Not implying that these stats mean anything, just that they are interesting:

Grandy’s K’s

Curtis Granderson’s efforts to cut down on his strikeouts are paying off. After 20 at-bats he’s only fanned once. But is it coming at a cost? He also only has one extrabase hit and only one walk.

Ramon Santiago – credit Roger DeWitt

HR Leader Ramon Santiago

By knocking his second dinger of the spring yesterday, Santiago is now the leader in the clubhouse. Santiago came into camp a little bulked up. Could this be the reason for the power surge? Perhaps. Or maybe it is just the flukiness of baseball. Keep in mind that Santiago has 6 career home runs, and 3 of those came in a 2 game span including one off of Pedro Martinez. Still, if he can sustain some level of production, and Neifi Perez continues to struggle, it will be interesting who Jim Leyland takes North. Will it be the veteran with the big contract or a player who may be more deserving.

And speaking of Perez, he has 5 walks in 20 plate appearances which leads the team. This position battle so far is more interesting than I would have expected.
Continue reading Spring stats of note – offense →

I know it was an only an exhibition before exhibition season, but it still resulted in a game, with 9 innings, and live pitching – and a boxscore. That’s right, fresh stats are fresh stats, even if they are irrelevant.

But let’s work our way through it anyways.

What’s not to like about Granderson leading off with a home run? Or how about Marcus Thames playing first base and knocking 3 doubles. Cameron Maybin with 2 hits of his own. Ryan Raburn going yard. A shut out by the pitching staff is always nice. And an error free day by a number of defensive subs. Neifi even had a big hit. The only downside is that the Tigers didn’t pick up a walk – I kid of course.

Now I’m not making too much out of this. I’m actually not making anything out of this. A two touchdown win doesn’t mean anymore than the 1 run win last year. I’m just taking enjoyment from the fact that we are one step closer to the beginning of the season.

photo from Det News

I’m pretty sure I won’t be doing this every day, but for the time being there is enough interesting stuff coming out…

Men looking at other men

Nothing like spring training to encourage men to comment on other men’s physiques. In the case of Todd Jones he dropped a few pounds. In the case of Curtis Granderson, he’s been getting reviews that he has bulked up.

Danny Knobler talked to him about it, and apparently he’s only 3lbs heavier than last season. I’d say this is quite believable. When I’ve seen pictures of Granderson in street clothes, or seen him up close, he looks much bigger than he does standing in the batters box. I don’t know if it’s the stance or if he wears his uniform extra baggy. Plus there is something about the angle of that picture.

Kyle Sleeth
credit Roger DeWitt

Kyle Sleeth

The topic du jour today was Kyle Sleeth and his attempt to regain his prospect status. Sleeth of course was the Tigers first round pick in 2003 and in 2005 underwent Tommy John surgery. He struggled last year as he came back from injury, but has been a regular at the Tigertown compound. The good news is that Jim Leyland seemed encouraged by Sleeth’s progress.

All Lakeland

If you’re heading down to Lakeland, check out Lakeland Local. You’ll get everything you need to know about the city.

Quotable

Leyland on Andrew Miller:

“I don’t think he’s buying a lot of foamy Gillette.”