Brock’s Random Thoughts: The Tigers, 3 Weeks In

Well, well, well.  We have the makings of a competent baseball team in the Motor City this season.  As of this writing, the Detroit Tigers are 9-5 and 1/2 game behind the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central.

Now, 9-5 is a very small sample size during a normal 162 game season.  But in a 60 game sprint (thanks, coronavirus), it's one game short of a quarter of the season.  So it's VERY significant.

Here are the surprises, in my opinion.

The bullpen has been the number 1 pleasant surprise to me.  Gregory Soto looks like a different pitcher this year.  He's ferocious!!!  Joe Jimenez has had two bad outings, but overall has been very good.  John Schreiber has gone from a bit player to a valuable piece very quickly.  The good depth they have is very surprising to me.

As far as the hitters go, Jacoby Jones (pictured above) has improved tremendously all the way around. Two years ago, he couldn't play center field for a high school team.  Now, he's a major league outfielder.  And he's hitting .333 right now.  Excellent!!

And the signings of Jonathan Schoop and Austin Romine have stabilized 2nd base and catcher, respectively.  You wouldn't have thought that before the season started.

Potential problems? Injuries..the C.J. Cron injury suffered on Monday night is hopefully not as serious as it looked.  He's been another stabilizer for this team.  They miss Cameron Maybin, too.  He seems to me to embrace taking a leadership role on this club.

And even though Jacoby Jones is off to a great start, I don't think he's as good as he thinks he is.  IMO, he hasn't figured out the difference between confidence and arrogance.  He carries himself like he thinks he's a perennial All-Star.  He's not there yet.  Confidence is great, but arrogance is bad.  Hopefully, he can figure it out.  He's still young.

Can they keep this going?  One only hopes, but it's been a nice ride (albeit a short one) so far.

NOTE:  The opinions expressed are those of the author and the author alone.  They do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the management and staff of The Game 730 AM WVFN.