Detroit Tigers Utilityman Earns 'Honorable Mention' For Top 25 Second Basemen
The Detroit Tigers were mostly led by their pitching staff this year, specifically their ace Tarik Skubal, on their way to a Wild Card berth and a sweep of the Houston Astros in the Wild Card round of the MLB playoffs.
While the pitching was leading the way for the team, the offense underwent more of a piecemeal strategy, sometimes needing multiple players to fill in at one position more often than most other teams.
While this strategy may not be successful in the long run, this year, it worked well enough for an earlier playoff appearance than anyone expected from the Tigers on the upswing of their rebuild.
One position that utilized multiple players for Detroit was second base, with veteran Andy Ibanez being one of the men serving in that role.
In the final second base power rankings for 2024 from Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report, he earned an "honorable mention" nod, falling just outside the top 25.
It was not the best year of Ibanez's career at the plate, though, it was still far from being his worst.
He batted .241/.295/.357 with five home runs, 32 RBI, and an 85 OPS+ this season across 244 plate appearances in 99 games.
The veteran filled in at many positions for the Tigers this year other than just second, including first base, third base, shortstop, and left field, though the majority of his play time came at the keystone.
It was there where Ibanez had his best offensive production, too, as the utilityman hit .294/.350/.435 with two home runs, 16 RBI, and a 129 OPS+ across 100 plate appearances in 31 games serving as the second baseman.
Defensively, he graded out well across all of his positions, on the infield at least, totaling six Outs Above Average per Baseball Savant, placing in the 90th percentile for Major League Baseball.
For second base specifically, the veteran tallied three Outs Above Average, his best mark for any position this year, which would rank 13th among second basemen if he played enough innings to qualify.
Detroit is approaching the end of their rebuild, with their postseason appearance indicating as much, though they do still have work to do through player development and free agency.
While Ibanez was serviceable as a utilityman and backup second baseman this year, he would be much better suited in a bench role with much less utilization.
