The Detroit Tigers have been a painful watch in 2021. Deep into a, what seems to be, never ending rebuild the Tigers once again find themselves near the bottom of the league with a record of 14-26 entering play on May 17th. Only the Minnesota Twins are worse than Detroit in the American League and only by a mere .008 winning percent margin. The Tigers also have the worst run differential in the AL at -69, the next closest being the LA Angels at -47. Luckily, Detroit is no longer ranked last in the MLB in team batting average; now No. 27 with a .222 team average. With the woeful batting and inability to score runs it is my belief that Derek Hill should get the call to Detroit and receive a nice long look from management and the front office.
Through his first 11 games at Triple-A Toledo this season Derek Hill has been impressive. Entering play on May 17th Hill has accumulated 36 at-bats and is slashing .250/.357/.472 with a team leading 7 RBI and 2 HR. Despite the 13 strikeouts (36 K%) Hill has shown more patience at the dish collecting 6 BB as well. He has also become less pull happy in his approach spraying the ball all over the field; according to FanGraphs he has a pull rate of 21.7%, has gone up the middle 43.5% and pushed it to the opposite field 34.8% of the time. The major question when it comes to his offense is “has he actually turned the corner with his progression?” The answer? Only time will tell, he needs the at-bats in the big leagues for the team to know what is truly there.
When it comes to his defensive play, there is no doubt he can be a defender in the major leagues. He has already made several spectacular plays in Toledo and if he gets the call, it will only continue in center field at Comerica Park; the man is a human highlight reel. Over 90.2 innings played and 26 chances in the outfield this season Hill has yet to commit an error.
The Tigers have already optioned Victor Reyes to Toledo this season. Unfortunately, they continue to trot JaCoby Jones out to center field. We all know Jones can field the position extremely well, it has never been a question; his bat has always been his major downfall. So far in 2021 (31 games) Jones is slashing .161/.198/.253 with 39 strikeouts over 87 at-bats. His bat cannot find the ball. According to Baseball Savant Jones Whiff Rate in 2021 is as follows: Fastball 31.9%, Breaking 51.7% and Offspeed 31.8%. On top of this Jones is batting .061 against the breaking ball and .167 against the offspeed pitch.
Since being called up to the big leagues in 2016 Jones has yet to be able to put it together at the plate. His career numbers of not good at all. Through 347 career games (1,080 ABs) Jones has yet to collect 100 RBI and is slashing .212/.275/.373. To date Jones has struck out 386 times, well over his hit total of 229, for a K Rate of 36%. Some people will note that he has some nice speed on the basepath, but he is just over the league average of 70% (72.5%) in his career. It is time for the Detroit Tigers to move on from JaCoby Jones. Whether they choose to DFA him or release him on waivers, it is time to be done. If they designate him for assignment and he clears waivers they can send him back to Toledo, if they want, and see if they can figure things out at the plate. In regard to a waiver release, if he’s claimed or elects for free agency, I wish him the best of luck with another organization; maybe they can figure out what’s wrong with his approach at the plate and get him up to snuff as a big league hitter unlike what he has been given from this organization under Al Avila.
Work Cited
“2021 MLB Team Batting Stats.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, www.espn.com/mlb/stats/team.
“Baseball Standings.” MLB.com, www.mlb.com/standings/league.
“Derek Hill Minor & Fall Leagues Statistics & History.” Baseball, www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=hill--000der.
“Derek Hill Stats, Fantasy & News.” MiLB.com, www.milb.com/player/derek-hill-656537?stats=career-r-fielding-minors&year=2021.
“Derek Hill.” Derek Hill - Stats - Batting | FanGraphs Baseball, www.fangraphs.com/players/derek-hill/16947/stats?position=DH%2FOF.
“JaCoby Jones Statcast, Visuals & Advanced Metrics: MLB.com.” Baseballsavant.com, baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/jacoby-jones-592444?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb.
“JaCoby Jones Stats, Fantasy & News.” MLB.com, www.mlb.com/player/jacoby-jones-592444?stats=career-r-hitting-mlb&year=2021.
“JaCoby Jones Stats.” Baseball, www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jonesja07.shtml.