On Monday evening, Riley Greene played a defensive position other than center field for the first time in his big league career. When the Tigers took the field against the Cubs in the top of the first inning, Greene was in right field, while the newly recalled Parker Meadows was manning center in his MLB debut.
Meadows has been a center fielder since he was taken out of high school in the second round of the 2018 draft. Baseball America praised his fielding this offseason, naming him the best defensive outfielder in the Tigers’ system and giving his glove a 60 (plus) on the 20-to-80 scouting scale. Meanwhile, Greene has posted middling to below-average marks in center field.
In 79 games this season, he has committed five errors and recorded only one outfield assist. Defensive Runs Saved has pegged Greene as eight runs below average in 675 innings. Only Esteury Ruiz and Víctor Robles have a lower DRS at the position. Statcast hasn’t been quite so bearish, pegging Greene as exactly a league average defender.
Regardless, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch and president of baseball operations Scott Harris suggested that Meadows would take over the primary center field duties (links via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press and Cody Stavenhagen of the Athletic). While Hinch stressed that the move “doesn’t mean (Greene’s) days in center are over,” it seems Meadows will get the bulk of the playing time there down the stretch.
The mixed at best defensive reviews aren’t completely unexpected. Most prospect evaluators suggested Greene was likely to wind up in a corner spot even as he was coming through the minor league ranks. While Greene has decent speed, the spacious Comerica Park outfield leaves a lot of ground to cover.
As Harris pointed out, Greene has also dealt with a pair of significant lower body injuries. He broke his right foot during last year’s Spring Training — an injury that quite likely delayed his MLB debut by a few months — and suffered a stress fracture in his left leg this May. It’s possible that slightly lightening his defensive responsibilities could help him avoid future injury.
Greene also simply hits well enough that he doesn’t need to stick in center field to be a valuable player. His .838 OPS and 133 wRC+ would rank third among AL outfielders if he had enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. The former fifth overall pick has always been regarded as an offense-first player. That’s not the case for Meadows, whose profile comes with some swing-and-miss concerns.
Meadows has hit .256/.337/.474 through 517 Triple-A plate appearances on the season. That’s roughly average offense in a very hitter-friendly setting at the top minor league level. Meadows has power potential and draws a decent number of walks but has run slightly elevated whiff numbers throughout his career. That includes a higher than average 23.8% strikeout percentage this season. There’d be more leeway for Meadows to be an everyday player if he’s playing in the middle of the diamond than in a corner, where the offensive expectations are a bit higher.
I could easily see Meadows as the starting center fielder in Detroit until the Tigers are ready to be serious contenders. Then he will probably become a fifth outfielder.
Greene is no Devon White, but he does make some spectacular plays. I hope they slot Greene into left where he might blossom into a gold glover with Comerica’s short fence allowing him to steal bunches of ding dongs.
I don’t know about Estuery Ruiz, I thought Victor Robles was a good defensive OF. I must not be paying attention. Regardless of what homers say about Riley Greene being a good defensive CF, he belongs in LF. He might look good after years of JD Martinez, Nicholas Castellanos, Eric Haase and Akil Badoo who are atrocious defenders.
Robles doesn’t have enough innings played this year for that defensive runs saved number to have any meaning. That’s just noise.
Esteury Ruiz only has 37 runs scored, while having 48 stolen bases, 21 doubles, 1 triple, and 2 HRs.
That seems insane to me. Really speaks to the ineptitude of the As lineup
Love it. Even if Meadows doesnt work out, Max Clark will move Riley off center within 2 years.
He’s a high school pick. Think 5 yrs and hope for 4. Tigers don’t rush their players like that. Colt Keith is a good example.
Greene took 3. Keith will be 4. Both with covid hindering them a year. Clark is thought of higher than both as far as prospect status. 5 years seems a lot.
The player this entire article is about was a high school pick and it only took 3 years to make his debut. Would have been less without the foot injury.
If it takes clark 5 years he’s going to be the next bust in a long line of tiger busts. Breaking majors at 23 years old ? Hopefully he’s much closer to 20
What long line of Tiger busts? I guessing you’re referring to minor league call ups, and not top prospects. Not being a superstar does not make someone a bust.
Kerry Carpenter is looking better than the bunch
Carpenter is a future DH, occasional OF sub
Good. Greene is terrible on defense this year. -0.6 dWAR.
Yeah but he doesn’t have the power (yet) to profile as a strong corner outfielder so this move doesn’t really improve the team
Not every player has to hit 30 hrs. His OPS is top 50 in MLB.
What baseball needs in the majors is the electronic umpires. Last night Meadows came up no outs and the bases loaded facing a former tiger pitcher. He was smart enough to not throw Meadows even one strike, but did get close enough to get him to swing twice. Then ball four on the full count, and this ball was almost two ball widths outside of the strike zone for a called third strike ! The silence that followed was like when Joyce called a out a hit in a perfect game ending.
People who dare say Meadows ain’t ready better watch some games. He was awesome in the A.B. This guy is more than ready. He was very cool in a very intense situation, and he won the battle against Fulmer, but as is the case sometimes, the long time pro got the call. Tork on third base was livid, it was that far off the plate. Unbelievable bad ball and strike calls are ruining the game. Faedo got a strike out call as well and as a fan it was embarrassing to watch. Not as egregious as the one Fulmer got, but it was bad enough. If baseball is going to show the box to the fans they need to have it calling the balls an strikes.
Maybe the new catcher will work out, but he had a rough first game, which was to be expected from someone who was D.F.A’d by his long time team. What did Hasse do or say to get himself released from the Tigers ? Yes his hitting was down this year after being second to Baez in home runs by three last season the same distance from Baez this year. His stats were half as much as Baez wiih about half the A.B’s too. Of course Baez is getting 23 million more to play. So why ? Hasse had greatly improved his defense. Well, it don’t matter now.
I like Meadows in center and I would also like to see Carpenter in right field. Carpenter is another Tiger who gets disparaged a lot by people, but he plays right field as well as anyone has in the last few decades. He’s fast, and has a great arm for right, and I think he’s too young and athletic to be a full time D.H. I’d like to see Greene in left, and Baddoo as the D.H if they don’t rotate them all. Rotating them is the best, and Greene seems kind of brittle anyways.
Tough loss last night but they came back good. It’s fall and the bullpen is falling off from the beginning of the year just like last year. Meadows looks good and we can all feel happy for his family too. I sure hope we get the automated balls and strikes with challenges next season baseball needs it.
MPrck;
I agree the umpires are inconsistent. But please consider this…..
The box we see on the TV screen is not accurate. To start with, how can the height of the strike zone be the same for Aaron Judge as for Jose Altuve?
They measure everything today immediately. Spin rate, time, distance, speed, flight path, that means making strikes fair for everyone is way easier with the technology thy have now. Top of the knee to the chest or whatever the rules say, A.I. can make it fair for everyone.
They also need more camera’s. Tork hit a bomb in Cleveland, and bounced up from the wall and back on the field. The Yellow line there needs to be below the top of the wall not on it, because unless you can see that it didn’t hit the railing after it’s just not good enough. Fair pole, foul pole waiting to see which way it goes, it should be fair if hit’s the line or the pole. That rule needs to be cleaned up as well.
If the box we see on T.V is not accurate then the bingo I play on the app ain’t either. Every metric they use is the same as how they put the box on the screen. They need this used next season. They’ve tried it out, and I’m sick of seeing and reading about the nonsense it generates in the game today..
The strike zone is a 3 dimensional shape. It could be at the knees of the batter at the front of the plate but in the dirt when the catcher gets it.
MPrck;
You answered your own question…..
There are already multiple cameras all for each MLB park park, and all the angles feed into the pitch tracking. But from what I understand that is not the feed that the TV organizations display. I’ve heard numerous comments from broadcasters that there are 2 major points holding up the electronic ball-strike calls:
1. The results are still not totally accurate; and
2. There seems to be a disagreement as to what is in fact a strike. Pitches today move a lot. Is the pitch a strike when it passes the plate? When it’s in the zone as the ball is moving through it? When it last leaves the zone?
–
As for the box on the screen – I’ve looked at the boxes and they’re the same size for every batter. Tell me how to program the rule on height:
Rule 2 – Section 35 – STRIKE ZONE
“The strike zone is that space over home plate, the top of which is halfway between the batter’s shoulders and the waistline, and the bottom being the knees, when he assumes his natural batting stance. The height of the strike zone is determined by the batter’s normal batting stance. If he crouches or leans over to make the shoulder line lower, the umpire determines height by what would be the batter’s normal stance.
Based on the rule, it’s easy for a batter to manipulate the strike zone from pitch to pitch.
I wrote last May that the Orioles were coming.
While they don’t have the deep reservoir of prospects the O’s have, the Tigers will be taking over the weak AL Central as soon as 2024.
The key to success for teams in MLB is to make the players they have under contract better. The new administration / FO in Detroit has done that this year – and I’m not talking about individual stats. I’m talking about the way the individuals play on the field. It seems even when they lose they play tough. More youngsters will be coming up from the minors, and unlike those with most teams, they’ll be prepared to play at the ML level.
I think they’ll be better too, but with only 52 games in the division, they’ll have to do better outside of it. Detroit is 11 games under .500, so playing at that level should be their immediate goal. They need to quit losing almost every time after they’ve had a day off or two. They are better, but they need to keep working.
All teams in each division have to play teams out of the division.
The Tigers are no different than the other 4 teams in the AL Central. All those te3ams have trouble outside of the division. Which is why only one of the 5 teams in the division is over .500.
MP – totally agree with your statement about MLB going to automate the Ball-Strike calls. There is absolutely no way it can be worse than allowing ‘human’ umpires continue botching calls, one after another.
If you watch closely, umpires often miss 4 to 5 calls each HALF INNING. I am a Cub fan – but I agree the Tigers got hosed last night.
I think the Cubs won fair as it is played today. Tork had a few misplays, the passed ball/ wild pitch, and others. Right now the umpire with the most restricted view of everything has the whole show depending on him getting it right, but he’s a human. Of course he’s going to miss things, he’s human.
Meadows should have had his first R.B.I. in the show, but he was robbed like Galarraga was. but they’ve tried to fix that from happening again. It was a good game, and I sure wish Meadows would have walked, and drove in the run. He was great though in that A.B, he really showed he belongs up here. Yes they need to do the electronic home plate thing next year.
Two more D..B, and next season they’ll be in your ball park.. We all like a fair game, and that A.I.umpire can only help to be so. PLAY BALL !
Funny thing is they grade each ump and the box we see is not accurate. They only miss 2-3 calls on average but it used to be the saying swing at anything close.
Haase was hitting .139 against lefties and is a poor defensive catcher. During a white Sox game he missed 3 pitches to lose the game and sox announcers were questioning his poor mechanics. He also has a huge problem with close plays at the plate as he misses the throws more often than not but when you hit under .150 for two months something’s gotta give .
C is a defense first position; Eric Haase is an offense first C, OF but is not hitting. Carson Kelly is auditioning for next season.
I believe the pen is falling off from overwork. The starters aren’t going very deep.
Completely agree that we need computerized ball and strike calling. Umps are no worse than in decades past, but you can see all the missed calls now.
The bullpen is tired from overuse. You can see the improvement in this team, and coming back last night is a sign of that even though they fell short. This is the most optimistic I’ve felt since the rebuild began.
Some people like the little added element that human umpires bring. Missed calls are part of the game, so are ejections, pitch framing, and pitchers trying to expand the zone on guys
Fair point, Brixton, but you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. We have instant replays on the most minute plays so blown calls are mostly limited to balls and strikes now. Plus, we can easily see the strike zone on TV and our phones. I think the days of “just play the game” are over. Whether or not that is a good thing is a much broader subject.
I tried to put the toothpaste back in the tube once. It was a mess and only got 1/4 oz back in the tube. I don’t recommend it.
It’s booring and interupts the flow of the game. Although it just takes a second…..
It feels very unsportsman-like. I boo it.
The reality is umpires today are better than in the past because if video and being rated after every game. Yes, we see the mistakes more today, but the umpires are better. Except Laz Diaz and Angel Hernandez!
It ain’t broke, so let’s fix it.
Greene Meadows.
Ah, so pastoral!
an outfield of Greene – Meadows!