Detroit Tigers: What to expect in Travis Demeritte’s first full MLB season

In 2019 the Detroit Tigers traded for outfielder Travis Demeritte in a trade with the Atlanta Braves for reliever Shane Greene. Now, 2020 presents the opportunity for Demeritte to play in his first full season with the big league club.

Outfielder Travis Demeritte got his first crack at the big leagues in 2019 for the Detroit Tigers and 2020 he has the chance to improve upon his first big league appearance. He came over to the Tigers at the trade deadline in 2019 as a package with southpaw Joey Wentz from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for reliever/closer Shane Greene. After arriving in Detroit, Demeritte would get his first taste of the big leagues, getting the promotion from Triple-A up to the bigs.

Demeritte is a 6-foot, 180-pound outfielder, who predominantly plays right field and projects to spend 2020 out there for the Tigers. A right-handed hitter who has some sneaky pop in his bat but struggles with his plate discipline but will still find his way into the lineup on this rebuilding team. Demeritte started his ascent to the big leagues back in 2013 in the Texas Rangers organization.

With the Braves Triple-A Gwinnett club, Demeritte would play in ninety-six games, hitting .286/.387/.558 with twenty home runs and seventy-three RBI on the season. However, he did strike out 106 times over 339 total at-bats, which shows his discipline issue at the plate, which continued in the big leagues. With the Tigers, he would play in forty-eight games where he hit .225/.286/.343 with three home runs and 10 RBI while being punched out sixty-three times over 169 at-bats.

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Looking at his splits in the big leagues, there is nothing unusual, his numbers favor lefties but have a smaller sample size. There is nothing out of the ordinary, but his BABIP (batting average on balls in play) jumps to .340, which again shows that when he is making contact, good things are happening. If Demeritte can be more selective at the plate, he has every right to be considered an everyday outfielder for the Detroit Tigers as his hitting will develop sooner rather than later.

With the recent addition of former Tigers outfielder Cameron Maybin, Demeritte may be in more of a platoon role until his plate discipline indeed shows progress. The Tigers outfield consists of Demeritte, Maybin, JaCoby Jones, Victor Reyes, and Christin Stewart.

Demeritte should get the opportunity to prove himself in the big leagues in his first full season with the Detroit Tigers organization. He may see some time in Triple-A with the Toledo Mud Hens, but Demeritte has every reason to get a shot in the big leagues, trying to be more selective at the plate and show that he can be a force in the big league lineup.