Thursday, April 23, 2009

Tigers Scoring with Less Power

The Tigers typically rely on power for a large proportion of their scoring. A case in point was last year when they finished fourth in the league with 821 runs on the strength of 200 home runs ( second only to the White Sox). Their isolated power (slugging average minus batting average) was .173, good for 3rd in the league. They finished 5th in batting average at .271 and 9th in batting average with runners in scoring position at .268.

This year, they are still fourth in the league with six runs scored per game but they are doing it without power. Their 16 homers entering Thursday night's game was 8th in the league and they are 9th in isolated power with a .157 mark. While their power output is down, they are second in the league in batting average (.293) batting average with runners in scoring position (.316).

Another thing they are doing this year is scoring more consistently. Last year, they got shutout twelve times including four in the month of April. This year, they have not scored fewer than two runs yet. They scored two runs twice and actually won one of those games. They have scored three runs in two games. Some think that less reliance on power helps to prevent shutouts because a versatile offense has more different ways to score. I know of no studies which back up that theory but so far their offense is working well this year.

Individually, they only have three hitters showing much power - Brandon Inge and Curtis Granderson with five homers apiece and Miguel Cabrera with four. nobody else has more than one round tripper. Conversely, they have five batters batting over .300 - Cabrera (.440), Josh Anderson (.368), Magglio Ordonez (.321 without an extra base hit), Inge (.320) and Adam Everett (.308).

1 comment:

  1. I saw them play last week out here in Seattle, and they just don't have the look and feel of a power team.

    Honestly, it might be a good thing. With guys like Granderson and the newly acquired (and rather impressive) Josh Anderson, this is a speed team that is going to thrive on playing fundamental and situational baseball. It's a unique position for fans to be in, but I find it very entertaining.

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