By Jonah Drew

Record: 85-77

Every year there is a team that comes out of absolutely nowhere and gets into the postseason. In 2022 it was the fellow AL Central member, Cleveland Guardians, this past year it was Arizona. The snakes not only snuck into the playoffs, but they did major, major damage, winning the NL Pennant and eventually falling to the Rangers in 5 games. Now, this is not to say expect the Tigers to run the table and win the American League pennant. However, it is to say I expect Detroit to shock the world in 2024, making the playoffs and potentially making some noise. I believe this to be the most underrated ball club in all of baseball for a multitude of reasons. Lets start with the lineup, Riley Greene is one of the more talented young players in our game, Kerry Carpenter is one of, if not the most underrated hitter in baseball, and Spencer Torkelson has the potential to be a premier power bat. Mark Canha and Gio Urshela are also some steady veterans with post season expierience. You probably did not know Jake Rogers hit 21 bombs in just over 300 PAs last year. There is also plenty of youth to dream on, Colt Keith is a stud, plain and simple, slashing .306/.380/.552 with 27 HRs across the upper levels in just his age 21 season. A personal favorite of mine is Justyn-Henry Malloy , whom has one of the best approaches you will see from a player his age. The pitching staff is what really gets me excited though. I will save my Skubal erasure for the MVP category but he is far from alone. Kenta Maeda was one of my favorite signings of the off season, he sneaky had a better xERA than NL Cy Young winner, Blake Snell. I questioned GM Scott Harris for not trading relievers Alex Lange and Jason Foley, but all of a sudden they look to be part of a core that could take the Motor City back to October. In a weak division, I expect the Tigers to pounce.

MVP: Tarik Skubal

To say I am bullish on Tarik Skubal would be the understatement of the god damn year. He may or not be my pick to win the American League Cy Young, no not my dark horse pick, my actual pick. But we will save that conversation for the awards predictions write-up. Skubal is absolutely NASTY, this is a guy who sits high 90s and looks to be near 100s regularly in 2024, from the left side no less. To go along with that is a changeup with a measly .167 BAA. Granted it was against weirdly poor competition, but Skubal was virtually untouchable post injury last season. Skubal’s 2.7 ERA is more than backed up by his underlying data. Starting with his basic ERA estimators, an xERA of 2.3 and a FIP of 2 flat serve to display the excellence of the southpaw. His K-BB ratios are equally impressive, a K% of 32.9% and a BB% 4.5, very hard to come by. Everything about this profile is simply elite, I challenge you to poke a hole in the game of Tarik Skubal.

Cy Young: Kenta Maeda

Of course, if Tarik Skubal was not my pick to be this team’s Most Valuable Player, he would be a shoe in for this honor, but Kenta Maeda is no slouch. There seems to be a common theme throughout this ballclub, everyone and everything is underrated. Kenta Maeda is a headliner for the underrated movement up north. No, Maeda as or 2 is far from ideal but contrary to the public opinion, you can do a lot worse. You will not see him light up the radar gun but Maeda still does generate plenty of swing and miss. He does this with one of the better off speed pitches in the American League, his Split Finger.

Breakout: Spencer Torkelson

You could make a very valid argument that Spencer is not even eligible for this honor, considering how solid his 2023 season was in comparison to his horrid 2022 rookie campaign. I have to politely disagree though, I think Tork is about to take his production to a whole new level. He hit 31 bombs last year and really started to heat up down the stretch. In the second half, Tork showed us why he was the #1 pick back in 2020 out of Arizona State, OPSing .816. The reason those 31 pumps were so impressive is because one, he plays in Comerica Park, a heavy pitchers park. The main reason it was so impressive was because he did not lift the ball particularly well, this speaks to his ability to impact the baseball. Over 50% of his batted balls were hit over 95 MPH, this was in the top 6% of all major leaguers. It also helps that he does not expand his zone, with a chase rate in the 80%.

ROTY: Colt Keith

Keith was selected in the final round of the shortened 2020 Draft as a prep infielder out of Biloxi HS. He was was originally committed to Arizona State but was pried away from the Sun Devils with a 500k signing bonus. Keith is a very safe hitting prospect with both plus hit and plus power. Keith slashed .306/.380/.552 with 27 Homers and 101 RBI. Keith did this in just his Age 21 season. Keith has a very good approach, and also has the impact to go along with it. This makes for a very tough AB every single time that he steps into the box. Although he will likely not provide any value at Third or Second, I am confident he will produce enough to provide plenty of value as a rookie.