Should Detroit Tigers Be Concerned About Superstar's Brutal Start?
The Detroit Tigers have gotten off to a great start, leading the American League Central and tied for the best record in the American League at 10-7.
With a pitching staff that's been firing on all cylinders and a lineup that is absolutely raking via some elevated performances from surprising places to start the year, the Tigers look like they have the makings of a team the baseball world is going to have to keep their eye on all year.
One player, however, has not been nearly the caliber of player Detroit hoped he would be this year coming off a breakout 2024 season.
After a hot start over the first couple of series, All-Star outfielder Riley Greene has been struggling mightily at the plate in the early going.
With another hitless game in the Tuesday 5-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers that included three strikeouts, Greene is 1 for his last 28 at-bats with a staggering seventeen strikeouts.
Over the last five games, he has slashed .058/.143/.053 with just one hit and only two walks.
Things have been rough lately for the 24-year-old, but should the Tigers be concerned about the slugger they see as one of the current and future faces of their franchise?
Slumps happen, though this feels like it's more than that for Greene.
Not only is he not squaring the ball up right now, but he's also simply not seeing it well, either. On Tuesday night, a brutal three-pitch strikeout in the sixth inning where he didn't even swing summed it up.
Greene is past the point as a player where sending him down for a few weeks is something that makes sense, so he's going to have to figure this out at the big league level.
Though he has always been prone to slumps with an uppercut swing, this current slump might be the worst he has looked in a Detroit uniform, and there's no question Detroit should be concerned.
What the solution is does not have much room for interpretation, however.
The Tigers simply need to ride this thing out, perhaps give him a day or two off to reset mentally, and allow a hitter who became one of the most dangerous in all of baseball last season work through the valleys of this game that can be painfully difficult when struggling like Greene is right now.
Perhaps a simplified approach at the plate that sees him simply try to get on base with walks and singles before attacking the ball from a power standpoint is the way back.
There's no reason to think Greene won't pull through this and bounce back sooner rather than later.
It certainly is a concern, however, to see Detroit's most important hitter suddenly look like he's not capable of hitting a baseball right now.
Recommended Articles
feed
Michael Brauner is a 2022 graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in Sports Media. He covers various MLB teams across the On SI network and you can also find his work on Yellowhammer News covering the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers as well as on the radio producing and co-hosting 'The Opening Kickoff' every weekday morning on 105.5 WNSP FM in Mobile, Alabama.