Ridiculous Hot Streak From Tigers Rising Star Has Changed Outlook of This Team

The Detroit Tigers have seen one of their key players erase a slow start to the year.

May 2, 2025; Anaheim, California, USA; Detroit Tigers shortstop Trey Sweeney (27) celebrates after hitting a home run during the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium. | Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images

The Detroit Tigers are off to a fantastic start to the season, and this appears to be a complete team that is firing on all cylinders heading into the middle of May.

Coming into this campaign, there were new expectations for the Tigers. This was a team that had struggled for many years, but 2024 changed the outlook.

Detroit has now established itself as one of the best teams in the American League, led by its excellent starting rotation.

With the reigning AL Cy Young winner at the top of the rotation, Tarik Skubal has some help behind him with Jack Flaherty back and some of the young guns stepping up, as well.

While the rotation is excellent, the lineup also looks much-improved.

Scoring runs was an issue for the team last year despite success in the second-half of the season. Now, they have had many players stepping up and performing well above their expectations.

One Player In Particular Has Played Well in May

25-year-old Trey Sweeney was part of the trade package that Detroit received from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Flaherty trade at the deadline last season.

After tearing it up in the minors for the Tigers, he came up to the Majors to take over as the shortstop down the stretch for the injured Javier Baez. The results were mixed at the plate, but he performed well defensively for the team.

Overall in 2024, he slashed .218/.269/.373 with four home runs and 17 RBI.

He came into this year as the starting shortstop after a decent impression last campaign, but he got off to a bad start in April.

Sweeney slashed .182/.292/.273 with one home run and six RBI in 26 games.

The results at the plate weren’t great, but things have changed in a positive way to start May.

Sweeney has been red-hot of late, slashing .500/.517/.750 with two home runs and seven RBI in his last seven games. While some games in Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies certainly helped, the strong stretch has all of a sudden brought his season numbers way up.

Now, the young shortstop is slashing .269/.346/.387 and has been a significant contributor on offense.

With his ability to play well defensively, the improvements on offense are making him an important player for the Tigers.

The production from the offense is going to be something to monitor for Detroit going forward, but getting this ouput from Sweeney certainly helps lengthen the lineup.