Tigers series preview: Two rebuilds that have stalled

The Detroit Tigers are certainly not as bad as the lowly Royals in the standings, but their quest to rebuild their organization back to contention appears to be stuck in neutral just like the Royals. The Tigers appear to be on their way to a seventh consecutive losing season, with setbacks to many of the young players they were counting on to bring them back.

Injuries have been a big culprit so far. The Tigers have seven pitchers on the Injured List, including former first-round pick Casey Mize and other starters like Spencer Turnbull, Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning, and Eduardo Rodriguez. Former first round pick Riley Greene got off to a good start, but will be out 6-8 weeks with a stress fracture.

But the Tigers have also suffered from underperformance. Former #1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson has a career OPS+ of 84 in 179 big leagues games. Big free agent signing Javier Báez has an 85 OPS+ a year and a half into signing a six-year, $140 million deal. A one-year contract extension for the 2023 season to Jonathan Schoop won’t hurt the budget much, but his 52 OPS+ has hurt the offense. The Tigers played pretty well in May, but reality has set in this June, with the team dropping 12 of 16 games, including a nine-game losing streak to start the month.

Kansas City Royals (19-52) vs. Detroit Tigers (30-40) at Comerica Park, Detroit, MI

Royals: 3.76 runs scored/game (28th in MLB), 5.34 runs allowed/game (28th)

Tigers: 3.74 runs scored/game (29th in MLB), 4.83 runs allowed/game (24th)

The offense has been very weak, even worse than the lineup in Kansas City. The Tigers have been shutout nine times already this season, and have yet to score double digits in runs. They are one of the few teams as equally inept as the Royals in clutch situations - with runners in scoring position they are hitting just .217/.309/.356.

Hitting around Báez, Torkelson, and the bloated corpse of Miguel Cabrera’s Hall of Fame career is a lineup full of journeymen Triple-A-type players. Two starters were from the Gregory Soto trade with Philadelphia - Matt Vierling has played well, but Nick Maton has not hit at all. The Tigers are tied with the Royals for 25th in baseball in home runs hit, with nobody yet in double digits. Only three teams have fewer steals. They have some plate discipline with a healthy team walk rate of 8.9 percent.

To replace all those injured pitchers, the Tigers called up Reese Olson, a 23-year-old acquired two years ago from the Brewers in a minor trade. Olson pitched well in his first two starts, but had trouble getting out of the fourth inning his last time out against the Braves. Olson throws in the mid-90s with a slider, sinker, and change up.

Michael Lorenzen has done a good job eating innings for the Tigers since signing a one-year, $8.5 million deal with them, averaging six innings per starts. After a good start, he has given up six runs in six innings in each of his last two outings. He has one of the lowest strikeout rates among starters but also one of the lowest walk rates.

Matt Boyd has not pitched particularly well since rejoining the Tigers this year, and has yet to record an out in the seventh inning this year. He gets great spin on his fastball, but averages just 90 mph on it, and relies a lot on his slider and change up. He gave up just one run with six strikeouts in 4 ²⁄₃ innings against the Royals back on May 24.

The Tigers bullpen has been pretty decent with a 3.87 ERA collectively, 13th-best in baseball. June has been a disastrous month for closer Alex Lange, who has given up 10 runs in four innings over his last six appearances. Jason Foley has one of the highest groundball rates among relievers, nearing 60 percent. Tyler Alexander has the fifth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio.

The Tigers aren’t yet close to contention, but they also cleaned house in the front office last fall, firing long-time executive Al Avila and bringing in Scott Harris from the Giants to run the team. He has a daunting task ahead of him, but he can bring in a new set of eyes to examine an organization.