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Turns out, everyone has underestimated Tigers' Riley Greene's arm, even Greene himself
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- Turns out, everyone has underestimated Tigers' Riley Greene's arm, even Greene himself
Thankfully, Detroit Tigers outfielder Riley Greene isn't a scout.
Greene, a full-time corner outfielder since last August, threw a runner out at home plate for the first time in his MLB career, doing so from left field in the fifth inning of Monday's 1-0 loss to the Texas Rangers at Comerica Park.
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But Greene grades his arm as below average.
"It doesn't happen often for Riley, so I was excited when it happened," he said.
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"I would still say I have a below-average arm," he continued. "I just threw it in the right spot, and I was close."
Detroit Tigers outfielder Riley Greene high-fives teammates following the Detroit Tigers win over the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park on April 14, 2024, in Detroit, Michigan.
The Rangers tested Greene's arm in left field with runners on the corners and one out in Monday's fifth inning, but Greene made the Rangers pay by throwing out Jared Walsh trying to score from third base on a flyout for an inning-ending double play.
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"We'll see it a little bit more from the corner," manager A.J. Hinch said of Greene, who has played just 206 of his near 1,700 innings in the corner outfield positions. "I think part of Riley in center was get rid of the ball quick and get it to the infield. You don't see near as many guys thrown out at extra bases from center field as you do from the corners. He's got a good arm."
His throw reached 90 mph.
"I thought it was like 80," Greene said.
It was the fastest of Greene's 28 throws this season. It also marked the second fastest of 487 throws from the Tigers this season, behind only Parker Meadows ' throw April 7 against the Oakland Athletics . The speed of the throw from Greene ranked 186th among more than 16,000 throws from MLB outfielders in 2024.
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"Listen, I'm going to one-hop my targets with the best of them," Greene said. "That's what I'm going to do. And I'm going to hit the cutoff with the best of them. ... I feel like my game is hit the cutoff and be accurate. I'm going to one-hop it literally everywhere. I'm not going to try to get it in the air."
Back in high school, Greene would try to gun down runners at second base, third base and home plate without bouncing the ball. (Some reports described him as a below-average outfielder with a below-average arm coming out of high school.)
When he got to pro ball, the Tigers told Greene to throw runners out by one-hopping the ball.
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The one-hop throw works best for Greene.
"In that situation, there was a runner on first and third and there was one out," Greene said. "If it's a bad throw, Gio (Urshela) can cut that ball off and redirect it to second, so that's where the one hop comes in. And I would say it's an easier tag play for the person that's receiving the ball because it's going to bounce and go right there, but in the air, it could be up here and then you have to bring it down."
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On the other end of Greene's throw, catcher Carson Kelly stepped forward from home plate and received the ball up the third-base line to make sure he didn't block the base. The ball bounced into his glove, and he applied the tag.
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It was a perfect play.
Not bad for Greene's self-described below-average arm.
"He's not a scout," Hinch said. "I actually think it's good."
Spencer Torkelson at the plate
First baseman Spencer Torkelson is hitting .219 with six walks and 14 strikeouts across 16 games. He has five doubles, but he still hasn't hit a home run. He didn't even hit a homer in spring training.
The 24-year-old is chasing pitches more often than last season.
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"I think it's him understanding at-bats a little bit better," Hinch said. "You're not always going to get the pitch to hit and drive, and you got to defend a lot of different things, whether it's situation in the game, the stuff of the pitcher, the discipline to lay off certain things."
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A positive sign occurred in Monday's loss, when Torkelson worked a pair of walks against right-hander Michael Lorenzen . Right-handed pitchers have been pounding him down-and-away, including all seven pitches from Lorenzen in the first inning. Torkelson chased one pitch, but he ended up working a walk. He also drew a six-pitch walk in the fourth inning. In that situation, Lorenzen threw three down-and-away pitches; Torkelson refused to chase outside of the strike zone.
Those were two encouraging plate appearances.
"There's so much attention on him with where I hit him in the order and what his expectations are of himself," Hinch said. "Just when I think I'm going to get him out of the lineup and give him a breather, he'll battle a little bit extra and get a couple hits or draw a couple walks. You don't want to break his rhythm when he's doing it that way."
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But Torkelson swung and missed at a slider in the sixth inning for a strikeout.
That pitch was painted on the down-and-away corner by right-handed reliever José Leclerc.
"We clearly need him to be a force in this lineup, and he will be," Hinch said of Torkelson, a .221 hitter with a .302 OBP across 1,160 plate appearances in his career. "Those stretches, hopefully, will get smaller and smaller where he's going through it."
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers OF Riley Greene has underrated arm. Just ask Rangers
