What 2024 says about where Tigers are now -- and where they're going

By now, the story of Tigers manager A.J. Hinch’s early August meeting with his club has been well-chronicled. He posed the question to players: What kind of team do you want to be?

As the Tigers worked through their emotions after Saturday’s 7-3 loss that ended their season in a winner-take-all Game 5 of their American League Division Series in Cleveland, one of their consolations was knowing what kind of team they are.

“We're back to being a winning organization,” Hinch said. “We earned it. … I'm proud that we had a winning record. I'm proud we played winning baseball. I'm proud that we got a chance to test ourselves in a heartfelt series against a team we respect and a team we expect to see a lot of next year.”

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The 2024 season was a topsy-turvy campaign that saw the Tigers struggle with high expectations early, battle through injuries for much of the summer and then rally late. But it was also a search for identity, for a team that has been building around young talent for years, and for a generation of young players that largely rose through the farm system together while pushing their individual ceilings.

As they surveyed their season, their collective ceiling looked higher than ever. They ended the franchise’s seven-year streak of losing seasons, earned Detroit its first taste of postseason baseball in a decade and picked up the franchise’s first postseason series win since Jim Leyland’s final season in 2013.

“I can confidently say at this point we are headed in the right direction,” president of baseball operations Scott Harris said. “We are on the right path as an organization.”

Defining moment: A Little League walk-off

The late-season tear had plenty of moments to remember, but a Sunday night comeback against the Yankees at the Little League Classic was big. The Tigers were an out away from a 1-0 loss when Jace Jung’s ninth-inning RBI single tied it. They trailed again in the 10th when Zach McKinstry hit a game-tying single, stole second and scored on Parker Meadows’ opposite-field single for a 3-2 win.

The win meant the Tigers took two of three from an AL contender and went 5-1 for the week. They were still three games under .500, but with Jung and Trey Sweeney just called up, Spencer Torkelson back from Triple-A Toledo and Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and Meadows back from the injured list, the revamped Tigers had an idea of what they were capable of doing with one of baseball’s youngest rosters and a renewed aggressiveness on the basepaths.

“We had fun. We had so much fun,” Greene said. “The smiles on everyone’s faces, the no-quit factor in this group -- we never quit. This group as a whole has been awesome. I’m so proud.”

What we learned: The young talent is real

Harris said going into the season that the Tigers wanted to earmark opportunities for young talent so they could figure out what they had and where they might need to add. Eight months later, there are still some questions, but also a lot to like -- from Meadows’ two-way play to Colt Keith’s development. Jung and Justyn-Henry Malloy had their struggles at times, but they also came up clutch in certain situations. Add in Greene and Carpenter, and the Tigers seemingly have a core to build around offensively, and at least three key parts to a rotation with Tarik Skubal, Reese Olson and Jackson Jobe.

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“We definitely have a core here,” Meadows said. “A lot of guys just feed off each other. We trust each other. We built a lot of great relationships this year, on the field and off the field. It’s a great group of guys, and we’re going to be excited to carry it into next year.”

Best development: Parker Meadows’ emergence

Watching Meadows over the final six weeks, it was hard to believe that the same player was sent to Triple-A Toledo in early May batting .096 (7-for-73) with 32 strikeouts. He batted .296/.340/.500 from his Aug. 3 return from the injured list until the end of the regular season, then hit safely in all seven postseason games, tying Hall of Famer Charlie Gehringer’s franchise record for the longest hitting streak to begin a postseason career. In the aforementioned Game 5, Meadows reached base safely in all four plate appearances against four different pitchers.

Defensively, Meadows is a Gold Glover in waiting. He might have won it this year had he spent the full season in the Majors. It wasn’t just the highlight-reel home run robberies in Seattle and at Baltimore, or the tumbling catch on the warning track in San Francisco. It was the way he made other ranging catches look easy with his combination of quick reads and blazing speed.

Area for improvement: Offensive power

With so many young hitters, Detroit’s offense unsurprisingly ran hot and cold all season, even during their stretch run. Their struggles to convert runners in scoring position into more runs proved fatal in the ALDS. The Tigers led the AL in triples but finished in the bottom half among AL teams in every other major category, despite a vast improvement from mid-August on.

With the next wave of offensive prospects still working up the farm system -- from Hao-Yu Lee at Double-A Erie to Max Clark, Kevin McGonigle and Thayron Liranzo at High-A West Michigan -- Detroit is counting on continued development from its current group, plus some strategic additions, to help balance out what became a lefty-leaning lineup down the stretch.

On the rise: Trey Sweeney

Sweeney was the Dodgers’ No. 22 prospect when the Tigers acquired him in the Jack Flaherty trade at the end of July. By late August, he was the primary shortstop in Detroit, taking over from the injured Javier Báez. The 24-year-old’s combination of steady defense (2 Outs Above Average in just 36 games at short), timely offense (.276 average, .795 OPS with runners in scoring position) and baserunning proved an important part of Detroit’s run to the playoffs. He could use a few more walks and a tick lower strikeout rate, but with Báez recovering from major hip surgery and questionable for the start of next season, Sweeney has a chance to establish himself as part of the long-term solution to the Tigers’ long-running shortstop issues.

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Team MVP: Tarik Skubal

Not only was Skubal the ace of this team, he was its spiritual heart and, for the season-defining home stretch, the only starter the Tigers leaned on for heavy innings amidst a mish-mash of bullpen games, openers and bulk relievers. He led AL pitchers in wins, ERA and strikeouts, becoming the first AL pitching Triple Crown winner in a 162-game season since then-Tiger Justin Verlander in 2011. Skubal was dominant down the stretch, posting a 1.85 ERA over his final eight starts and carrying a 28-inning scoreless streak from Sept. 18 until the five-run fifth inning that doomed Detroit in Game 5 of the ALDS.