying Tigers have to give up Chris White to Erie. Chao-Ting Tang was the replacement they received from extended spring training.

West Michigan Whitecaps

Overall Record: 6-11
Week of 4/18 - 4/24: 1-6

4/18: Great Lakes, Lost, 2-5, LP: Trevor Feeney
4/19: Great Lakes, Lost, 3-5, LP: Jade Todd
4/20: @Dayton, Lost, 0-3, LP: Victor Larez
4/21: @Dayton, Lost, 2-5, LP: Geovany Soto
4/22: @Dayton, Won, 8-3, WP: Ramon Lebron
4/23: South Bend, Lost, 1-3, LP: Trevor Feeney
4/24: South Bend, Lost, 0-3, LP: Jade Todd

Runs scored: 16
Runs allowed: 27

This was a pretty dreadful week for the Caps’ hitters. Half their runs came in their only win and they were shutout twice. You might be encouraged to find out they walked 25 times in these seven games, but any promise in that number is washed away by the knowledge that they struck out 62 times. Jamie Johnson and Wade Gaynor were the only hitters to hit better than .250 on the week.

The pitchers had their share of struggles, but should have enjoyed better results than 1-6. They have up a hair under four runs a game in a league where the average is up around 4.6. The starters gave them three quality starts and while a few starters couldn’t last into the sixth, only Feeney on Sunday gave up more than three runs. They were simply hamstrung by the fact that there were times when any lead seemed insurmountable.

Top prospects’ results:

Hernan Perez, SS, 6/27 (.222), BB, 9 K
Avoiding adding any errors to what had been a quickly elevating total.

Wade Gaynor, 3B, 8/24 (.333), 2 2b, 6 BB, 4 K, 1/1 SB, 2 E
One of the few bright spots offensively but a little more power would be welcome.

Avisail Garcia, RF, 4/27 (.148), 2b, 8 K, 1 assist
More struggles for the raw young talent.

Giovanni Soto, 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 K, HR
He’s flown under the radar as a late round pick, but he’s been impressive in his three starts so far.

Melvin Mercedes, 1.2 IP, H, BB, K
Closers aren’t called on too much when their team is in the middle of such a bad stretch.

Ramon Lebron, 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 3 K, HR
Control is obviously going to be a stubborn issue for Lebron, but he did pick up the team’s only win.

Player of the Week, Jamie Johnson, CF

This isn’t even close. In a week where the team had 46 hits and only 10 went for extra bases, Johnson had 11 of the hits and 4 doubles. He batted .440 on the week and led the team in hits, runs (6), doubles, runs batted in (3) and walks (6).

Pitcher of the Week, Jade Todd

Todd took losses this week and stands at 0-3 on the season, but it was an impotent lineup that has led him to this point. He was just fine in his two starts, going a combined 11 innings and striking out 13 compared to just 2 walks. He gave up 10 hits and five runs (2 unearned) but certainly put the team in position to win in both games.

Injuries and transactions:

None that were evident