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Tigers Are Officially Back In The Playoff Hunt · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
0:12
Speaker 1: the Bowel Territory Network, the Toy Tiger's Podcast. I'm Kieren
0:15
Speaker 1: Steckley with me and as always a man who ain't
0:17
Speaker 1: got no oops and his ops, he is Cody Stapenhagen.
0:21
Speaker 2: How we doing tune?
0:22
Speaker 1: Right?
0:23
Speaker 2: That reminds me that a new projection system oops, which
0:26
Speaker 2: is like, how can anyone take that seriously?
0:31
Speaker 1: Well? Look, speaking of serious, I mean, there was a
0:34
Speaker 1: time where a lot of people were probably like, all right,
0:36
Speaker 1: we can we really take the Tigers seriously? And I'm
0:41
Speaker 1: I have been and I believe you have backed me
0:43
Speaker 1: up on this, Like for a long time now, I
0:45
Speaker 1: was like, you can take them serious? Now? Like where
0:47
Speaker 1: does that go? Who knows? But there's enough data here
0:51
Speaker 1: to say we gotta take them serious now. We gotta
0:54
Speaker 1: take them for what they are, which is at worst
0:58
Speaker 1: right now, a borderline team. We are recording this a
1:01
Speaker 1: couple hours after the Tigers take a series against the
1:04
Speaker 1: Cleveland Guardians with a three nothing win. And you know, Cody,
1:09
Speaker 1: you're you're like right in the middle there where you're
1:12
Speaker 1: You're not a seasoned vet, but you're not a young pup,
1:15
Speaker 1: you know, You've been doing this a good bit. But
1:17
Speaker 1: you know, I don't see any gray on you right now.
1:20
Speaker 2: It's still my prime. Still my prime is.
1:22
Speaker 1: Still in your prime. But here's something that you have
1:25
Speaker 1: not covered. A shutout win by a team that recorded
1:29
Speaker 1: zero strikeout. So how about that the Tiger? Will you say?
1:33
Speaker 1: Like the Tigers are doing it in all different ways.
1:36
Speaker 1: This is them doing it in all different ways.
1:37
Speaker 2: Now weird, it's weird. It kind of hurts me because
1:41
Speaker 2: at my core, I'm I'm a missing bats guy, right,
1:43
Speaker 2: I value whifs and strikeouts and hey, but I'm also
1:48
Speaker 2: a baseball guy, and I love baseball and I love
1:50
Speaker 2: its random outcomes, and I love the weirdness and the
1:53
Speaker 2: wackiness and the old saying you never know what you're
1:56
Speaker 2: gonna see when you show up to the park. Not
1:58
Speaker 2: only do they not strike out a guy today, Kieran
2:01
Speaker 2: kN Lee cater Montero. Excuse me, god, I think two
2:04
Speaker 2: whiffs on thirty seven swings, I think those are the
2:07
Speaker 2: only whiffs the Tiger's pitching staff got the entire game.
2:10
Speaker 2: Two swings and misses and they win in shut out fashion.
2:13
Speaker 2: Pretty incredible, pretty fun, pretty fun.
2:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, and look like I you know, we're recording this
2:20
Speaker 1: as a way to kind of like react to the
2:22
Speaker 1: series as a whole. And there are some things that
2:24
Speaker 1: I was thinking after Tuesday's game and and and you
2:28
Speaker 1: know Wednesday, Yeah, you know, still there, but you know,
2:32
Speaker 1: you got it's easier to say if they win the series,
2:35
Speaker 1: right and and so that category for me is that
2:38
Speaker 1: no longer, in my opinion, are the Tigers in a
2:41
Speaker 1: playoff chase. They are now postseason hunters. And the way
2:46
Speaker 1: that I distinguish between the two is that a chase
2:49
Speaker 1: is like, look, man, if you're kind of within those
2:52
Speaker 1: like handful of teams and the wildcard standings, like all right,
2:55
Speaker 1: there's a chance, but you know, some thing's gonna kind
2:58
Speaker 1: of gotta go your way. The hunt, you're like right there,
3:02
Speaker 1: like it's in the sight line, you know what I mean?
3:04
Speaker 1: Like it like that.
3:05
Speaker 2: I don't know.
3:06
Speaker 1: Another way to describe is that this is a team
3:09
Speaker 1: that is viable for the post season. And I want
3:12
Speaker 1: to highlight a couple things that makes me think that
3:16
Speaker 1: this squad has kind of dare I say, turned a
3:21
Speaker 1: corner in a little bit. Shout out to the old
3:24
Speaker 1: podcast name, but we mentioned that you get you get
3:27
Speaker 1: a shut out win with zero strikeouts, and and you
3:30
Speaker 1: highlighted on Tuesday night about how they have kind of
3:34
Speaker 1: reformed or refound their identity. We definitely saw that on Thursday.
3:39
Speaker 1: There's a youthful energy to this team. And we'll talk
3:41
Speaker 1: about the rookies here in a little bit. You want
3:44
Speaker 1: a crucial series, Cody without Troy Melton taking the mount.
3:47
Speaker 1: I don't want that to be like overlooked either, because
3:50
Speaker 1: like your ace, your you know, your best guy you
3:52
Speaker 1: did not have out there, just based on the schedule.
3:54
Speaker 1: You still want at two out of three, you had
3:57
Speaker 1: a call stands, a questionable call stands go in your favor, Like,
4:03
Speaker 1: what is this?
4:04
Speaker 2: I was shocked.
4:07
Speaker 1: Your best position player, arguably Dylan Dingler hitless in this series.
4:13
Speaker 1: Not the sharpest defensive series we've ever seen out Dylan Dingler.
4:17
Speaker 1: And we're talking about like high standards because that's how
4:19
Speaker 1: grave a player he is. You got one play appearance
4:23
Speaker 1: one out of Riley Green this entire series, and you
4:28
Speaker 1: got Hobby bay I start in a game in left field.
4:30
Speaker 1: So all these things, all these things correlated to winning
4:35
Speaker 1: two out of three against like you could call the
4:38
Speaker 1: Guardians your arch nemesis you could call them a team
4:41
Speaker 1: that just kind of, you know, always finds a way
4:44
Speaker 1: to make you screw up, and you turn the screws
4:48
Speaker 1: on them. Like I do believe this was like an
4:50
Speaker 1: example of this team kind of turning the corner and
4:54
Speaker 1: moving forward right into like a what I think is
4:58
Speaker 1: gonna be a Rivening Rubenden hunt for the postseason.
5:03
Speaker 2: Well, it's definitely a hunt. The White Sox are coming
5:05
Speaker 2: to town, and if the Tigers were to sweep the
5:07
Speaker 2: White Sox, they would be in first place in the
5:10
Speaker 2: American League Central. So we are at the time we're
5:13
Speaker 2: recording this, the Tigers own a wildcard spot with this
5:15
Speaker 2: is Thursday night. Rangers and Angels are still playing, so
5:19
Speaker 2: we'll see what happens there. They are here like this
5:23
Speaker 2: is very real. Can they do it? Like does anyone
5:28
Speaker 2: really know? I mean, have you watched this season unfold?
5:31
Speaker 2: You know, I'm not gonna make a prediction, but I'm
5:35
Speaker 2: definitely not gonna say they can't do it. Because the
5:37
Speaker 2: starting pitching is good enough, the lineup on most days
5:40
Speaker 2: is good enough. The bullpen, as we've said eight million times,
5:43
Speaker 2: is a concern. But here they are like here they
5:49
Speaker 2: are in spite of everything, and yeah, they just did
5:51
Speaker 2: beat the Guardians. That the fact all the facts you
5:53
Speaker 2: just laid out is amazing. You're getting so many contributions
5:57
Speaker 2: that Wardo Valencia has been incredibly productive. Max Clark has
6:02
Speaker 2: actually slowed down in quick fashion. But even like the
6:05
Speaker 2: the yet bad against Kate Smith, there is definitely an energy.
6:10
Speaker 2: And I wrote this like I wrote the Tigers. It
6:12
Speaker 2: feels like they can breathe again. And I don't know
6:16
Speaker 2: exactly how to explain that. I don't think it's fair
6:19
Speaker 2: to be like, oh, it's you know, they're glad school
6:21
Speaker 2: Ball's gone, because remember what happened when school ball got hurt.
6:25
Speaker 2: This team immediately went in the tank. But I do
6:27
Speaker 2: think the deadline cast kind of a cloud over things
6:30
Speaker 2: for a little bit, like in an anxiety attention in
6:33
Speaker 2: the air followed this team and now a couple guys
6:36
Speaker 2: are gone and all that all that is over and
6:39
Speaker 2: you have some younger guys up and that like they
6:41
Speaker 2: are playing free. The energy is different. It does have
6:45
Speaker 2: a little bit of a twenty twenty four feel to it,
6:47
Speaker 2: and like suddenly they feel like a young team again?
6:52
Speaker 2: Was it? Riley Green said? Like young and dumb? And
6:54
Speaker 2: like that's that's kind of the field. They're just going
6:57
Speaker 2: out and playing ball and kind of playing better than
7:00
Speaker 2: they should be, and you can't necessarily explain it. You
7:03
Speaker 2: don't have to explain it. All those things said, they
7:05
Speaker 2: still have some really good talent, probably on paper, the
7:09
Speaker 2: best team in the AL Central. So here we are,
7:11
Speaker 2: the biggest series of the year so far, coming to
7:14
Speaker 2: Comerica Park this weekend.
7:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I don't want to like go back and
7:20
Speaker 1: rehash the whole like good for baseball thing, but I
7:23
Speaker 1: do believe like this series, like you know, validated everything
7:27
Speaker 1: that I was saying, is that, like, this is a
7:30
Speaker 1: this is a good team, Like you know, you said,
7:32
Speaker 1: like can they like you know, and I understand what
7:34
Speaker 1: you're trying to say there, but they certainly can't like
7:38
Speaker 1: like they like they like you. You could look up
7:40
Speaker 1: any team stat you want compared to the American League
7:43
Speaker 1: or even Major League Baseball in general, and you would
7:46
Speaker 1: just if you just looked at that, you know, the
7:48
Speaker 1: win loss record is not on here. You just looked
7:51
Speaker 1: at all these cumulative numbers and be like, Yeah, this
7:53
Speaker 1: is a team that can make the postseason. This is
7:56
Speaker 1: a team. Dare I say I can be in the
8:01
Speaker 1: mix for a World Series because like the accumulation of
8:04
Speaker 1: numbers do not lie, you know what I mean. And
8:07
Speaker 1: and I also would say that had most other teams
8:14
Speaker 1: that have the tigers recent track record would probably be
8:18
Speaker 1: given a better benefit of the doubt than what the
8:22
Speaker 1: Tigers are getting from a national you know, actually somewhat
8:25
Speaker 1: of a local perspective too, I would say, but you
8:27
Speaker 1: got you got like National riders. And again I'm not
8:29
Speaker 1: trying to call people out by name, but we got
8:31
Speaker 1: National riders that are kind of poo pooing their record
8:34
Speaker 1: and you know their ranks, and you know ERA and
8:37
Speaker 1: you know, like all these stats since June one, it's like, oh,
8:40
Speaker 1: they've been on a mediocre stretch. Mediocre, Like what are
8:45
Speaker 1: we talking about here? Like this is actually a well
8:49
Speaker 1: oiled machine, well functioning baseball team that is going out
8:52
Speaker 1: there and winning games. And and by the way, like
8:55
Speaker 1: if you look at a lot of other teams in baseball,
8:57
Speaker 1: they have had to or are currently you know, in
9:01
Speaker 1: the midst of trying to overcome adversity. There's no shortage, Cody,
9:07
Speaker 1: and you know, and it's still to come too. Obviously,
9:11
Speaker 1: there's no shortage of adversity that this team has had
9:15
Speaker 1: to go through. So I love listening I love listening
9:19
Speaker 1: to a J. Hinch press conferences because he is like
9:22
Speaker 1: a great blend of honest and like coach speak. And
9:26
Speaker 1: this is one of those instances where they men perfectly
9:28
Speaker 1: where he was saying the same things when they were
9:32
Speaker 1: down in the dumps in May about like approach and
9:34
Speaker 1: hard work and preparation and like all these things. And
9:38
Speaker 1: the reason that those things keep getting drilled in is
9:41
Speaker 1: because if you have the talent, you know, you gotta
9:44
Speaker 1: have talent, but you have the talent and you have
9:46
Speaker 1: all the other integral things work together, which is what
9:50
Speaker 1: they've been doing now for the better part of you know,
9:53
Speaker 1: two and a half months. Then you can be a
9:56
Speaker 1: team to be reckoned with. And I and I don't
9:59
Speaker 1: know if there's any team, certainly in the American League
10:02
Speaker 1: that doesn't look at the Tigers and say, all right,
10:05
Speaker 1: we're you know, lock the cage. We're in for a
10:07
Speaker 1: fight here, because because they're because they're gonna fight all
10:10
Speaker 1: the way through even Wednesday, Cody, that's a game a
10:13
Speaker 1: lot of times in this season that's not even remotely
10:16
Speaker 1: interesting after the fourth inning, but they came they they
10:20
Speaker 1: came back, and they they had chance. They had themselves
10:23
Speaker 1: the chance to either tie or to you know, have
10:26
Speaker 1: like an epic walkoff. Didn't happen. That's okay, But the
10:29
Speaker 1: fact that they were in it speaks to the growth.
10:32
Speaker 1: And then the fact that they finish off this series
10:34
Speaker 1: speaks even more volumes on that. In my opinion, I.
10:38
Speaker 2: Think that's all fair. I don't know that I have
10:40
Speaker 2: a lot more to add.
10:42
Speaker 1: All right, Well, we're gonna get to some more storylines
10:44
Speaker 1: on this team, including some uh some some unsung heroes
10:48
Speaker 1: and some guys that are really playing arguably some of
10:51
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Speaker 2: All right, come back here.
12:00
Speaker 1: You know, I wanted to spend a couple of minutes
12:03
Speaker 1: here Cody on on Spencer Torklsen and and like we
12:07
Speaker 1: we gave him like some flowers in our last episode,
12:10
Speaker 1: but I like I wanted to just kind of like
12:12
Speaker 1: expand on a little bit. I was doing some numbers,
12:14
Speaker 1: so we had, you know, we had RBI on h
12:17
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. At RBI on Thursday, Runners in Scoring Position.
12:23
Speaker 1: This is a number that's wildly distributed, but runners in
12:26
Speaker 1: scoring position this year three twenty six average, think that
12:30
Speaker 1: five ninety eight slug with a one point h three
12:33
Speaker 1: nine oh ps. So that's overall, so we we we've
12:36
Speaker 1: we've lamented the whole like, uh, bases loaded thing, but
12:41
Speaker 1: just a general runners score position, the guy tends to, uh.
12:44
Speaker 2: We're all tough look for the isn't clutch crowd.
12:48
Speaker 1: Yes, And I've seen some people talk about other guys
12:51
Speaker 1: that you know, don't perform well in high leverage or whatever.
12:54
Speaker 1: Like here here's a guy who hasn't actually underratedly been
12:58
Speaker 1: pretty decent in that in those situations over the course
13:01
Speaker 1: of the past couple of years. But he hasn't hit
13:03
Speaker 1: a home run, Cody since July twenty ninth, and before
13:07
Speaker 1: that it was July twenty second, So since July twenty ninth,
13:10
Speaker 1: he's not hit a home run at that time. And again,
13:13
Speaker 1: I know no one gives a crap about batting average,
13:15
Speaker 1: but I do find it as a good just kind
13:17
Speaker 1: of basic measuring tool two ten ballion average. Now he's
13:20
Speaker 1: at like two thirty. So he's been hitting the cover
13:23
Speaker 1: off the ball for contact, which is like, which is
13:27
Speaker 1: like a change as to what we have kind of
13:30
Speaker 1: like accepted as like the torque place in the order
13:35
Speaker 1: right or pecking order, if you would. And one of
13:38
Speaker 1: the things that he has done a really good job
13:41
Speaker 1: of late is he is hunting pitches outside and that's always,
13:47
Speaker 1: in my opinion, been his kryptonite is that he's so
13:51
Speaker 1: I think I think he has consciously been a little
13:53
Speaker 1: bit pull heavy and so he gets beat on, especially
13:58
Speaker 1: you know, sliders, curveballs out side from right handed pitchers.
14:02
Speaker 1: He's now made that a focus and he's now becoming
14:06
Speaker 1: a more complete hitter, and he's almost like said, like,
14:10
Speaker 1: if it's inside, I'll just instinctively know what to do,
14:13
Speaker 1: but I'm focused on middle out and it's it's produced
14:17
Speaker 1: just in the hit quality. And then also he's taking
14:21
Speaker 1: walks at a high level as well. So this stretch
14:24
Speaker 1: here without the power is probably the most complete and
14:31
Speaker 1: small stretch here, but like the most complete version of
14:35
Speaker 1: Spencer Torkelsen that we've seen, and of course with every
14:38
Speaker 1: game being critical of course, with the injuries that this
14:41
Speaker 1: team has had and of course most recently with Riley Green, well,
14:45
Speaker 1: of the more critical stretches, I would say for Torque
14:48
Speaker 1: to be hot, like directly impacting winning crucial and and
14:53
Speaker 1: I do believe that this is something that should not
14:55
Speaker 1: go unnoticed as we kind of get wrapped up in
14:58
Speaker 1: a postseason. We are seeing Specter Torgelsen do things on
15:03
Speaker 1: a more consistent level over this stretch that we just
15:07
Speaker 1: never seen before. And this is a guy that probably
15:11
Speaker 1: more times than not, has been written off. So I
15:15
Speaker 1: think it's worth.
15:15
Speaker 2: Noting you just can't kill torque man. You know, right
15:21
Speaker 2: when people were already probably thinking about writing him off
15:23
Speaker 2: for next season, thing, oh, maybe they got to move
15:26
Speaker 2: on here. He is on a role, hitting what three
15:29
Speaker 2: to ninety over his past fifteen games. I don't know
15:34
Speaker 2: if I can use the word complete because the power
15:36
Speaker 2: hasn't been there. Complete would be hitting for average and
15:39
Speaker 2: some power. But I would say the most impressive, maybe
15:43
Speaker 2: the most hitterish. Hitterish is an ajinch term, but the
15:48
Speaker 2: most hitterish I've ever seen Spencer Torglsen. He doesn't look
15:51
Speaker 2: like just a power hitter right now. He looks like
15:53
Speaker 2: a guy who is a hitter. You know. He's using
15:58
Speaker 2: the whole field a little bit more. He's spraying line
16:00
Speaker 2: drives onto the outfield grass he ranks in the ninety
16:03
Speaker 2: ninth percentile and launchingle sweet spot. He's ranked highly in
16:06
Speaker 2: that metric all season, but it's finally starting to show
16:10
Speaker 2: up right, a lot of line drives and a lot
16:12
Speaker 2: of them are falling for singles in front of outfielders.
16:16
Speaker 2: And that's okay, because you're right, he's hitting different pitches.
16:19
Speaker 2: He's not just turning one mistakes and hitting them four
16:23
Speaker 2: hundred feet and not doing anything else otherwise. He's doing
16:26
Speaker 2: a lot of good things. The power, you know what's
16:29
Speaker 2: interesting that that's dried up, But like I said last episode,
16:32
Speaker 2: I can't really worry about that with him because this guy,
16:36
Speaker 2: this guy has a ton of natural power, and I
16:38
Speaker 2: think homers are going to always be there for him
16:41
Speaker 2: no matter what. Even at his lowest points, we've seen
16:44
Speaker 2: him be able to hit the ball out of the park.
16:47
Speaker 2: If he can continue hitting for average, if he can
16:49
Speaker 2: continue to cover the whole plate like he is right now,
16:53
Speaker 2: it's really good. And again talking to Tour, talking to
16:55
Speaker 2: AJ's don't seem like this has been a pretty conscious
16:58
Speaker 2: change in approach to just shorten up a little bit,
17:01
Speaker 2: take his hits, and it almost makes you wonder, wow,
17:04
Speaker 2: where has this been for the last like four or
17:08
Speaker 2: so years. We'll see what this leads to, but right now,
17:12
Speaker 2: I've had a lot of fun watching Spencer Toorklesen recently.
17:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, and look like there's been two sort of evolutions
17:22
Speaker 1: and Torque at the plate obviously last year when his
17:25
Speaker 1: spot wasn't guaranteed, you know, he readjusted his load and
17:29
Speaker 1: and and and you know, had the season that he
17:32
Speaker 1: had last last year. This year again a lot smaller
17:35
Speaker 1: sample size, So we all, you know, we're taking that
17:38
Speaker 1: into account. All right, We're not forgetting that part. But like,
17:41
Speaker 1: if this is, as you say, and as they say,
17:43
Speaker 1: a conscious effort, then he's not going to get pestered
17:48
Speaker 1: outside consistently. And so the power will come when they
17:53
Speaker 1: have no choice but to come inside, when they have
17:55
Speaker 1: no choice but to throw a curveball with a chance
17:59
Speaker 1: of a bit hanging, and then he'll be able to pounce.
18:02
Speaker 1: Because I do believe and this is something that we've
18:04
Speaker 1: been kind of saying his entire major league career, Cody,
18:08
Speaker 1: is that there's a lot of natural like hitter hitter
18:14
Speaker 1: ish power to the opposite field in Torqu's bat. He
18:18
Speaker 1: just hasn't always, you know, been able to he has
18:23
Speaker 1: not been able to harness that as much as in
18:25
Speaker 1: the major leagues. And like the worst thing that Torque
18:27
Speaker 1: can have that that can happen to him and at
18:30
Speaker 1: bet is when he swings over, swings and misses at
18:34
Speaker 1: like a slider outside, or if it's like painted the
18:37
Speaker 1: black and now you're down oh one, and now it's
18:39
Speaker 1: just gonna get pestered there the rest of that bat.
18:41
Speaker 1: And there are a lot of times I'm like, well
18:42
Speaker 1: this is a wash it at best. You know, you
18:45
Speaker 1: can't as of right now in this stretch you cannot
18:47
Speaker 1: say that about Spencer Torkelsen. And I think he's a
18:51
Speaker 1: guy that there he deserves a lot of credit because
18:54
Speaker 1: like with what he's been through in his career, keep
18:57
Speaker 1: in mind he was in the COVID draft like he
19:00
Speaker 1: has been much beligned. But this is this is a
19:04
Speaker 1: situation where he once again has shown up in a
19:07
Speaker 1: way that the team needs and is not a passenger.
19:12
Speaker 1: This is what I would say, He's not a passenger
19:14
Speaker 1: in this stretch, Like he is. He is one of
19:17
Speaker 1: the guys that is in a lineup of nine is
19:20
Speaker 1: a is A is a driving force. So that that's
19:24
Speaker 1: what I would say.
19:25
Speaker 2: I think that's all good. Just looking at some of
19:27
Speaker 2: his recent games too, again, like the types of pitches
19:30
Speaker 2: he's hitting, Torque has struggled against breaking balls against off
19:34
Speaker 2: speed for a lot of his career. Double off a fastball,
19:41
Speaker 2: double off, a curveball, single off of fastball, single off
19:44
Speaker 2: a sweeper, single off a curveball, single off a curveball. Like,
19:48
Speaker 2: that's what we're talking about. He's he's covering the plate,
19:51
Speaker 2: he's hitting different types of pitches. He looks more well rounded,
19:54
Speaker 2: even if maybe we can't quite say complete right now.
19:58
Speaker 1: They are going to have to adjust to the way
20:01
Speaker 1: that they are pitching to him, and I think that
20:04
Speaker 1: adjustment is going to, pardon the pun, be right in
20:08
Speaker 1: his wheelhouse when.
20:08
Speaker 3: It does happen.
20:09
Speaker 1: So looking forward to see what happens with that, And
20:13
Speaker 1: speaking of looking forward to Cody, I am looking forward
20:16
Speaker 1: to watching the Tigers with a chance to take a
20:19
Speaker 1: division lead in the Al Central. Which is why I
20:27
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Speaker 1: you sea Geek. All right, well let's let's uh, let's
21:33
Speaker 1: spend some time here, Cody talking about like the youthful
21:37
Speaker 1: infusion if you would of this run so like obviously
21:41
Speaker 1: mcgonagall's been here the entire time, and I'll say this
21:44
Speaker 1: about Kevin, probably one of the better compliments you could
21:46
Speaker 1: give at this point in his career, is he seems
21:49
Speaker 1: exactly the same as observing him in spring training and
21:53
Speaker 1: even even like years prior, just from Afar, but just
21:55
Speaker 1: like seeing him on a daily basis, like what he's
21:59
Speaker 1: had to face and the pressure that he's been under remarkable.
22:02
Speaker 1: So you know, we all understand the Kevin McGonagall piece
22:06
Speaker 1: of this. Max Clark will talk about him in the second.
22:09
Speaker 1: But Eduardo Valencia, he has the home run today, Like
22:13
Speaker 1: the Tigers are battling over and over and over again
22:16
Speaker 1: and talk about like taking advantage of mistakes he gets,
22:19
Speaker 1: He gets a middle, middle, low curveball and he crushes
22:23
Speaker 1: And like I baseball is full of silly stats and
22:28
Speaker 1: there's a lot out there about like so many home
22:30
Speaker 1: runs and you know, and in these stats and such
22:32
Speaker 1: a short sample size. But the way with Eduardo is
22:37
Speaker 1: I just feel like everything's perfectly in line with him,
22:41
Speaker 1: like he like he like obviously this is a borderline
22:44
Speaker 1: unprecedented stretch that he's on. But at the same time,
22:47
Speaker 1: on a daily basis, it doesn't seem that crazy, does
22:50
Speaker 1: that makes sense? Like this is what this is kind
22:52
Speaker 1: of what he's been doing for the better part of
22:54
Speaker 1: a couple of years now, and so like he seems
22:58
Speaker 1: right in line with what this team needs, uh, you know,
23:01
Speaker 1: at least from from the batter's box perspective. And then
23:04
Speaker 1: also Ben Maljerry don't want, don't want anyone to forget
23:08
Speaker 1: about him because he is playing some I would say,
23:13
Speaker 1: what's the best way to phrase it? With his defense,
23:15
Speaker 1: just like the unsungness of the way he is playing
23:19
Speaker 1: left field and right field, you know, cutting balls off,
23:22
Speaker 1: preventing guys from taking extra bases, tracking balls down, having
23:27
Speaker 1: to come in there unexpectedly. Mon Riley, you know, comes
23:30
Speaker 1: out of the game on Tuesday. You know, we have
23:33
Speaker 1: a perfect blend here of rookies on the team, Cody
23:36
Speaker 1: that you have the hyped guys and then the and
23:40
Speaker 1: then the long track record of just trying to get
23:43
Speaker 1: to the big leagues but performing well. Guys in Valencia
23:46
Speaker 1: and mal Jerry and it's and album of the fun
23:49
Speaker 1: things about this stretch. That's part of it too.
23:52
Speaker 2: It's been pretty fascinating, Karan. You know, all these guys
23:56
Speaker 2: the Tigers have been high on for a long time
24:00
Speaker 2: and understandably so. But then I talked to some people
24:03
Speaker 2: I know in the scouting industry, who would kind of
24:05
Speaker 2: be like, ah, yeah, I don't know, Like no, that
24:08
Speaker 2: was the word on Ben mal Jerry, that was the
24:10
Speaker 2: word on how you Lee. I know some people really
24:12
Speaker 2: liked Valencia, but like the questions about his defense loomed
24:15
Speaker 2: pretty large as to what he could ever become. And
24:18
Speaker 2: long term, all those things are still fair for all
24:21
Speaker 2: three of these guys, but short term, in their first
24:23
Speaker 2: taste of the major leagues, those three, especially and obviously
24:28
Speaker 2: Kevin McGonagall and Mexic Lark two degree have all played
24:31
Speaker 2: to like the very best version of themselves, like Maljerry playing.
24:37
Speaker 1: With all of them, I think that's the best way
24:38
Speaker 1: to put We've seen it with all of them.
24:40
Speaker 2: Yeahs, yeah, like yeah, Maljerry playing like plus outfield defense.
24:45
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know that that was necessarily on
24:47
Speaker 2: the Bengo card, and he hasn't played a ton, but
24:49
Speaker 2: this guy has held his own at the plate, probably
24:52
Speaker 2: not gotten enough credit for it. It's not easy to
24:55
Speaker 2: come up and hit two fifty five with a three
24:58
Speaker 2: sixty eight OVP. We've seen much more hyped prospects than
25:02
Speaker 2: Ben mal Jerry come up and just not be able
25:05
Speaker 2: to do that, especially right out of the gate Valencia.
25:08
Speaker 2: We probably haven't given him enough love on this podcast.
25:11
Speaker 2: I wrote about him in The Athletic, like, what a
25:14
Speaker 2: what a story this guy is. I mean he played
25:17
Speaker 2: with everyone in the Tigers minor league system, cater Monterra,
25:22
Speaker 2: Riley Green, Spencer Toortles and Kevin McGonagall and Max Clark.
25:26
Speaker 2: What that tells you is this guy was in the
25:28
Speaker 2: miners for a long time. Some of that was because
25:30
Speaker 2: of injury. He went five years in the US without
25:34
Speaker 2: he played one game above high a Karen, and then
25:37
Speaker 2: when things finally clicked, they clicked in a big way.
25:40
Speaker 2: The bat, you know, the exit velocities have been massive.
25:44
Speaker 2: He hit velo in the minors, coming up and doing
25:47
Speaker 2: this on the biggest stage when you can see how
25:50
Speaker 2: much getting called up meant to him, how emotional he
25:52
Speaker 2: was after his debut. To be able to harness that
25:55
Speaker 2: and also stay calm really impressive, as the great Chris
25:58
Speaker 2: Brown noted, and have five homers in his first sixteen
26:02
Speaker 2: career games as a Tiger. Only two other guys have
26:05
Speaker 2: ever done that, I believe Robert Fick and Matt Joyce.
26:09
Speaker 2: I looked up who has the best ops through sixteen games?
26:12
Speaker 2: You would never guess it. There's Gregory Soto who is
26:15
Speaker 2: a two for two career hitter, but two for two
26:19
Speaker 2: and twenty nineteen, so you can throw that one out
26:21
Speaker 2: the window. But Valencia really impressive. Same for all that.
26:24
Speaker 2: Kevin McGonagall leads the American League in war according to
26:28
Speaker 2: Baseball Reference. That's really not being talked about enough. Kiaren,
26:32
Speaker 2: Like that is ridiculous. It's gonna be one of the
26:34
Speaker 2: best rookie seasons potentially in the history of the game,
26:38
Speaker 2: Like could be a top the five rookie season ever
26:41
Speaker 2: in terms of a Baseball Reference war wild.
26:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I love the joy that Valencia plays with.
26:48
Speaker 1: And I like how you've you know, kind of phrased it,
26:51
Speaker 1: like where it's like, you know, emotional but like controlled,
26:54
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like he does all that
26:56
Speaker 1: and you know, it brings a smile on my face
26:59
Speaker 1: to see him doing well. And yeah, high Lee and
27:01
Speaker 1: my dad's like favorite player, Like just like I just
27:04
Speaker 1: love that lead every single time. And of course every
27:06
Speaker 1: time he makes a play, I'm like, well, Mikes Dechley
27:09
Speaker 1: knows what he's talking about. I guess we've seen a
27:10
Speaker 1: lot of baseball. Uh So, yeah, like this youth infusion
27:15
Speaker 1: is not something like we somewhat anticipated it, but we
27:19
Speaker 1: could not have forecasted what it would really look like.
27:26
Speaker 1: And this is a lot. This is a lot. And
27:27
Speaker 1: right now there's another one that you know, Mike get
27:29
Speaker 1: a get a chance. So James Outman took a took
27:33
Speaker 1: a ball off the chin, shoulder. You know, he's in
27:35
Speaker 1: concussion protocol. Uh, you know, on Wednesday, and so the
27:38
Speaker 1: Tigers call up Trey Cruise Junior and.
27:44
Speaker 2: Tray is the third.
27:46
Speaker 1: Actually say oh yeah, my bad. Just they all run together, right,
27:52
Speaker 1: Uh Trey Tray, I guess is what we'll call him?
27:57
Speaker 1: Where did does he fit into this? Uh? Anyway? Could
28:00
Speaker 1: we see could we have some moments with Trey here.
28:04
Speaker 2: That would be fitting given where we're at. I don't,
28:06
Speaker 2: I don't know how this roster will evolve. Outman wasn't
28:13
Speaker 2: being wasn't playing a ton, but aj was making sure
28:15
Speaker 2: to get him in as a defensive substitution. It was crazy, man,
28:18
Speaker 2: He took that ball straight off the chin and the
28:20
Speaker 2: ball went straight down and he just kind of stood there.
28:25
Speaker 2: It seemed really weird. I was like, that had to
28:27
Speaker 2: deflect off something, right, It didn't Talking to him after
28:31
Speaker 2: the game. He he seemed kind of in the days,
28:35
Speaker 2: which is unfortunate.
28:37
Speaker 1: So I still caught a fly ball after that.
28:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know if that dude should have been
28:42
Speaker 2: in the game whatever, because he didn't necessarily seem totally
28:47
Speaker 2: with it afterward. So you know, we wish him well.
28:51
Speaker 2: Hope he's doing okay. Seems like he is, but he'll
28:53
Speaker 2: obviously miss some time. I don't know where this roster
28:56
Speaker 2: will evolve. They could just carry Tray Cruise for a
28:59
Speaker 2: little bit. It probably not playing a ton. There's also
29:02
Speaker 2: room to get creative. They could, They could go out
29:06
Speaker 2: and acquire someone else. They bring Jake Rogers back for
29:09
Speaker 2: a few days if they wanted to. Like, I don't know,
29:13
Speaker 2: I don't know exactly what the plan is there, so
29:15
Speaker 2: I'm not going to pretend that I know. To your point,
29:19
Speaker 2: it would be fitting if Trey Cruz gets in there
29:21
Speaker 2: and and has some success. I mean, he wasn't necessarily
29:23
Speaker 2: tearing it up in Triple A, which I think is
29:25
Speaker 2: part of what allowed Max Clark to get the call
29:27
Speaker 2: when he did. But interesting spot losing both Riley Green
29:33
Speaker 2: and James Outman. That leads to things like we saw
29:36
Speaker 2: haave baia is playing left field was actually a pretty
29:39
Speaker 2: smart roster construction because that what that allowed Aj to
29:43
Speaker 2: do was get how you Lee back in the lineup,
29:47
Speaker 2: how you Lee, who's been great, hadn't been playing a ton.
29:50
Speaker 2: We'd seen Labor Torres in in second. They were just
29:53
Speaker 2: on other guys you want to dh. Aj mentioned wanting
29:55
Speaker 2: to DH Valencia against right handed pitching a little bit
29:59
Speaker 2: more often, and so maybe Hobby just holding down left
30:02
Speaker 2: field is the solution if that allows you to play
30:05
Speaker 2: both Valencia and Lee on a more regular basis. So far,
30:09
Speaker 2: those guys have earned that playing times has has Hobby
30:11
Speaker 2: by as obviously.
30:15
Speaker 1: Man, I love, I love all things Hobby right now, Man,
30:18
Speaker 1: it's so funny, like after we're talking to Johnny Kane,
30:20
Speaker 1: shout out Johnny Kayan and he's like, yeah, I was
30:22
Speaker 1: a little nervous being a left field starting for the
30:24
Speaker 1: first time there, and then I had to field the
30:26
Speaker 1: first ball and and then just like his double that
30:29
Speaker 1: he had today where he like jogged the first base
30:32
Speaker 1: and then decided to stretch a single into a Seeing.
30:35
Speaker 2: Guys play like that anymore, you know, there's not that
30:38
Speaker 2: many creative baseball players. My theory is a perfect game
30:42
Speaker 2: and high level travel ball. Although these guys are more
30:45
Speaker 2: skilled and in many ways better coached than ever. Not
30:49
Speaker 2: that many players are unique, right, We, especially in the US,
30:52
Speaker 2: produce like baseball robots. Now, hobby By isn't hobby and
30:56
Speaker 2: he's an artist on the field.
30:58
Speaker 1: And I love it's eight and eleven games, uh since
31:02
Speaker 1: he came back, and the Tigers are eight and three
31:04
Speaker 1: in those games. So uh, that's that that was the
31:08
Speaker 1: vision back in the day, right, But yeah, shout out
31:11
Speaker 1: the hobby for his versatility, and you know, Chanzar will
31:14
Speaker 1: probably see him check off another box of a position
31:17
Speaker 1: that he started at. And then of course, you know
31:19
Speaker 1: with the pinch hitting stuff that allows AJ to do
31:22
Speaker 1: a lot later in games. And we saw that on
31:26
Speaker 1: Thursday as well. Speaking of Riley, Uh what you know,
31:30
Speaker 1: we we left we left off last time, just kind
31:33
Speaker 1: of being like who knows, like you know, we you know,
31:35
Speaker 1: tests the next day he is now on the I
31:39
Speaker 1: L with a right ham ham string strain. Any context
31:45
Speaker 1: to like what the Tigers expect or what?
31:49
Speaker 4: Uh?
31:50
Speaker 2: Not a lot of info and probably tough to know
31:52
Speaker 2: because it's one of those soft tissue injuries and you
31:55
Speaker 2: just have to see how he's doing. For anyone who
31:57
Speaker 2: missed it, AJ Hinch said, they think it's mild right view,
32:01
Speaker 2: it does a good sign that maybe he wasn't hobbling
32:03
Speaker 2: off the field, but he did feel something just before
32:06
Speaker 2: he touched home plate in the first game of this series.
32:09
Speaker 2: On Spencer Tourgelsen's double thought as it's good. Briefly talked
32:13
Speaker 2: to Riley, said he's doing good, But what was he
32:16
Speaker 2: gonna say? Oh, I'm doing terribly. Seems like they might
32:19
Speaker 2: be sending him to Lakeland. I'm not sure exactly what
32:22
Speaker 2: that means. Could be something, could be nothing. I think
32:25
Speaker 2: you hope this is closer to a minimum stay and
32:28
Speaker 2: not one of those hamstring issue issues that is more
32:30
Speaker 2: severe and lingers that would obviously be very bad. For
32:34
Speaker 2: as much as people think Riley Green is not clutch
32:37
Speaker 2: or you know, maybe haven't loved that he's been slumping recently,
32:41
Speaker 2: it is one of the most important players on the Tigers.
32:43
Speaker 2: This is a guy who gives you a real threat
32:45
Speaker 2: to navigate in the middle of the order and a
32:47
Speaker 2: guy who has been really good all year. Unfortunate too,
32:50
Speaker 2: for a guy who's worked so hard to alter his sleep,
32:54
Speaker 2: his diet his routines to try to stay healthy, and
32:57
Speaker 2: he had done that. Riley Green had played in a
33:00
Speaker 2: one hundred and seventeen of one hundred and nineteen games.
33:03
Speaker 2: It's one of the things I talk about all the time,
33:05
Speaker 2: like kind of worrying, Like I get you can't take
33:07
Speaker 2: him out of the lineup, but do you need to
33:10
Speaker 2: take him out of the lineup. It's unfortunate that he
33:13
Speaker 2: goes on the IL. I guess we'll see how quickly
33:16
Speaker 2: he can get back up to running and doing baseball activity.
33:21
Speaker 1: Yeah and yeah, So I mean if he goes to Lakeland,
33:24
Speaker 1: I assume that's sort of like around the clock idea
33:28
Speaker 1: for him to you know, rehab and you know, do
33:30
Speaker 1: all the things that you know needs to be done.
33:32
Speaker 1: So hopefully that that would be the case. If that
33:36
Speaker 1: is the case. But I'll tell you what, like, one
33:39
Speaker 1: of one of the more remarkable things about this Tiger's team,
33:42
Speaker 1: and this is not to diminish the contributions of anybody,
33:46
Speaker 1: but one of the more remarkable things about this Tiger's team,
33:48
Speaker 1: this Tiger's run is that there's obviously been a lot
33:51
Speaker 1: of moving parts, a lot some injury, some traded, some
33:56
Speaker 1: lack of production, but they have found away just kind
34:00
Speaker 1: of keep chugging forward, and so that's what that's what
34:03
Speaker 1: we're looking forward to to see what they do on
34:06
Speaker 1: on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and we will talk to
34:09
Speaker 1: you guys again Sunday for Monday, and then we will
34:12
Speaker 1: react to all the storylines as well as we get
34:16
Speaker 1: into a playoff hunt for the Tigers. Maybe they're in
34:19
Speaker 1: a playoff spot by the time you guys listen to this,
34:21
Speaker 1: we'll see. But looking forward to talking with you Cody
34:23
Speaker 1: about it. Looking forward to sharing our thoughts with you
34:25
Speaker 1: guys at Cody Stavenhagen, at Kieran on his course, dectly
34:28
Speaker 1: pot page, at Tiger Territory, Underscore, YouTube, Apple, Spotify, You
34:31
Speaker 1: guys know what to do. We appreciate all of you,
34:33
Speaker 1: so for Cody Stavenhagen, I'm Kieran Steckley. Everybody, have great day,