Author Archives: Shaneo42
The Greatest Detroit Tiger By Position: Third Base
Moving on in our exploration of the greatest Detroit Tiger at each position, we cover third base today. To date, I’ve covered off on the Tigers best catcher, first baseman, and second baseman, with first base being the toughest choice so far.
My only stipulation for being eligible for consideration is playing the position of discussion for a majority of games as a Tigers for at least five years. That leaves us with seven players that qualify and they are Aurelio Rodriguez, Don Wert, Brandon Inge, Tom Brookens, Pinky Higgins, George Kell, and Marv Owen. Not making the cut any further is Don Wert, Aurelio Rodriguez, and Marv Owen. This definitely is the weakest position so far, but let’s take a look…
The Greatest Detroit Tiger By Position: Second Base
As we continue exploring the greatest Detroit Tigers by position of all-time, we’ve already made a case for the Tigers best catcher and first baseman; we now focus in the middle of the diamond and second base.
Qualifying requires a minimum of 5-years in the old English D, with a majority of time played at this position. As seen with Miguel Cabrera and others, we remove stats from other positions played and look solely at the position being evaluated. With that, we have seven significant Tigers that qualify at second to consider. They include: Ralph Young, Frank Bolling, Placido Polanco, Damion Easley, Dick McAuliffe, Charlie Gehringer, and Lou Whitaker. I’ll remove Ralph Young (1915-1922) with his 1.4 WAR off the bat and Frank Bolling, Damion Easley, and Placido Polanco for their limited time in Detroit.
Alright, let’s look at the second sackers…
The Greatest Detroit Tiger By Position: First Base
Moving on from naming our greatest catcher of all-time for the Detroit Tigers, we take on naming the greatest first baseman of all-time. If choosing a catcher was difficult, this proves to be one of the biggest battles outside of the right field discussion.
With the only criteria of playing for the Tigers for five seasons, with a majority of games at that position, we have seven candidates. They include: Norm Cash, Hank Greenberg, Miguel Cabrera, Rudy York, Lu Blue, Cecil Fielder, and Tony Clark. The only two players that I am going to eliminate from this list right away will be Clark and Fielder, as Clark’s the .277 average and 156 homers aren’t going to cut it with this group, although the numbers are respectable. Fielder, I was intending to write about until I looked at his numbers as a first baseman and realized a third of his homers came as a DH.
We’ll start in chronological order…
The Greatest Detroit Tiger By Position: Catcher
Last year I explored and readers voted on who should be in the Detroit Tigers Hall of Fame from past and present. This year, I’d like to take a look and give my thoughts on the best Tiger at each position. The main condition I have for consideration will be a minimum of 5-years in the old English D uniform at that position for a majority of the season. There are will be some easy battles for certain positions, while others will be incredibly difficult.
Today we’ll start out with Detroit Tigers catchers. There are only six Tigers who even qualify for the minimum seasons needed and are Bill Freehan, Lance Parrish, Oscar Stanage, Ivan Rodriguez, Johnny Bassler, and crowd favorite, Alex Avila.
Top Detroit Tigers Prospects For 2017 & How They Fared In 2016
Baseball America and numerous other baseball prospect sites are moving through the process of naming each team’s top prospects for next season and BA just released Detroit’s last week. The list is based on potential and Baseball America is considered the go to when it comes to prospects.
Here’s the list and how that player fared in 2016…
- Matt Manning, RHP – Manning was the 9thoverall pick in the 2016 draft and I guarantee one of the first things you will read about him is about his athleticism and his father Rich who played in the NBA. What I like is the kid is 6’6” at 18-years old and could grow another inch. What I am afraid of, is that from all reports, he may remain lanky and unable to add weight to his frame for durability purposes. After being drafted, Manning went to rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League, where he made 10 starts, was 0-2, with a 3.99 ERA, a 1.159 WHIP, 2.1 BB/9 rate, and 14.1 K/9 rate. Expect Manning to move up to West Michigan to start the 2017 season.
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