Sunday, June 17, 2012

Berry Interesting

By Sean Gagnier

He may have been just five of his last 27, but on Sunday Quintin Berry made the most of his time in the Tigers lineup, going five-for-five and swiping his ninth base of the season. That kind of performance is the reason that the Tigers must keep Berry playing as much as possible.

While he doesn't have home run power, he can do just about everything else. Comerica Park could have been built for the Austin Jackson and Berry, it is spacious in the right places and if they can get a ball in the gaps they could run forever.

Baseball, unlike any other sport, has a true home field advantage. In basketball, football and hockey each venue has to have the same dimensions for the playing surface, so home field advantage is limited to the fans in the stands. But in baseball each playing surface is different from the last and lends itself to a different style of play; Berry's style of play is what Comerica Park was built for.

With his five-for-five performance on Sunday, Berry was able to bump his batting average from .288 to .333. Berry brings a different style of game to the otherwise home run reliant Tigers; speed. One of his hits on Sunday was a bunt base hit that was unable to be fielded by the pitcher. No other Tiger has that ability to be able to change the makeup of a game so quickly.

Berry is able to take a one out, no-one on base situation and get a squib base hit in the infield and then steal second on the next pitch. On two pitches he has changed the game completely, putting a runner in scoring position and pressure on the pitcher and defense. That is the thing that Detroit has been missing of late, the ability to stress pitchers.

Even though opposing pitchers and defenses know that Berry has the green light and is looking to steal every time he gets on base, they have yet to throw him out. Sunday marked Berry's ninth steal in as many attempts, and more often than not, everyone in the stadium knew he was running and there was still nothing anyone could do about it.

If the Tigers want to keep winning, they need Berry to keep producing and keep stressing pitchers.


Thursday, June 7, 2012

Evalutating Tigers Draft Pick Jake Thompson

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

The Detroit Tigers had to wait until the second round of the 2012 MLB Draft, because they had given their first rounder to the Milwaukee Brewers as compensation for Prince Fielder. With their first pick of the MLB Draft the Tigers selected Jake Thompson out of Rockwell-Heath High School, a prep school in Texas, and Texas Christian University commit.

Thompson stands 6-foot-4 right-handed pitcher and tips the scales at 234 lbs, but at only 18-years-old the solid righty still has some growing and maturing to do.

ESPN says that Thompson is a big, mature bodied pitcher who has a fastball that clocks in at around 88-92 m.p.h., with it touching 94. His pitches have good life on them but he needs work on his slider, which currently is average, at best.

On the face of it Thompson looks like the prototypical Dave Dombrowski draft pick; a big pitcher that can hit the mid-90's. But with Thompson coming out of high school he can still blossom from where he is right now, and become a pitcher that Detroit could really use.

Currently, Thompson uses his slider as his out pitch, which could be a problem if he doesn't improve it. While it does have late life on it and makes batters miss, there is still room for improvement, as there is with any high school player.

Thompson is not just a terrific pitcher, he also excels with the bat. At Rockwell-Heath Thompson not only serves as the team's ace he also leads the Hawks in every offensive statistic.

The versatility that Thompson possesses is something that the Tigers would be happy to have in their system and they believe that they can lure Thompson away from the Horned Frogs and TCU and into their farm system and on the way to wearing the Old English "D."

Detroit has had a history of signing high school players, which may come in handy when dealing with Thompson, and with him serving as their first selection of 2012 he may be able to command a considerable payday.

If Thompson does indeed sign on the dotted line, it shouldn't take him too long to move through the Tigers organization and be knocking on the door to Detroit. Depending on how he develops and how the Tigers see him progressing he could either become a very successful bullpen pitcher, perhaps closer, in the near future or as a solid outfielder.