Detroit Tigers Are One of MLB’s Hardest Hitting Teams of the Early Season
By Matt Snyder
The Detroit Tigers have one of the highest hard hit percentages in all of baseball in 2017 according to data from Inside Edge.
The Detroit Tigers rank 14th in the major leagues in total runs scored and 11th in OPS, but they rank 2nd in the league in hard hit rate according to data released by Inside Edge.
Mark Simon of ESPN Stats and Info released the list of all 30 MLB teams on Twitter.
Didn't expect the Athletics to top the hard-hit rate leaderboard list, but they do.
— Mark Simon (@MarkASimonSays) April 24, 2017
The 30 teams ranked - top to bottom pic.twitter.com/QPSvb1tLkL
The Tigers check in at number two with 17.8% of their at-bats ending with a hard hit ball. As Simon points out, these numbers aren’t based on StatCast data but rather video review of every play.
Two members of the Tigers topped the weekly rankings for individual batters: Nick Castellanos and Miguel Cabrera.
A surprise name tops the weekly hard-hit rate leaderboard
— Mark Simon (@MarkASimonSays) April 24, 2017
Check out where your favorite players fare pic.twitter.com/TAhLm0Niw1
Both Cabrera and Castellanos put up hard hit rates north of 28%. Neither player has put up particularly overwhelming numbers at the plate, but they’ve been making solid contact more often than not. It’s possible that they’ve both suffered some misfortune when it comes to hitting balls directly at defenders.
Cabrera is, of course, on the disabled list at the moment, but he was showing good signs at the plate after a slow start to the year. Hopefully he can return from the groin injury in short order with no ill effects for the time off.
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The Tigers are fifth in home run per fly ball percentage but only 17th in batting average on balls in play. Both rankings would figure to improve if they remain in the top three of hard hit rate.