One of the players whom the Detroit Tigers were counting on to take their game to another level to help elevate the team’s offense was left fielder Riley Greene.
An All-Star for the first time in 2024, he is on pace to accomplish that feat again in 2025, finding his way after a sluggish start to the campaign.
Through 195 plate appearances entering play on Wednesday, Greene has a .276/.328/.508 slash line with a 138 OPS+ and 0.9 WAR. He has hit 11 home runs and nine doubles on the season, both of which are second-best on the team behind breakout first baseman Spencer Torkelson.
With injuries decimating the outfield depth, his production has been even more important to the team’s success.
Greene’s strikeout rate and walk rate have gone in the wrong direction thus far in 2025, but his power numbers remain incredibly impressive despite calling the spacious and pitcher-friendly Comerica Park home.
There isn’t a player in baseball who has more of an uppercut to his swing, taking some cues from golf, another sport that he is an avid fan of.
“Like in golf — a lot of golfers have that one thought before they hop up to the ball,” Greene said via Jason Beck of MLB.com back during spring training in 2023. “Just trying to get a new feel for things. Same swing, just different thought.”
This is certainly a unique approach, since the Tigers star is the only hitter in baseball whose swing is more than halfway between a swing that is perfectly flat at zero degrees and a golf swing at 90 degrees.
Such an aggressive swing has its downfalls, such as the 29.2% strikeout rate.
But he is more than making up for the pitfalls, because when he makes contact, he is doing damage.
He is hitting the ball hard with regularity, consistently finding barrels. When mixed with his elite swing speed of 74.6 mph, good things are going to happen at the plate.
Still only 24 years old, Greene could have even more untapped potential to break into with his steep swing, and that is one of the reasons why Detroit is in such a great position this season.
