gehringer_2

It seems to be a hard call deciding how much weight to give power vs contact skill with young hitters. I think it was true going back a few decades, the Tigers consistently overvalued power over contact skill, which is one reason they ended up with the all time minor league HR champion. But Hessman was just one in a long line (up to at least C Stewart) of power guys who couldn't hit enough for the power to bring any MLB value. Funny since the two greatest home grown hitters to come through the org after the '68 era were Whittaker and Trammell, who were all contact skill as youngstera - neither showed any power until into their MLB career. The org forget the lesson quickly I guess. One purely physiological grounds, I've always thought a player with great contact skill always has a chance to grow into enough strength to start showing some power. Granted that's not the profile for a 40hr guy, but maybe for a 20 hr guy. But unless it's a guy with bad mechanics you can fix, a guy without the neuro-motor-visual piece to be a high OBP player at lower levels doesn't strike me as very likely to improve in that area just because he gets older. Reps will help some, but if a guy is at his brain/CNS speed limit there is nothing you will ever be able to do (again - C Stewart is a classic example) The more recent regimes we are seeing some of the opposite. Paredes was the case of a guy they stayed with (at least for a while) based on contact skill, not knowing whether he would ever hit for power. Unfortunately the tigers were a year too impatient with him to find out their initial hopes for him were justified. Workman was a power guy who isn't going to be able to hit, then OTOH, Lipcius is a guy they drafted who has good bat skills but whose question mark was and remains power. Bigbie maybe another. So they are making or at least risking mistakes on both sides of the power/skill specturm, which is what you should see - That would mean you're in the sweet spot in the middle.

Aerobatics in bleeding edge technology platforms moving at 1000 ft/sec in the vicinity of large numbers spectators is one of those things that if you thought about in a vacuum, you might doubt actually happens, then you'd realize you knew better. Have been to one. It was spectacular but the heat was almost fatal (NAS Miramar, when it was still that)

Umpires really getting themselves on shaky ground - now they're taking on Donnie Kelly. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38187886/mlb-looking-social-media-posts-involving-rays-wander-franco

I don't know how many eyeballs Yahoo reaches anymore, but Dan Wetzel chimed in with a column they won't like https://news.yahoo.com/sports/not-a-cheeseburger-comment-suggests-the-ncaa-is-hellbent-on-hitting-jim-harbaugh-hard-015020596.html The weakness for Michigan if they really wanted to go to the wall for JH in court (not suggesting they would or wouldn't, but who knows?) would be that he's such a long way from a 'beloved member of the coaching fraternity" type where UM could expect any additional inside political support from other institutions.

We heard some kind of fast fighter aircraft fly over earlier in the day - like as not that one. Pilots bailed into the lake and were fished out. The MIG found the parking lot of an apartment. Just think, we may get a Farmer's Insurance commercial about the claim for a pickup truck taken out by a MIG.

Toledo with an 8-4 win. Keith 2/4 2B. After scuffling a bit getting his feet wet at AAA for a 607 OPS for July, he has found his footing with the turn of the calendar page - 951 OPS so far in August. Lipcius and Nevin also with HR in that game, Wenceel with 2 BB.

Russians lost another MIG. This time over Ford Lake in Belleville!

there is a point where the dumpster diving is just additional distraction. Tigers are there.

They're earning this loss.

ERod napping out there?

Hard to see why they picked him up in the first place - looks like a throroughly uninteresting player.

It wasn't as much Vest as I thought Wingenter would be the 1st man off the boat just because they only have 2 left handers. But I was forgetting they had picked up Vasquez.

This team doesn't seem to adjust very well. They lost the opening game of their last 7 series.

your're just saying that because he hit his 1st AAA HR tonight.... 😉

Possible. Radiation is more closely associated with leukemia and myeloma, but if he believes it's karma, that's all that matters.

are you referencing the NCAA infraction case? LOL - this could fit the old Nasrudin story. Maybe if Harbaugh drags the case out for another year the NCAA may be dead before then.....

Maybe we can expect that if Harris keeps up his penchant for cruising the waiver wire? Of course if they become a better team waiver opportunities should decrease and then the churn at AAA would slow down again.

Brieske gave in to letting Cassus set the rhythm in that AB. He should have been changed up on his timing a little.

that's one of those "it's a homerun everywhere but there" hits.

I think chasing K's is what gets Manning in trouble - he throws sliders to chase S&M but his slider isn't good enough to use that much. I don't have the count but my impression is he used the FB more today.

So did we see the shot of Manning in the dugout. Not even in a sweat - looked like his pulse was maybe 45. I mean it's great he can go out there and throw so free and easy for over an hour, but could he be better if he let himself work a little harder? Maybe that's just what he is, but you just wonder.

If you take Torkelson's HR rate for the season, it's about 1 per 27PA, but in the last 3 months he now better than 1 per 20PA.

Would be nice if we could get this this Torkelson and this Manning for a whole season.

LOL - good thing Ibanez was where he was! That was 96 right at the bottom of the zone but down the middle. Low is good but keep it out of the middle.

Doesn't matter who the manager or GM, it seems like there is one player every year that the Tiger brain trust falls in love with for totally unexplained reasons. This year it's Maton.