Through four games, the Detroit Tigers sit at 2-2, though the weekend wasn’t so hot. AJ Reilly gives his thoughts on who the studs and duds were for the first four games of the Detroit Tigers season.
*** Recorded 4/11/2022 ***
Detroit Tigers Studs (So far…) :
A.J. Reilly: You can’t say that Spencer Torkelson is a dud. If you were to say it, I would stop the recording.
Matt Bassin: I’m not touching the rookie. It’s not fair.
A.J. Reilly: It’s not fair. You cannot judge, that’s one thing that I think people need to realize. I have preached this a number of times, we cannot judge a major league hitter until they have had 1000 at-bats in the major leagues. That’s about two and a half seasons. Around 600 at-bats, is a typical season, depending on where you’re hitting in the lineup.
So you’ve got to give them time to develop, and we’re seeing it with Jeimer Candelario truthfully because when he first came up, everybody expected him to set the world on fire and he struggled. But then once he got around a thousand at-bats, we know he’s going to be about a 260 to 280 hitter. He’s going to hit the ball in the gaps and he’s going to run into one every now and then.
Please. For the sake of everything that is holy, do not jump on Torkleson’s back. Anybody that is listening to the sound of my voice right now, give the kid a chance. Just let him breathe. He’s got a lot of pressure on him. Let him breathe and let him play baseball. He got the day off on Monday, which I think was great.
I really hope that A.J. Hinch came in and said, listen, just play ball. I don’t need you to be a superstar. I’ve got Javier Baez and Miguel Cabrera. I just need you to be Spencer Torkelson. So no, we’re not going there with Torkelson.
Detroit Tigers Duds (So far…):
So here are my duds. On Friday, Eduardo Rodriguez could not have thrown the ball at the broad side of a barn and hit it.
http://gty.im/1239870150It was a real struggle and we’ve had debates with other people on whether he should have been pulled earlier than he was. I think you let them ride it. It ended up working out in the end but my goodness, he was not good. He got squeezed a little bit. Now I don’t want to harp on the starting pitcher too much because that White Sox lineup is terrifying. They are just so good, from top to bottom, they can really put the bat on the baseball. It’s also their first start of the season in 40-degree weather.
So if they’re change-up pitchers, they’re not going to be able to grip the change-up the right way but if we’re going to put the title of duds on something, It’s gotta be the first three starting pitchers.
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