We want to say that these Detroit Tigers can’t hit.

It’s been a constant refrain every time they do something brutal, like, say, putting up six measly runs over three games in New York.

CAN’T HIT.

And we look at their runs per game this season — 3.91 through 34 games — and see that it’s worse than last season’s average (4.08). (CAN’T HIT.) You remember: the season in which they finished 28^th — out of 30 teams —in runs per game?

So the Tigers can’t hit. Right? (CAN’T HIT.)

Except that … well, scoring is down across the league. Last year, teams averaged 4.62 runs a game, meaning the Tigers were a little over half a run below average. (CAN’T HIT.) This season, teams are averaging 4.34 runs a game, meaning that the Tigers are a little under half a run below average.

So, OK — they still can’t hit. They just “can’t hit” a little better than they used to.

WHERE'S THE BEEF? What Detroit Tigers prospect Max Clark thinks about Texas Rangers' Wyatt Langford

Hello, and welcome to the No Offense Newsletter.

Of course, it’s never that simple.

After all, there are five Tigers with at least 60 plate appearances who have clearly excelled this season, with OPS+ marks well above the league average of 100: Wenceel Pérez (167), Riley Greene (165), Mark Canha (135), Matt Vierling (117) and Kerry Carpenter (117).

To put that in perspective, just four full-time Tigers last season had above-average OPS+ marks last season, and only one reached 120 (Carpenter).

On the other hand, this season has featured five Tigers with at least 60 plate appearances (that sound you just heard was Zack McKinstry and his 59 PAs sighing in relief) with an OPS+ below 70. (CAN’T HIT.)

We’re trying to stay positive here — after all, the Tigers are still above .500 and a mere 1½ games out of a playoff spot as they head to Cleveland — and so rather than call for a group demotion or something (Uber Black rides to Toledo aren’t cheap, y’know?), we figured we’d see if there are any stats that promise an eventual turnaround. (CAN’T HIT.)

So, here goes (with OPS+ entering Monday in parentheses)…

WHO DOESN'T LOVE RANKINGS: Detroit Tigers reveal City Connect uniforms: Here's where it ranks among MLB's best

Spencer Torkelson (68): The poster child for CAN’T HIT this season after a 31-homer campaign in 2023, Tork is still waiting on his first dinger of 2024 (including all of spring training). And yet, despite that lack of fence-clearing swings, Torkelson isn’t completely powerless — his two doubles Sunday in New York brought him to 11 on the season … tops in the American League. That has him on pace for 52 doubles, which would be the most in the AL since Rafael Devers’ 54 in 2019. (Devers homered 32 times that season, so maybe Tork’s bombs are just lost in baggage claim somewhere.)

Jake Rogers (51): Just like Tork, the catcher is struggling to clear the fences … or fielders’ gloves, with two home runs and just one double, a season after piling up 31 extra-base hits. And yet … Rogers is still hitting the ball hard. His average exit velocity (according to Statcast) is 91.1 mph, about a mile per hour better than last season, and ranks in the 79^th percentile. That exit velo, by the way, is the same as that of Boston slugger Tyler O’Neil, who has nine homers, and slightly higher than Atlanta catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who has five homers and eight doubles.

Javier Báez (35): Gulp. We’re really stretching this positivity thing, huh? OK, there’s A LOT of blue on Báez’s Baseball Savant page, and that’s almost never a good color. But there is a stray speck of gray, in El Mago’s “hard-hit percentage” section (aka the percentage of balls hit with an exit velo of 95 mph or better): He’s clocking in at 42.5% this season (good for the 61^st percentile), his highest percentage since the 2021 season (45.2%) — y’know, the season that convinced the Tigers to shell out … uh, never mind.

Parker Meadows (26): The book on the rookie before the season was that his glove in center would make up for any deficiencies at the place, and he’s certainly testing that: his offensive WAR, according to Baseball Reference is -0.3; his defensive WAR is +0.6. The raw numbers are arguably worse, with just SEVEN hits in 72 at-bats. And yet, Meadows is showing some solid plate judgment with 10 walks, giving him a walk rate of 12.3% (ranking in the 84^th percentile this season). Indeed, he’s just the third Tiger (with at least 75 PAs) in the past 30 seasons to make it through the first 34 games of the season with more walks than hits. (The others: Robbie Grossman, with 26 and 25, respectively, in 2021, and Gary Sheffield, with 20 and 15 in 2008.)

Colt Keith (17): The youngest Tiger (at 22) is also power-starved; his two extra-base hits (both doubles) are next to last among MLB hitters with at least 100 plate appearances. (In last place is the White Sox’s Nicky Lopez, with one. Sorry, Chicago.) And yet he hasn’t been selling out on the strike zone for power, with just 19 strikeouts; his strikeout rate of 16.8% is in the 77^th percentile — right next to reigning World Series MVP Corey Seager and ahead of 2020 NL MVP Freddie Freeman (73^rd percentile).

[ Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our free Tigers newsletter, coming straight to your inbox Monday morning. ]

Playoffs! Playoffs?

Great Tigers? Awful Tigers? What are we supposed to make of this squad (CAN’T HIT), which escaped April with a winning record for the first time since 2016? (Y’know, back when Colt Keith was barely in high school.) Dare we even mention … playoffs? Maybe not after that sweep in New York, but there’s still plenty of May left to determine whether this Tigers team is postseason-ready, as the Freep’s Carlos Monarrez surmised last week.

Jolly ol’ Wenceel

Of course, not all the Tigers’ rookies are struggling; switch-hitter Wenceel Pérez has been mashing from both sides of the plate, torching righties for a .916 OPS and lefties (albeit in many fewer appearances) for a 1.043 OPS. What’s his secret? (Aside from the extra pushups he credited last week after hitting his first career homer.) The Freep’s Jeff Seidel sees an organizational success story in Pérez, as the Tigers didn’t let his fielding issues keep them from developing him in the minors.

Welcome, Matt

The organization — or as Our Man Seidel calls it, “the A.J. Way” — is succeeding with vets, too, as Matt Vierling has found some extra playing time at third base, thanks to a .333/.367/.578 slash line in the infield. Vierling has done a little bit of everything for the Tigers, earning, as Our Man Seidel noted last week, the highest compliment from A.J. Hinch: “He’s a winning player.”

Take it to the Max

And then there’s the Tigers’ most recent top draft pick, who’s champing at the bit to prove his winning ways. As he told the Freep’s Evan Petzold, “I'm just trusting my process, trying to figure out what I need to get out of here, what I need to do to be the best I can be here, what I need to do to be the best for the Tigers.” And part of his process? Wearing his reviews — positive and negative — on his feet.

3 to watch

But back to the big leagues, and three Tigers (sort of) to keep an eye on this week:

Jack Flaherty: Monday night’s starter in Cleveland found his footing against his old team, the Cardinals.

Jeff Greenberg: The first-year GM learned a lot in his time away from the diamond and on the ice.

Tarik Skubal: He lost the battles with Aaron Judge, but still set a career-high for strikeouts.

Cutting the cord

Then again, it has been a bit tough to keep an eye on the Tigers this month, with Xfinity refusing to carry Bally Sports Detroit until a new deal is worked out. That has led Detroiters to explore new ways of watching their team — and Freepers, for that matter, as Our Man Seidel detailed in his breakup letter to Xfinity.

(The good news: Monday’s game is on FS1 as well as Bally Sports, which means Xfinity customers should be able to catch Jack Flaherty face the Guardians.)

Mark your calendar

Happy “City Connect” Week to all those who celebrate! In the fourth season of Nike’s program of rebranding MLB teams with city-themed alternate uniforms, it’s finally the Tigers’ turn to shed the Old English “D” — for a game or two, at least — and play dress-up. The uniforms were formally revealed Monday, but the Tigers won’t actually don their new duds until Friday when the Houston Astros — aka “Space City,” per their 2-year-old “City Connect” jerseys — visit Comerica Park. The Tigers will wear their new gear on Friday and Saturday night (but not on Sunday, when Old Friend Justin Verlander is scheduled to take the mound for Houston) and then every Friday night at home for the rest of the season.

Tigers birthdays this week: Wily Peralta (35 on Wednesday), Alfredo Simon (43 on Wednesday), Ian Krol (33 on Thursday), Prince Fielder (40 on Thursday), JaCoby Jones (32 on Friday), Walt Terrell (66 on Saturday), Charlie Gehringer (would have been 121 on Saturday; died in 1993), Lou Whitaker (67 on Sunday).

TL;DR

So, what’s the solution to the Tigers’ Frightful Five? Dip down to Triple-A for a quick infusion of hitting talent, the way they did in promoting Perez when Gio Urshela and Andy Ibanez were injured? (Or like tonight’s opponents, the Guardians, are doing in calling up slugger Kyle Manzardo to fill in for the injured Steven Kwan?) Unfortunately for the Tigers, their best hitters in Toledo are pretty much behind their best hitters in Detroit. Justyn-Henry Malloy, with a .279/.424/.462 slash line, can’t crack the Tigers’ OF/DH combo, and Jace Jung, with a .252/.377/.478 slash line, is still working on his glove at third.

So for now, we’re left to wait and dream (and maybe check out the early returns from the Tigers’ top 15 prospects, as detailed by the Freep’s Jared Ramsey).

Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on X (which used to be Twitter, y’know?) @theford.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers Newsletter: Struggling hitters aren't without hope