Detroit Tigers Young Infielder Answering the Call Offensively in Early Going
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Coming into the 2025 season, it was clear what the strength of the Detroit Tigers roster was going to be; their pitching staff.
Anchored by reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, a great job was done this winter to fill out the rotation behind him.
It was a weakness last year because of injuries and trades, but that has been addressed.
The Tigers have a deep and talented group of starting pitchers with Jack Flaherty, Reese Olson, Casey Mize and Jackson Jobe behind their superstar ace. Veteran Kenta Maeda and youngsters Keider Montero and Matt Manning provide more depth as well.
Where Detroit needs to find some answers is within their lineup, which was below average in many regards in 2024 and not much was done to change those fortunes in 2025.
The only Major League addition made was signing Gleyber Torres away from the New York Yankees. He has already landed on the 10-day injured list because of a strained oblique.
Torres joined starting center fielder Parker Meadows, the versatile Matt Vierling and outfielder Wenceel Perez on the shelf. That is a lot of production missing for a team who had offensive concerns already.
With key contributors not currently in the lineup, other players need to step up.
A few of them have answered the call to this point.
One is shortstop Trey Sweeney, who is doing his best to lock down the starting role moving forward.
The sample size is small, but through six games and 23 plate appearances, the young shortstop is doing more than enough to prove that he should be the unquestioned starter with Javier Baez filling a utility role off the bench.
After producing a .218/.269/.373 slash line during his debut last year with an 81 OPS+, Sweeney has a .273/.304/.409 slash line thus far in 2025 with an OPS+ of 111.
There looks to be some legitimate pop in his bat and he has also cut down on his strikeouts thus far.
His bat is going to be the determining factor in whether or not he can lock down the starting job in 2025 and beyond. He certainly has the defensive acumen to handle the job, but Detroit needs him to produce at the plate to warrant an everyday role.
It will be needed even more now with Torres sidelined, as he got off to a torrid start before landing on the injured list.
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Kenneth Teape is an alumnus of SUNY Old Westbury and graduated in 2013 with an Honors Degree in Media Communications with a focus on print journalism. During his time at Old Westbury, he worked for the school newspaper and several online publications, such as Knicks Now, the official website of the New York Knicks, and a self-made website with fellow students, Gotham City Sports News. Kenneth has also been a site expert at Empire Writes Back, Musket Fire, and Lake Show Life within the FanSided Network. He was a contributor to HoopsHabit, with work featured on Bleacher Report and Yardbarker. In addition to his work here, he is a reporter for both NBA Analysis Network and NFL Analysis Network, as well as a writer and editor for Packers Coverage. You can follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @teapester725, or reach him via email at teapester725@gmail.com.