Detroit Sports

Monday, July 05, 2004

Midseason Grades

The Tigers are about half way through their season. Their record is 37-43. Here are my midseason grades for each player and the team as a whole.

Ivan Rodriguez A+
Pudge was brought to Detroit to lead the team. I think he has done a great job at that. He is leading the entire league in batting average at 377. He also has 10 homers,57 RBIs, and was named to A.L. starting lineup for the all-star game.

Carlos Guillen A+
Guillen is having an incredible year. He is batting .324 with 11 homers and 57 RBIs. Along with Pudge, he was named to the all-star game.

Brandon Inge B+
When the Tigers signed Pudge, it looked like Inge wouldn't play much all season. He has played and he has looked great. He is batting 303. He also has 7 homers, 2 grand slams,and 30 RBIs. He has been the biggest surprise for the Tigers this season.

Rondell White B
White is having a very solid season. He is batting 270 with 11 homers and 43 RBIs. He is right on pace for the 22 homers he hit last year.

Omar Infante B
Along with Inge, Infante has been another nice surprise. He is batting 293, has 10 doubles, 5 triples, 6 homers, and 26 RBIs.

Alex Sanchez B-
Sanchez has had a good season. He is batting 326. He also has a team leading 18 stolen bases. Alex is hitting good but he isn't getting walked enough to be the leadoff hitter. He only has 6 walks, something he must improve on.

Dmitri Young B-
Young got injured very early in the season and now he is back. He is hitting 311 with 5 homers and 18 RBIs. He is just starting to get back into the groove.

Carlos Pena B-
Pena is having a good year. He has 11 homers and 46 RBIs. Along with Munson though, his terrible batting average. His batting average is only 234. He too must improve in that area.

Bobby Higginson B-
Bobby is having a much better year than people thought he would. He is hitting 276. He also has 35 RBIs and a team leading 37 walks.

Eric Munson C+
Munson started the season slow but is starting to come around. He has hit 11 homers and has 30 RBIs. The one thing he must improve on his terrible 237 batting average.

Craiq Monroe C
Monroe is not having the type of season people thought he would after having a great rookie season. He is hitting 272 but he only has 2 homeruns.

Fernado Vina D
Vina and Guillen were supposed to be the 1-2 punch up the middle. Guillen is doing is part, but Vina isn't. He has been injured and he is only batting 226. He also has 0 homers and only 7 RBIs. When he gets back from injury, he needs to do much better.

Greg Norton D-
Norton wasn't supposed to be a star this season by any stretch but he has done terrible. He is batting a team low 174. He also has only 2 RBIs and 15 hits in the 41 games he has played.

Note-I only graded players who have played in 20 games or more.

Now for the Pitching Staff

Nate Robertson A
Robertson has been the star of the Tigers' pitching staff. He is 7-3 with a 3.82 ERA. He also has 87 strikeouts in 96.2 innings of work.

Gary Knotts B
Knotts started the season very strong when Detroit called him to pitch. He has struggled a bit lately but he is still having a good season. He is 4-3 and has 49 strikeouts.

Jamie Walker B-
In the few games that Walker has pitched, he has looked great. He has a very low 2.97 ERA and has 30 strikeouts in just 33.1 innings of work.

Jason Johnson C+
Johnson started the season at 1-5 but has now won 4/7 to up his record to 5-7. He has a 4.88 ERA along with 61 strikeouts.

Mike Maroth C
Mike also started the season very good but it looks like he has dropped off the table. He is now 5-6 and has a 4.82 ERA. He is still having a much better year than last year when he lost 21 games.

Danny Patterson C
Patterson is 0-4 but he does have a nice 3.98 ERA. He also has 20 strikeouts in 31.2 innings of work.

Urbina C
Urbina is having a decent season as the Tigers' closer. He is 11/13 in his save opportunities and he also as 38 strikeouts in 31 innings of work. The one thing he must improve on is his terrible 5.23 ERA.

E Yan C
Yan is another guy who is winless at 0-2 but he does have a 4.27 ERA. He also has 31 stikeouts.

Jeremy Bonderman C-
Bonderman is not having a very good season. He is 5-7 with a very high 5.87 ERA. He has allowed 13 homers and has walked a team high 43 batters. About the only good stat Jeremy has, is his 78 strikeouts in 87.1 innings of work.

Al Levine D
Levine was brought in too be the Tigers' strong middle reliever. He hasn't been that man for Detroit and it has cost them some games. He has a horrible 5.84 ERA along with just 18 strikeouts.

Note-I only graded pitchers who have pitched 30 or more innings.

Team as a Whole B-
The Tigers are having a much better season than everybody thought that they would. They have already almost won as many games as they did all of last season, but I still think they should be at least 500. Their hitting has been incredible, maybe the best in the league, but their pitching has really hurt them. They have lost a lot of close games and have blown a lot of big leads. Maybe in the second half of the season they will start winning the close games. If they can do that then I think they will have a shot at being 500.

They are 6 games back of the division leaders.

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