With any luck, the Tigers did enough in the offseason to be competitive in the AL Central.

The Detroit Tigers are still a team that is changing. Given that they have been going through a change for a few seasons now, that could sound familiar. Detroit lost 114 games in 2019, which was their lowest point. In the abbreviated 2020 season, they were bottom in the AL Central once more, but they improved to 77-85 in 2021. They tried to create a stir by adding Eduardo Rodriguez and Javier Baez, and they were a popular choice going into 2022. The team eventually failed, and the slowed growth finally cost the then-GM, Alex Avila, his job. Attempting to pick up the pieces for the majority of the previous season, Scott Harris succeeded Avila. After a 78-win season, the Tigers are counting on internal growth going into the 2024 campaign that was nonetheless good enough for second place in a weak division.

In 2023, where were they?

Detroit had a poor start to 2023 and was just 39-50 at the All-Star break, despite being 16-11 in May. In the second half, things took a slight turn for the better, as the team witnessed some much-needed development from some of its younger players. After outscoring their opponents 39–34 in the second half, the Tigers will try to repeat their 18–10 season finale in 2024.

Detroit must have been happy with the development of a few of its young position players. Spencer Torkelson, a former first overall pick, blasted 31 home runs in the second half while registering a 121 wRC+ and.816 OPS. That followed a mediocre first half performance, so it’s unclear if the uptick was indicative of development or merely theater with a small sample size. To be optimistic, we will choose the latter and provide evidence for it in the form of his higher barrel rate (14.1 percent) and hard-hit rate (50.5 percent). Like all of his colleagues, Torkelson’s wOBA of.326 was somewhat lower than his xwOBA of.349; however, part of it attributable to Comerica Park). 2024 feels like a big season for him.

Riley Greene was again limited to just 99 games due to injuries, but he still led the team in position players with 2.3 fWAR and generated a 119 wRC+. There is still room for development because he struck out a significant percentage of batters (27.4%). Late in the season, the Tigers moved him to a corner to create space for Parker Meadows. That should lessen Greene’s defensive workload and maybe keep him healthy. Kerry Carpenter’s performance, which included 20 home runs, a 121 wRC+, and 2.2 fWAR in 118 games, was another pleasant surprise.