Outfielder Riley Greene Plays Pivotal Role in Detroit Tigers Offense
The Detroit Tigers may have found what their offense has been missing for the better part of a decade with the breakout campaign of Riley Greene in 2024. The young outfielder posted the highest OPS+ (133) for any player since Justin Upton (137) and J.D. Martinez (165) in 2017. For the first time in a long time, the team may have their offensive cornerstone.
It has been a growing trend for Greene since making his Major League debut in 2022. He has seen an increase in playing time each year since, culminating with a career-high 137 games in 2024. The increase in consistent playing time has seen a consistent increase in his offensive production, with a 97 OPS+ in 2022, a 119 OPS+ in 2023, and the 133 mark he set in 2024.
Greene has continued to improve his plate discipline, cutting down on his chase rate year over year, ranging from 27.6 percent in 2022 to 23.1 percent in 2024. While that may not seem like a drastic improvement, his chase rate in 2022 ranked in the 61st percentile in Major League Baseball, while 2024 ranked in the 85th percentile.
The outfielder has improved his launch angle as well, which has seen an uptick in his home runs as he has always carried above-average exit velocities. In 2022 his average launch angle was a ghastly 2.8 degrees, with 56.8 percent of the balls he put in play being grounders. In 2024, his launch angle was a much more sightly 12.2 percent, dropping his groundball rate to 43.6 percent.
Greene's strength at the plate is hitting fastballs. When the young star swings at a fastball, he rarely misses. In 2024, his whiff rate on fastballs was only 18.6 percent. He saw 1,298 fastballs in 2024.
Compare that to how he fares against breaking and offspeed pitches. He saw 641 breaking pitches in 2024 and 464 offspeed pitches. He whiffed on 36.1 and 34.9 percent of those respectively.
His success against fastballs has been a constant throughout his three campaigns in MLB, but pitchers keep throwing them. With the consistent increase in velocity from pitchers, that trend does not look to change, so his success looks to remain.
2025 will be Greene's age-25 season. With the consistent increase in success that he has seen throughout his career and the underlying metrics, the young outfielder looks to be getting even better.
For the Tigers, who were unexpectedly contenders in 2024, that is a promising trend for their offense and could be beneficial to them and their playoff odds for years to come.
