Gold to greatness: Detroit Tigers' Riley Greene poised to become MLB's next superstar

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It’s easy to forget Greene’s youth. He is the third-youngest player on the Tigers’ roster, older only than 22-year-old Jackson Jobe and 23-year-old Colt Keith.

He doesn’t turn 25 until late September

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In 2018, Greene represented Team USA.

To make the under-18 national team, he was first recognized as one of the top players nationally in his age group. …

“Putting him on the team in 2018 was a no-brainer,” said Blood, now the Baltimore Orioles’ vice president of player development and domestic scouting. “Him and Bobby Witt Jr. were probably the two most productive hitters in that group.” …
“He’s willing to do whatever for his team, and it shows a lot about him,” said Crews, who competed against Greene as high-school rivals in Florida. “For a guy that has a city on his back, he shows that he’s willing to do whatever for the team. It’s a great person to have in your corner.”

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Once Greene made his MLB debut, he began an ongoing dialogue with Hinch as the Tigers worked to get him swinging at pitches in the strike zone that he could hit hard. To reinforce that approach, Hinch asked Greene the same question after nearly every plate appearance: Did you get a good pitch to hit?

Mastering swing decisions unlocked Greene’s potential.

He improved his batted-ball profile from 2022 to 2024, dropping his ground-ball rate from 56.8% in 2022 to 43.6% and increasing his fly-ball rate from 19.3% to 27.7%. He also became more disciplined, lowering his strikeout rate from 28.7% to 26.7% and boosting his walk rate from 8.6% to 11%.

That culminated in a near-elite 2024 campaign: Greene made the All-Star Game for the first time, launched a career-high 24 home runs, produced a 135 wRC+ that ranked 10th among AL players and led the offense as the Tigers snapped a decade-long postseason drought.

“I think he’s the leader, if not the core, of that,” Volpe said

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That 2018 Team USA was loaded:

The 20-player roster was loaded with talent, featuring current MLB standouts Greene (Tigers), Witt (Kansas City Royals), CJ Abrams (Washington Nationals), Corbin Carroll (Arizona Diamondbacks), Dylan Crews (Nationals), Pete Crow-Armstrong (Chicago Cubs), Jack Leiter (Texas Rangers) and Anthony Volpe (New York Yankees), along with many other professionals.

None of them have turned 25 yet, but their MLB résumés after being first-round draft picks are already impressive: Greene, Witt, Abrams and Carroll have All-Star experience; Witt finished second in AL MVP voting in 2024, while Carroll was named National League Rookie of the Year in 2023.

“Our team was stacked,” said Volpe, an AL Gold Glove winner at shortstop in 2023. “The thing about Team USA — everyone makes a sacrifice to get in the lineup. It was just so selfless. Everyone just wanted to do whatever to win.”

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With Jurislckson Profar now having been caught juicing, it makes Riley legitimately the #1OA LF in MLB last yeat by OPS

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Plus a completely robbed from him Gold Glove.

Man, he really got jobbed last year

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At least we weren’t the one’s that signed Profar to a juicy contract.

Paying him all that money based on false production should be grounds to terminate a contract.

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Yea he had 1 good season in his career… Then immediately busted for cheating.

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