Unfortunately, the 2022 season proved to be less than stellar for the Detroit Tigers. A team that was expected to contend for a playoff berth, was only able to muster a 66-96 record, good enough for a 4th place finish in the Americas League Central Division.. It was a combination of injuries, poor play in the field, and an anemic offense that doomed the Tigers season. The lone bright spot was the consistent performance of the Tigers’ pitching staff, although they were hit by the injury bug as well. With the hiring of new President of Baseball operations, Scott Harris, hopefully the team will find themselves well on their way to a path of improvement in 2023.
Consistent performances from key players turned out to be a monumental and virtually impossible task for last year’s squad. From Javy Baez to Spencer Torkelson and Miguel Cabrera, they were all unable to perform well enough to make this team achieve their desired goals. Between all of them, they were able to help this club to a team batting average of .231, far below what is needed to be considered an elite baseball organization. Along with this, their defensive play was less than desirable most of the season. Many nights saw multiple lapses in the field that led to numerous errors. With a heightened attention to better play in the 2023 campaign, this team is destined to achieve greatness in the near future.
One of the very few bright spots for the Tigers that kept the team competitive in many games in 2022 was the pitching staff as a whole. Collectively, they accrued an ERA of 4.03, a statistic that is more than adequate for a team to compete at the highest level. Furthermore, the pitchers were able to collect 38 team saves. If the team is able to duplicate these numbers in some form in 2023, success should not be far behind.
A major hindrance to this team’s success in 2022, was the constant lack of performance from the likes of Javy Baez, Jonathan Schoop, and Austin Meadows. With the expected production from these three and others, it was thought the Tigers may be carried straight to a playoff berth. Unfortunately, it didn’twork out as planned. These guys all turned in low to mid .200 batting averages, and were anemic in power and run production categories that include home runs and RBI’s. Baez only garnered 17 homers with 67 RBI’s, while Schoop managed 11 homers, with 38 RBI’s, and Meadows hit .258 in only 56 games. Though some of these results were directly impacted by injury, this offensive output is not a recipe for success, and must be corrected for future positive outcomes to occur.
The Detroit Tigers success in 2022 was less than acceptable, and certainly was not expected. This offense was supposed to score runs and hit for some power, unfortunately this never came to fruition. This was partly due to the injury bug that virtually never left the Tigers last season. Though injuries decimated the pitching staff, it seemed they performed at an acceptable level, and steadied this team to the extent that they could. If the offense can at least at expected levels, an exciting season is in store for Tigers fans.
No comments:
Post a Comment