So lets trade the young guy, cut him get rid of him. And yes, he will have slumps again. Fire the manager…
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This Detroit Tigers hitter is on an amazing 2-week hot streak
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Again, let me point out something important. Something that can be forgotten.
Greene is still really young.
Last year, the then-24 Greene hit 36 homers, had 21 doubles and recorded 111 RBIs, becoming only the second Tiger with a 30/20/100 season at age 24 or younger, joining Hank Greenberg who did it in 1925.
Again, let me point out the obvious: When you have a season that can be compared to Greenberg, who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956 and has a statue in Comerica Park, things are going well.
“He comes with a huge résumé now, so the attention is on him quite a bit,” Hinch said. “But his methodical nature of how he’s ready to play every day, to me, is the true reason behind him being as good as he is. He doesn’t get too high, doesn’t get too low. He’s tremendous player. And I think he probably gets a little bit too much criticism when he’s not perfect, so we should shower him with praise in these stretches where he’s dominating.”
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And yet, people seem to focus far more on Greene’s struggles than his successes.
Which brings us to the elephant in the room.
In 2025, Greene struck out 201 times, which carried a dubious history. It was the 21st most in MLB history – Mark Reynolds holds the record with 223 strikeouts in 2009 – and nearly two dozen more than any other Tiger in the first 125 seasons of the franchise.
So, obviously, Greene had to fix that hole in his game. Which is exactly what he has done, cutting down on his strikeouts while significantly improving his OBP.
“It’s a mentality for me, just having a two-strike approach and really just locking in when I have two strikes,” Greene said. “Hey, maybe let’s not try to hit a homer. And let’s put a barrel on the ball and just see what happens.”
“I’m seeing the ball good,” Greene said. “I feel like I’m on time. And feel like my approach is pretty solid right now. Mentally, I’m locked in. I feel like my swing kind of follows that.”
Simply put, Greene is walking more, striking out less and getting on base a whole bunch more.
And it becomes obvious when you compare the first 29 games of 2025 to the same stretch in 2026: Greene has lifted his batting average from .235 to .301, his OBP from .279 to .400 and his slugging percentage from .435 to .466.
That’s remarkable improvement. I mean, his OBP improvement alone is a massive increase. And there is an underlying reason. He cut down on his strikeouts, at least in comparison to the first 29 games of 2025, going from a 32% strikeout rate to 24.2%.
He is also taking advantage of more free passes. He has walked almost three times as often, going from a 5.7% walk rate to 14.2%.
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Series: Three games at Truist Park, Atlanta