00:00Hey Tigers fans, let's talk about Riley Green. I want you to think back to a conversation he had
00:06last season. He called his hitting instructor Jared Goodwin after a game. Goodwin asked him
00:11what was going on, and Green was honest. He said, I feel like I can hit everything for a home
00:15run.
00:16And he admitted that on the field, it really looked that way. He was swinging at everything,
00:21trying to make that power happen. That one moment actually sums up his entire 2024 campaign
00:27perfectly. The numbers he put up were historic. Did you know he's only the second Tiger ever at age
00:3224 or younger to record at least 31 doubles, 36 home runs, and 111 RBIs in a single season?
00:40The only other guy to do that was Hank Greenberg back in his 1935 American League MVP season. On top
00:47of that, he's just the second left-handed hitter in the last 50 years to hit 36 homers for this
00:53franchise joining Daryl Evans. That's elite company. But here is the other side of the coin.
00:58Green also set a single-season franchise record with 201 strikeouts, breaking Cecil Fielder's old
01:05mark of 182 from 1990. That offensive firepower was absolutely critical for us to grab that
01:11postseason spot, and it earned him a starting nod in the All-Star game. But those strikeouts? They were
01:17a big enough concern that they got mentioned in the team's end-of-year press conference.
01:21The front office talked about the need to make more consistent contact as a team, and that right
01:27there is the conundrum with Riley. Just because he feels like he can hit everything doesn't mean he
01:32should swing at everything. The big question is, how do you cut down on those swings without also
01:37cutting down on the home runs? Manager AJ Hinch actually addressed this on Saturday. He said it's a
01:43tough situation. Everyone circles the strikeouts and the swing and miss, but Hinch worries that the
01:48good stuff, the incredible offensive production, gets overlooked. He pointed out that you can
01:53psychologically mess a guy up by obsessing over the imperfections. Their approach isn't to overhaul
01:59his swing, but to keep nudging him to improve in those areas. If you're coming off two successful
02:03seasons, you don't want to break what's working. So, what did Green actually change? He didn't overhaul
02:09his mechanics. He barely tweaked anything. The real adjustment was mental. Over the offseason,
02:15he worked on picking and choosing his spots. He explained it like this, if you have two strikes
02:20with a runner on second, maybe don't try to hit a homer 5,000 feet. It's about letting the game
02:25slow
02:26down and recognizing the situation. There are times to take your shot, and there are times to choke up
02:32and just put the ball in play. In other words, don't try to hit a home run when a single
02:37will do the job.
02:38If we look at the numbers, it makes sense. In 2023, he hit .294 with an .874 OPS with runners
02:46in
02:46scoring position, even though he only had five homers in those spots. This past season, he doubled
02:53his home run total with Arisp, but his average dropped to .244 with a .772 OPS. He admitted that
03:00last year showed he was trying to hit a homer every single time. When you feel that good, you think
03:06you
03:06can do anything, but you have to slow the game down. So how do you train a guy to stop
03:10swinging
03:11at everything? You give him pitches he has no business swinging at. Green made it a very
03:15competitive offseason. He said there were fewer feel-good days of just hitting meatballs down
03:22the middle. Instead, they cranked the machine up. They threw banging curveballs. They changed the height
03:29of the pitches to force him to take more. They made it super competitive to simulate those tough
03:34at-bats. To push it even further, Goodwin set up a competitive atmosphere back home in Oviedo,
03:40Florida, with Green's hitting group, including his longtime friends Vaughn Grissom and Ryan Mountcastle.
03:46Green said it was a super fun offseason for him personally, having his buddies there making it
03:52competitive. And it's not just about the regular season. It's about taking that next step in October.
03:59After getting a taste of the playoffs, Green said they're in a different headspace now.
04:02They all want to go back. So here's what I'm wondering. With this new approach,
04:06trading a few feel-good homers for smarter situational hitting, do you think we see an
04:11even better version of Riley Green when it matters most? Let me know what you think.
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