Its Time For the Detroit Tigers To Give Brayan Pena A Shot
May 9, 2013; Washington, DC, USA; Detroit Tigers catcher Alex Avila (13) bats during the game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Alex Avila has been the starting catcher in Detroit since 2011, but has been in the show with the Tigers since late 2009. After being named to the American League All-Star team in 2011, he hasn’t been the same hitter since. His 2012 season was seen by many as a disappointment, but what is the 2011 season was a fluke? In 2011 Avila hit .295 with 19 home runs and 82 RBI, he also won the Silver Slugger Award at his position, but in 2012 Avila posted a batting average of .243 while only totaling 9 home runs and 48 RBI and so far in 2013 Avila is posting a batting average of .169. Are we seeing the real hitter Avila will be for the rest of his career? I really don’t think so. He has a really pure swing that is suited for driving the ball to the middle of the field and to the left center gap. Its been said that the Tigers hitting coach, Lloyd Mcclendon, wants Avila to pull the ball more than he has in the past. Through the first two months of the season, its pretty easy to see that Avila is trying to pull the ball more. He consistently pulls the ball to the right side of the field, but he does not get much power behind the ball, instead its always a simple groundout to first or second.
The backup catcher for the Detroit Tigers is Brayan Pena, and in limited playing time, the switch hitter has posted a .307 batting average to go along with 2 homeruns and 10 RBI. From the games I’ve seen Pena play, he plays with energy, heck he even sprints around the bases when he hits a home run. Defensively Pena is just as good if not better than Avila. He calls just as good of a game that Avila does and throws out runners at a 30% clip while Avila is catching potential base stealers at a 20% clip. While this stat may seem skewed because Avila has seen more playing time its actually not. Pena has thrown out 6 runners, while Avila has thrown out 7 in 19 more games played.
Even though Pena has been primarily a back up catcher his entire career, I think its time to see how he can perform while holding down the starting catcher spot. Avila needs to get his hitting stroke back, I think a trip down to Toledo would do him good. It may hurt his morale, but I think it would help his offensive game in the long run.