Before the 2021 season started, most observers, media, and fans expected the Detroit Tigers to finish at or near the cellar of the American League Central division.
The Chicago White Sox and the Minnesota Twins were supposed to fight for the division, with the Cleveland Indians not far behind, and the Kansas City Royals and the Tigers trying to avoid last place.
While Chicago has indeed dominated the Central, the Twins collapsed all the way to last place, and the Tigers have been surprisingly competent.
As of right now, their record is 61-67.
They Are Now A Decent Time With Some Exciting Projection
That fact alone makes the season a resounding success for the Tigers, regardless of their record in September.
They will, very likely, finish the season in third place of the AL Central.
The last time they finished that high was 2018, and they did it with a lousy 64-98 record.
The Tigers were last in 2019 (47-114, .292 winning percentage) and 2020 (23-35, .397 winning percentage), so their performance in 2021, where they have a .477 winning percentage, has been better than anticipated.
Detroit fans know that their painful rebuilding process is about to return some results.
It may not be fair to expect the team to fully compete and contend in 2022, but it’s certainly possible.
One of the best things about 2021, and the primary reason why the final results and the team place in the standings won’t matter, is that the Tigers have developed and discovered quite a few useful players to help them next year and even further along.
Jeimer Candelario (.273/.353/.427, 10 home runs) is the leader in Wins Above Replacement, or WAR, with 2.1, along with Robbie Grossman (.238/.359/.421, 19 homers, 15 steals).
Both are fine hitters and fielders who can help a rebuilding team.
One of the bests stories of the 2021 Tigers is the rise of Rule 5 Draft pick Akil Baddoo.
The rookie is hitting .261/.327/.458 with 10 homers and 14 steals, and looks like he still has some development to do.
Eric Haase has put his power on display, too, with a .512 slugging percentage.
Most HR by a #Tigers rookie since 1990:
Tony Clark 27
Craig Monroe 23
Eric Haase 19 👈
Chris Shelton 18
Gabe Kapler 18— Getting You Through the Tigers Rebuild (@Tigers_Rebuild) August 26, 2021
The Future Is Now
Spencer Torkelson, perhaps the Majors’ best prospect, should be up in 2022 to help.
As far as pitchers go, Detroit has three of the most promising young ones in Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, and Matt Manning.
Best rookie SP K/9 since 2000
Min. 100 IP1 Mark Prior 11.34
2 Dinelson Lamet 10.94
3 Jack Flaherty 10.85
4 Brandon Beachy 10.74
5 Trevor Rogers 10.55
6 Luis Garcia 10.51
7 Yu Darvish 10.40
🚨8 Tarik Skubal 10.23🚨
9 Joey Luchessi 10.04
10 Rick Ankiel 9.99
11 Walker Buehler 9.97— Getting You Through the Tigers Rebuild (@Tigers_Rebuild) August 26, 2021
The first two have established themselves as major rotation pieces, while the latter is still learning how to miss bats at the biggest of levels.
When it comes to relievers, Jose Cisnero, Michael Fulmer, and Gregory Soto have stood out.
They will depend on Torkelson becoming a star, but if that happens, Detroit can contend as soon as next season on the strength of their brilliant young pitchers and some of their role players.
They still have Miguel Cabrera for two additional seasons at more than $30 million, but at least he proved this year that, if healthy, he can still hit lefties.
Having Cabrera around to mentor Torkelson is also a plus.
All in all, the Tigers can look back to the 2021 season and see how successful they have been in developing the core for the next competitive run.
