The Twins won earlier this afternoon so that means the Tigers are 15 1/2 games back with 15 to play, ending even their formerly remote chances of making the playoffs. Not surprising considering the Tigers are 25-36 since the All Star Break. Only the Kansas City Royals (21-37) have had a worse record.
Jeff Passan has a piece on baseball trivia and he mentions Austin Jackson’s .413 batting average on balls in play. That’d be the best since Babe Ruth in 1923 so he has some pretty select company.
Yeah, I expect a pullback too, especially if he can’t cut down on the strikeouts. A few more walks would be nice as well. Sounds like we’re on the same page.
The other rookie, Sizemore, has me worried because of the way the Tigers handled him.
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I like Austin Jackson a lot, but even with his good speed and high line drive rate, his BABIP is simply too high to expect to be something he can repeat next year. Even Ichiro in his prime, and his ability to leg out infield singles, didn’t put up these kinds of numbers.
Jackson has a chance to be good – real good – but like many young hitters, he needs to cut down on the strikeouts to reach his potential. Granderson didn’t, and that had a lot to do with him being shipped out of town.
Next year will be really interesting. We may see Jackson’s average go down, yet still see him make strives toward being a better ball player. Keep an eye on that strikeout rate. An improvement there will be the sign that he’s taking the next step up.
--Posted by Randy on September 18th, 2010 at 7:29 pm