The Detroit Tigers have stumbled early to start the 2023 season. They’re currently standing at 3–9 on the year. Fans are hoping a change will happen sooner rather than later. One could say the schedule to start the season was challenging, but in order for this team to be successful, they need to start off well. This is the team’s worst start since 2008.
Offense Needed
Offense is essential for this Tigers team to be respectable. They are hitting under .200 as a team. They are in the bottom-five in almost all hitting categories and when they do get runners in scoring position, nobody is getting the timely hit to bring them in to score. Hitters are making bad choices, swinging at pitches out of the zone hoping to create anything to spark this offense. Even when the offense gets a hit, their base running gaffes are ending the threat to score runs.
More than Offense Struggling
The Detroit Tigers are off to a rough start, and it is more than just the offense struggling. Pitchers cannot throw strikes. Relievers are coming in in the early innings, which is leading to them trying to do too much. They’re blowing leads and save chances.
Manager A. J. Hinch has had to replace the starters with a reliever in the middle of an inning in every game. Relievers have inherited 22 runners from starters, and allowed 12 to score. The defense is struggling to make routine plays, and errors are keeping innings going for opposing teams.
Fans Question Winning
Detroit Tigers fans are already questioning whether or not this organization is trying to win. They did not spend much money in free agency, and they let some key players leave or traded them away. Since Hinch took over as manager, the team has been eliminated from postseason contention before the summer months get going. In 2021, the Tigers had a 9–24 record after May 7 and finished 77–85. Last season they had a 9–23 record after May 12 and finished 66–96. It looks like the pattern is repeating again this year.
What Can be Done?
What can be done to get this team going and be competitive? To begin with, Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson need to perform and be the hitters that everyone has projected them to be. This team needs to be able to build their offense around them. Both showed a little glimmer of their potential last season, but like many young players, they struggled to adjust to major league pitching.
Sometimes when you have top prospects breaking in when the team is not doing well, they press too hard, and it puts a little extra pressure on them. The Tigers know they still have two of the most promising hitters in baseball under the age of 24, and they have the potential for a much better season ahead of them. Both still have what it takes, and will likely be contributors at some point. The problem is that they need that point to be sooner rather than later.
Outlook
The Detroit Tigers have struggled early, but if they can get through the difficult April schedule and Greene and Torkelson can get going, that should boost the other players. This team can still be competitive, but the young talent must take another step forward and start producing.
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