re-signed Jack Flaherty<\/a> after dealing him to Los Angeles for two prospects at last year\u2019s trade deadline. Highly touted rookie Jackson Jobe, Casey Mize and Reese Olson round out a formidable rotation. Free-agent acquisition Alex Cobb will eventually join that group once he recovers from a hip injury.<\/p>\nMize, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, had to earn his way onto the roster \u2014 let alone the starting five \u2014 during spring training. He missed most of two seasons due to Tommy John surgery and was generally ineffective after returning last season. He\u2019s won six of his first seven starts.<\/p>\n
Spencer Torkelson, the top pick in the 2020 draft, was also at a career crossroads heading into the offseason. He languished in the minors for a chunk of last season rebuilding his swing. When the team signed second baseman Gleyber Torres in December, the organization also announced its intention of moving Colt Keith to first base \u2014 Torkelson\u2019s position.<\/p>\n
Torkelson earned his way onto the roster with a scorching spring and hasn\u2019t stopped hitting home runs. Yet he isn\u2019t even the biggest comeback story on the team.<\/p>\n
That distinction belongs to Javier B\u00e1ez, who had been nothing short of a bust the past three seasons after signing a six-year contract. B\u00e1ez was on the injured list during much of the Tigers\u2019 late-season rally and underwent offseason hip surgery. Many people figured the organization would eventually have to cut B\u00e1ez loose and eat the remainder of his contract.<\/p>\n
Instead of ending up on the scrap heap, the longtime shortstop wound up in center field. With Parker Meadows sidelined by an arm injury, the Tigers took the unconventional path of giving B\u00e1ez a shot to play the most important outfield spot. He\u2019s been nothing short of stellar in his new, if temporary, position.<\/p>\n
The hip surgery has also unlocked B\u00e1ez\u2019s free-swinging bat. He hit a pair of three-run homers in the same game this past week, including an extra-inning walk-off blast.<\/p>\n
Besides Greene and perhaps Torres, there are no true fixtures in the lineup. Instead, Hinch has masterfully mixed and matched his right-handed and left-handed hitters. The platooning and pinch-hitting options will only grow when Meadows and versatile Matt Vierling complete their injury rehabs.<\/p>\n
The lineup could use a power right-handed hitter, and the bullpen lacks an elite closer. No matter. These Tigers are no longer cute and cuddly.<\/p>\n
They look positively ferocious \u2014 and odds are, they\u2019re not going to change their stripes.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When it came to the Detroit Tigers, seeing was disbelieving \u2014 at least in the eyes of the oddsmakers and sports bettors. Detroit\u2019s stunning rally<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}