Riley Greene's hitting not among the Tigers' boatload of problems

▶ His walk rate has doubled, from 7% last year to 14.4% currently.

All good things. And he's doing it without drastically changing his swing plane. His launch angle is down only slightly from 15 degrees to 14 degrees.

Yet, there is one element of his offensive profile that’s lagging — and it almost feels nitpicky to mention it — the home run balls. After hitting 36 last season, he’s got four in 42 games so far. That’s a 16-homer pace.

Which, manager AJ Hinch said, is a temporary condition.

“When you say low power, it’s not,” he said. “He’s hitting the ball hard, it’s just not going over the fence. That side (pointing toward the Mets’ dugout), better worry about him hitting the ball out of the ballpark. Every opponent knows he can do that.”

And, honestly, right now it’s beside the point. Greene, still just 25, a two-time All-Star in his fifth big-league season, is showing signs of being the complete hitter he was projected to be.

“The best thing is, he is just swinging at strikes and taking whatever the game gives him,” Hinch said. “He’s not necessarily selling out for power and that’s made him a more well-rounded hitter and a more threatening hitter each and every at-bat. As opposed to that three-true-outcome guy.”

Three true outcomes in baseball — strikeout, walk, homer.

“That approach has allowed him to swing at better pitches, which allows him to be a better hitter,” Hinch said. “The power is going to be just fine. He’s going to run into plenty.”

This stretch of games, the injuries, the losses, has been a test of Greene’s discipline. With so many hitters out of the daily lineup — Gleyber Torres, Javier Báez, Kerry Carpenter, Parker Meadows — certainly Greene feels the burden of trying to carry even a bigger load for the offense.

And yet, to this point, he hasn’t come out of his approach. He admits, though, it’s been a mental tug-of-war with that.

“Sure, I feel like it is for everyone,” Greene said. “We all want to do whatever we can. But I’m just trying to get on base and find barrels. Me having good at-bats helps this team win. So it’s just about trying to do that the best I can.”

Tigers at Mets

First pitch: 1:10 p.m. Thursday, Citi Field, Queens, New York

TV/radio: DSN/97.1, 107.9

SCOUTING REPORT

RHP Keider Montero (2-2, 3.18), Tigers: The Mets have a lefty-heavy lineup and Montero, who has allowed just two runs in his last two starts, covering 12⅔ innings, is holding lefties to a .202 average and .560 OPS this season. His go-to weapons against them are the four-seam fastball (holding them to a .200 average) and changeup. Lefties are 2-for-24 against it with seven strikeouts. He will also mix sliders and knuckle-curves.

RHP Nolan McLean (1-2, 2.78), Mets: This guy is a problem. He’s holding hitters to a .180 average and .525 OPS. He’s got a 32.6% strikeout rate (95th percentile). His Statcast run value is plus-11 (96th percentile). His fastball run value is plus-9 (99th percentile) and that’s his sinker (95 mph) and four-seamer (96) combined. He’s also bringing sweepers, changeups, curveballs and cutters. Hitters are 1-for-19 with 19 strikeouts against his curveball. Nasty stuff.

chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com

@cmccosky

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Riley Greene's hitting not among the Tigers' boatload of problems