Tigers Season Preview Part 2

Continuing in my 7-part season preview of the Detroit Tigers, this post will look at the next 4 hitters in Jim Leyland's Opening Day starting lineup.


4) Prince Fielder 1B

Wow.  The day that Prince signed with Detroit, I was at baseball practice when the news broke.  I returned to my phone to see texts from Phil and Ryan, all saying something along the lines of "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LOOK AT TWITTER!!"  Once the news sunk in, I couldn't help but see visuals of Verlander holding up the World Series trophy. 

As we all know, Prince Fielder can aptly be described as a slugger and a half.  He's of the traditional mold of first basemen: not overly athletic, larger than normal, and not very fast, but dear Lord can he hit the baseball.  He has teamed up with NL MVP Ryan Braun for the past several seasons in Milwaukee to form the best 3-4 combo in baseball.  Now he gets to exceed that while being paired with Miguel Cabrera to form perhaps the best 3-4 combo since Maris and Mantle.  He replaces what the Tigers lost in Victor Martinez with more power, and probable better protection of Cabby.

2011 Stats: .299/.415/.566/.981.  36 2B, 1 3B, 38 HR, 120 RBI, 95 R.  106 K, 107 BB, 1 SB.
2012 Predictions: .290/.408/.545/.953.  35 2B, 0 3B, 34 HR, 115 RBI, 90 R.  115 K, 102 BB, 2 SB.

5) Delmon Young LF

The late season acquisition from the East Dakota Twins provided an instant spark to the Tigers offense batting in the 3 hole, where the Tigers desperately lacked production following Brennan Boesch's thumb injury.  I'm enough of a SABR-nerd to know that RBI isn't really an important stat, but you cannot argue Young's run production, as he had 32 RBI in only 40 games with the Tigers.  I think we could see a huge season from Young, as he should be hitting with people on base the majority of the time.  Young is not someone who will play great defense, get on base a lot, or work counts; but what he lacks in plate discipline and defense he makes up for in "pop."

2011 Stats: .268/.302/.392/.695.  21 2B, 1 3B, 12 HR, 64 RBI, 54 R.  85 K, 23 BB, 1 SB.
2012 Predictions: .275/.310/.405/.715.  26 2B, 2 3B, 21 HR, 86 RBI, 60 R.  90 K, 32 BB, 2 SB.

6) Jhonny Peralta SS

Jhonny Peralta was perhaps the most unheralded Tiger in 2011.  He quietly batted either 6th or 7th on most nights, played a solid if unspectacular SS, and did very few things that make people say "wow" (with the exception of his "pickin n grinnin" play during Verlander's no hitter).  Peralta is the definition of a solid player.  He does most things well, but nothing "great."  He plays solid D, but not great.  He has good power, but not great.  He runs the bases well, but isn't very fast.  He takes pitches, but not to the point where he is a high OBP guy.  He's a great guy to have on this team, however, as we saw how the "all D no O" experiment at SS worked with Adam Everett (although he did have an outstanding, Babcockian flow).  I think we may see a bit of regression with Peralta, but his run production numbers may still increase with the amount of traffic due to be on the bases ahead of him

2011 Stats: .299/.345/.478/.823.  25 2B, 3 3B, 21 HR, 85 RBI, 68 R.  95 K, 40 BB, 0 SB
2012 Predictions: .278/.332/.465/.797.  22 2B, 2 3B, 18 HR, 84 RBI, 65 R.  92 K, 45 BB, 1 SB

7) Ryan Raburn DH (2B or LF also, just please God not 3B)

Ahh Raburn.  The only person in the world potentially as polarizing as Brandon Inge in terms of Detroit athletes.  We all know Raburn's story by now: Ice cold first half + red hot second half = everyone praying for some level of consistent production.  Raburn is actually a very good athlete, despite his defensive deficiencies.  He has a plus arm from the outfield, above average power, and above average speed.  He is below average defensively in the OF, and a full on minus defensively in the IF.  Raburn's issue, as we have seen, is consistency.  When he is hot, his bat can carry the team for upwards of two weeks.  When he is cold, it gets to the point where I would rather have Inge in the lineup (gasp).  I believe that Raburn will figure it out this year, I only wish that Leyland would play him in LF everyday and put Delmon at DH.

2011 Stats: .256/.297/.432/.729.  22 2B, 2 3B, 14 HR, 49 RBI, 53 R.  114 K, 21 BB, 1 SB.
2012 Predictions: .274/.326/.458/.784.  26 2B, 3 3B, 18 HR, 62 RBI, 55 R.  105 K, 35 BB, 4 SB


Part 3, finishing the starting lineup and beginning the bench, will be up later today as I'm trying to get the full preview done before the first pitch tomorrow