It looks like Gary Sheffield received a warm reception today in the first full workout of the season for Tiger hitters.  With good reason because Gary Sheffield may very well be the best hitter the Tigers have had in the last 20 years.

A lot of people forget that early in Sheffield’s career, he carried the injury prone label.  He missed quite a bit of time in 1991, 1994, 1995, and then in 2006.  If he would have played full seasons in 1991, 1994 and 2006 and hit 25 homeruns in the season where he missed a lot of time (which was well within his capability) he’d have 41 more homeruns and be on the verge of the 500 mark.  Oh yeah, and he has 1,293 career walks against only 971 strikeouts and he’s never struck out 90 times in a season.  This is a guy who gets on base and rakes the ball and I’m excited to see him in a Tiger uniform.

Permalink | Posted in 2007 Tigers