In the past, the Detroit Tigers have been ceaselessly ridiculed and lambasted for having awful defense and relief pitching. Despite this, the Tigers are quietly putting together a strong defensive unit.
Most of the criticism was based on the fact that Detroit played Miguel Cabrera at third and Prince Fielder at first. Now, even with Fielder gone and Cabrera at first (where he actually plays decent defense), criticism still pours in.
This criticism was ever-present at last season’s trade deadline when the team traded possibly its best defender, center fielder Austin Jackson, to acquire David Price. The Tigers didn’t have a team of Gold Glove winners, but Jackson was looked at as the best of the bunch. His presence was missed as Detroit fans were made privy to the center field adventures of Rajai Davis and Ezequiel Carrera.
That may sound like a children’s program, but it was a serious issue.
Davis is a corner outfielder by trade and thus had to adjust to playing center in Comerica Park, which can be treacherous to navigate for some center fielders. Carrera had the same—if not more—trouble defensively.
General manager Dave Dombrowski recently addressed the issue by adding talented and fleet-of-foot defensive center fielder Anthony Gose.
In addition to the center field fiasco, the team also had defensive issues at third base, right field and shortstop.
Statically, third baseman Nick Castellanos was (in layman’s terms) bad. Despite that, this happens to be an easy fix. As a 22-year-old rookie, the third baseman has time to develop.
He works closely with infield coach Omar Vizquel, one of the better fielders of all time. Last season was Castellanos’ first under Vizquel’s tutelage. He may never be considered the best defensive third baseman in the league, but give Castellanos more time with Vizquel and he’ll develop into a solid defensive presence.
Outside of third base, right field was a defensive problem area. J.D. Martinez put in a positive display during his limited time in right field. Despite Martinez being a bright spot, Torii Hunter didn’t play like a former Gold Glove winner. The former Twin struggled in the first half, then improved down the stretch. Dombrowski has said, per George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press, that Hunter won’t return to the Tigers. Hunter will be missed, but this gives Detroit the opportunity to greatly improve its outfield defense.
Playing J.D. Martinez in right field allows the team to play Davis in left field (his natural position). With Martinez’s breakout season validating his claim to the lion’s share of at-bats in right, the team can find a strong defensive outfielder to platoon with Davis in left. Players like Ichiro Suzuki and Nori Aoki would fit the bill.
Having an outfield foursome of Gose, Aoki, Davis and Martinez would give the Tigers two above-average defenders and two who are (at the very least) passable defensive options. This would provide a significant upgrade over last season’s outfield quartet of Davis, Martinez, Hunter and Carrera, who were, at best, two passable options defensively and two below-average defenders.
The last defensive problem area for Detroit was shortstop.
While Tigers shortstops combined for the most putouts in Major League Baseball, the group ranked sixth in errors. Among the players suiting up at shortstop in 2014 were Andrew Romine, Eugenio Suarez, Danny Worth, Alex Gonzalez and Hernan Perez. That grouping finished below the league average in nearly every defensive stat, with the exception of those pertaining to double plays (Detroit shortstops ranked fourth in the league in double plays turned).
Luckily for the Tigers, Jose Iglesias will be back in 2015 after missing last season due to injury.
Acquired in a three-team trade in 2013, per Chris Iott of MLive, Iglesias is the definition of a defensive wizard and should win multiple Gold Gloves in his future.
Detroit has all the makings of a solid, if not above-average, defense in 2015. The outfield should be vastly improved (thanks to Anthony Gose’s acquisition alone). Gose, along with the returning Jose Iglesias and an improving Nick Castellanos, should improve a defense that already features another solid defender (Miguel Cabrera) and two above-average defenders (Ian Kinsler and Alex Avila). The end product is a defense that will be much improved in 2015.
If the Tigers can fix the defense to a point where it’s above average (which it should be), then Detroit could finally lift the World Series trophy it should have already claimed.
All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com