Detroit Tigers' scruffy defense is a weed that needs to be pulled now

Atlanta – Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch doesn’t have to look at the metrics to know his team has yet to play consistently clean baseball.

Entering play Wednesday, they’ve committed 17 errors in 30 games, which is more than any manager would be comfortable with, especially a team built to win with pitching and defense. There have been errant throws on routine plays. Balls have been dropped. There have been coverage issues, both on bunts and on balls hit in in-between zones on the field.

AJ Hinch has witnessed his share of sloppy baseball this season.

There have also been mental lapses that have led to opponents getting extra bases.

“We need to get better and we are working to get better,” Hinch said. “I think there have been a number of plays we have learned from, plays we know we can make and we haven’t. But it’s really early in the season to draw any conclusions.”

That is true. Best to view the scruffy defense right now as a weed; pull it now before it grows into a big problem.

“We are challenging all of our guys to pay attention to things that impact the result of plays,” Hinch said. “Not just the end of the play. There’s a lot of process that goes into it — to be in the right position, to get off the ball quickly, things that we typically do really well in that regard.”

Defensive metrics aren’t completely reliable in a short sample, so after 30 games you take them more as a heads up than a red flag alert. But per FanGraphs, the Tigers rank last in the American League with a minus-16 outs above average. The outfield is a minus-6.

“I don’t look at it because of the numbers,” Hinch said. “I’m not trying to improve numbers. We’re trying to get more outs and that will change a little bit of the trajectory on how we’ve used our pitching based on all the outs being recorded that are supposed to be.”

According to data collected by Sports Info Solutions, the Tigers’ infield ranks ninth in baseball in collecting ground ball outs (74.2%), which is good. The outfield, though, a strength last season, ranks 24th in baseball in converting fly balls to outs (64.9%).