Tigers' Kevin McGonigle needs to hit the weight room

TL;DR

Tigers rookie Kevin McGonigle is struggling with hitting, often making outs on balls hit over 350 feet. He recently had a near miss against Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr.

Key points

Kevin McGonigle is a rookie for the Detroit Tigers.
He often makes outs on balls hit over 350 feet.
Ronald Acuna Jr. recently caught a fly ball hit by McGonigle.

Kevin McGonigleRonald Acuna Jr.Detroit TigersAtlanta Braves

Tigers' Kevin McGonigle needs to hit the weight room originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Kevin McGonigle hit a powerful fly ball deep to right field on Tuesday night in Atlanta.

But just in front of the wall, Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. made a leaping catch to rob the Detroit Tigers rookie of extra bases.

As it turns out, McGonigle has been in this spot a lot.

He's among the leaders in baseball in a frustrating stat: Outs made on balls hit more than 350 feet.

Somehow, McGonigle already has nine of those:

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There are a couple of layers to this.

The first is that McGonigle legitimately should get stronger as his career goes along, and that could turn contact like this into over the fence instead of just to the fence.

There's also something to be said for pulling the baseball, though. A lot of those outs are to straightaway center, which is the deepest part of almost every ballpark and incredibly deep at McGonigle's home ballpark in Detroit.

If some of that best contact becomes pulled instead of driven back up the middle, it has a better chance to turn into damage.

McGonigle has already proven he very much belongs in the major leagues. And with a little extra strength, he could soon be even more dangerous at the plate.