At month’s end the Tigers sit at 19-12, which marks their best start in Team history. They stand alone as the top team in the American League. Detroit has overcome a large number of injuries. The Tigers have had 13, 40-man roster players spend some period of time on the injured list.

Pitching Staff

A major contributor to the Tiger’s success last year was their pitching staff, and that has remained a reliable aspect in the present day. The pitching unit as a whole rank third in the league with an ERA of 3.14. The rookie phenom Jackson Jobe had a rocky Spring Training but has held his own thus far. He has yet to record a loss this year. Although he has had some struggles with command and hasn’t garner a ton of swing and misses with his wide array of pitches to select from its only a matter of time before he puts everything together. The brightest of surprises has come from the former first round draft pick Casey Mize. He has arguably been the most impressive starting pitcher to date. It appears that he has found the feeling in his split finger and it has been an un-hittable pitch. His current record stands at 4-1 with a 2.12 ERA.

Surprise Hitting Production

Javier Baez and Zach Mckinstry are two individuals that a large portion of the fanbase were calling for their jobs at this point of last year. Although you could lean on their defense their hitting production was so low that it almost didn’t matter. Fast forward this year the two players have been major contributors to igniting a fire under the offense with players like Matt Vierling, Parker Meadows, and Wenceel Perez having not seeing even an inning of action so far this year. Mckinstry, who has made his name in the league mostly in the way his defensive versatility is currently top in the Major Leagues in fWAR, on-base percentage, average, and walk rate. Baez has continued his trend of mashing with runners in scoring position and making lefties pay when they face him. In yesterday’s game against Houston, Baez blew the game wide open with a Grand Slam home-run to expand the Tiger’s lead. Possibly most importantly, Javy has taken on the role of utility player. The vast majority of his game’s have been played at 3rd base this year, and at the ripe age of 32 has made his debut in centerfield where he has been more than serviceable.

Javier Baez ran down a 15% catch probability fly ball near the wall in his 6th career game playing CF pic.twitter.com/QBXoX8bblK

— And That's Baseball (@AndThatsBB) April 29, 2025

During the offseason, much was made about the lack of aggression from Scott Harris to address offensive firepower especially from the right side of the plate. As of now that has been considered a mute point largely due to the hot start that Spencer Torkelson has gotten off to. He has regained his role as the starting first basemen and deservedly so. He has regained the power-stroke that he displayed the second half of 2023. He currently stands at 8 home-runs and 24 RBIs for the month.

The Tigers hold a 1.5 lead in the Central over Cleveland with help on the way. Vierling and Meadows are progressing well in their rehabilitation and getting closer and closer to returning. Their returns will only add more speed and defensive versatility to the team and in addition to them they’ll soon have to make some tough decisions with who to send down when Veteran pitcher Alex Cobb returns.