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.
No comments:
Post a Comment