00:00So the Tigers lineup is out for today's game as they get ready to take on Paul Skeens and the
00:12Pittsburgh Pirates today, which is kind of interesting.
00:17Jackson Jobe and Paul Skeens, two young pitchers that have a ton of upside. Skeens obviously has realized it quicker
00:24than Jobe has. He's very accomplished at college. First player taken in the draft for good reason. God, is he
00:32talented and shows up on the scene a couple of years ago.
00:35Ended my school in the national championship game. Yeah, he's incredible. Absolutely incredible. And everybody's following him. And then, oh,
00:42by the way, oh, you're dating Livy Dunn. There you go. And, you know, everybody's seeing that. And he has
00:46this rookie of the year, year and Cy Young season last year, everything. Right. And I mean, people were even
00:54here in Detroit. We're talking about tires should trade for Paul Skeens. I'm like, why on earth would Pittsburgh trade
00:59away Paul Skeens? They got the guy this young in his career. They have him under control for years.
01:05They don't have to worry about that. And now Paul Skeens has run into some trouble. He's not pitching as
01:10well. He's got mechanics issues right now. He's got all types of issues because he says it's mechanics and yet
01:16he's not throwing the ball anywhere near as hard as he used to. Now, is that because of mechanics or
01:22is something else going on? I don't know. But he's not the same that he was. He used to be
01:28this stalwart, get into the seventh inning, no problem. Last couple of games, he's gone five innings, five innings and
01:34four innings.
01:35But he just doesn't have it like he used to. And it's a real problem. The first month of the
01:42season, he was great. 162 ERA. Then the ERA jumped up to 2.87 in May. Then to 358 in
01:48June. 6.25 earned run average in July.
01:53And it's 10 innings and he's given up four earned runs here in August. And he'll go against Jackson Jobe.
02:00It's going to be fun to watch.
02:03I think it was safe to say it probably still is, even though he's had some bumps in the road
02:07this year. Paul Skeens is a star player, right? I think he's a star player. I don't think we're breaking
02:13new ground there.
02:15But the Tigers lineup, as I work my way down, Colt Keith is leading off and he's the DH.
02:21Gleyber Torres at second base, hitting second. Kevin McGonigal shortstop hits third. Dylan Dingler is back in the game again,
02:27playing a catcher, hitting fourth, trying to get out of his slump.
02:31Brett Callahan, the rookie, hit his first home run of his career.
02:34He's been fun, right?
02:36Yeah, he's been a lot of fun.
02:38He's hitting fifth in right field, or I should say in left field. In right field, batting sixth is Zach
02:43McKinstry.
02:44And this was the moment where you set your show sheet over and I looked at this and I'm like,
02:49okay, I'm curious.
02:51Somebody said this to you about Zach McKinstry? You overheard this?
02:54Oh, right, right, right. I was watching a Twitter clip and I'm trying to remember the source of it.
02:59But somebody I'm not familiar with seeing was sitting down with Zach McKinstry and they referred to him as Tiger
03:05star Zach McKinstry.
03:07And I was just thinking to myself, okay, the word love is overused, must win is overused.
03:14How overused is the word star if even just to compliment the player you're interviewing, you are throwing out star?
03:24Now, then again, he made the all-star team last year, won a silver slugger for utility men.
03:31That's got to be one of the most forgiving all-star game births in the history of the all-star
03:36game for Zach McKinstry to be named a star.
03:38And I found myself asking the question, what is a star and how many of them do the Tigers actually
03:44have?
03:45And here's where I landed.
03:47They have one.
03:49And it could be Riley Green.
03:51Because my criteria is, you've got to do it for multiple years.
03:56I've got to see what Kevin McGonigal is next year.
04:00What Dylan Dingler is next year.
04:02What Troy Melton is next year.
04:05It's trending in the right direction.
04:07But if you want that distinction, as Dennis Green would say, go ahead and crown their ass, I can't do
04:13that right now.
04:14I need consistency over a multi-year period.
04:17And then even with Riley Green, I was just sharing with you, ESPN didn't have them in their top 50
04:22players.
04:23So it was a star, a non-top 50 player.
04:26I either have one star on the Tigers or none right now.
04:30Now, to be fair, ESPN had two Tigers in the top 15 on that list.
04:34But they don't meet your criteria because they've only done it for this year.
04:39Although you could argue Dingler did a little bit last year.
04:41He was the gold glove winning catcher.
04:44And then this year the offense has come, although he's in a slump right now.
04:48It's interesting.
04:49Look back at Zach McKinstry from last year.
04:51In April, he hit .338 last year in April.
04:53Got all that buzz.
04:54The Tigers got a ton of buzz as a team.
04:56Then he hit .200 in May.
04:59But then he hit .321 in June.
05:01So now that's two out of three months where he was lights out good.
05:04Then the voting gets shut down.
05:06And he's an all-star with injuries or whatever.
05:10He's in the all-star game.
05:11Hit .216 in July.
05:13Hit .233 in August.
05:16Hit .241 in September.
05:19And hit .172 in the postseason.
05:21Oof.
05:24Things calmed down significantly.
05:27This year it's been a rough go for Zach McKinstry, but lately he has played well.
05:31In the month of August, he's hitting .304 with an .809 OPS.
05:36He has found his place at the plate much better.
05:40Even in July, he hit .240, which isn't anything great, but it beats the hell out of hitting .170 or
05:46whatever he was hitting before that.
05:48Just for a more reference point on what Zach McKinstry's at.
05:52And no, he's not a star.
05:53Let me say that.
05:54He is not.
05:55He was factually an all-star last year, but he's not a star player.
05:58I've had my ups and downs watching him as a fan.
06:01I think he's a guy that fills out one of your last roster spots because he does have the versatility
06:06to play anywhere.
06:07He gives you everything he's got.
06:08He's got great speed on the paths.
06:10He takes first to third.
06:12And he has occasional pop.
06:14I don't dislike McKinstry.
06:16I dislike the situations where I'm seeing him play almost every day because I don't think he should play every
06:21day.
06:22But that's a whole other issue.
06:24When it comes to star players, it's interesting.
06:26I can't disagree that you have to do it for more than one season.
06:30You can't just be this flash-in-the-pan guy.
06:33Now that we're into August and I'm seeing what Kevin McGonigal is doing,
06:37and when you see Kevin McGonigal comparisons, and you brought these up too,
06:40when you start making a Kevin McGonigal comparison and say he's the first player since blank to do blank,
06:47and the comparison is Ty Cobb or Al Kaline or pictures of black and white players,
06:55the black and white photo you see, it's hard not to.
06:59When you look at his, I don't believe in the war stat as much as everybody else does.
07:04I think it's fine, but I think it overemphasizes some things and not enough for others, whatever.
07:09But if you buy into war, he's one of the top players in the American League.
07:14Is he a star as a rookie?
07:18I don't think he's a star yet, and I lean more towards what you said because he's got to do
07:22it for multiple years.
07:23Because he's a rookie, I'm probably penalizing more than anything else.
07:26There's a reason the sophomore slump exists, right?
07:29Yeah, and because he's playing, is he a shortstop? Is he a third baseman?
07:32And what is he? Fair enough, but I think that does play against him.
07:37Dylan Dingler, on the other hand, won the gold glove last year,
07:44and this year he's turned himself into the best catcher in baseball,
07:46even with the troubles he's had over the last two weeks of hitting the baseball.
07:51But he's a different story.
07:54Because he is the best player at his position, not just in the league, but in the game,
07:59even if it's just this one season he's doing it, I think you can't ignore that.
08:03That's a pretty special season he's having.
08:05Whereas I could say McGonagall is not the best shortstop in the game.
08:08But McGonagall's having a hell of a year.
08:10So I think the Tigers, when it comes to your question, do they have stars?
08:14I think the answer is yes, but the question I have is, is it just one?
08:19We'll talk more about that next year on 97.1.
Comments