Detroit, MI

Detroit Tigers’ Wenceel Pérez isn’t starter anymore, but he’s still valuable switch-hitter

Published

3 months ago

September 17, 2024

Detroit Tigers’ Wenceel Pérez isn’t starter anymore, but he’s still valuable switch-hitter

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When Wenceel Pérez suffered a left oblique strain in early August, he had been an everyday outfielder for the Detroit Tigers for roughly three months. The 24-year-old needed one month to rest, recover and rehab, but when he returned from the injured list, everything was different.

Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter — two outfielders ahead of Pérez on the depth chart — returned from their injuries while Pérez was sidelined with his injury.

Therefore, Pérez doesn’t start every game anymore.

“He’s a guy that was hitting in the middle of our order, gets hurt, and when he comes back, everything on our team has changed, and he didn’t change,” manager A.J. Hinch said after Monday’s game. “He hasn’t missed a beat. We hurried him back to get him in the mix because having a switch-hitter, even if it was on the bench, is going to be very valuable to make decisions during the game.”

Pérez has transitioned from an everyday player to an off-the-bench weapon in pinch-hit situations for matchup advantages. He hasn’t let the change in his role impact the way he acts on a day-to-day basis.

He is a team-first player.

“The way we play here, we are together,” Pérez said. “Everybody gets his opportunity to play, and when I get the opportunity, I’m going to try to produce as much as I can. I’m trying to be ready for it and bring energy to the team.”

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What happened in the sixth inning of Monday’s 7-6 win over the Kansas City Royals showcased the value of Pérez. He entered as a pinch-hitter to face left-handed reliever Sam Long with runners on the corners and one out, but right-handed reliever John Schreiber was warming up in the bullpen.

“I was just trying to bring home the guy on third, no matter what,” Pérez said.

Royals manager Matt Quatraro had to make a decision: left-hander or right-hander against the switch-hitting Pérez. He has the same splits from both sides of the plate this season, but he hits for more power from the left side against right-handers.

The Royals stuck with Long, so Pérez swung from the right side of the plate. He hit a fifth-pitch slider from Long to left field for a two-run double, tying the game, 6-6. He then scored for a 7-6 lead on Matt Vierling’s single off Schreiber.

“He threw me a first-pitch slider,” Pérez said. “He probably thought that I couldn’t see it, so he tried to throw it to me again to get me out. He got me pretty bad on the first-pitch slider. It looked like a cutter. I thought he would throw it to me again.”

He is hitting .240 with nine home runs, 27 walks and 80 strikeouts across 102 games in 2024, his rookie season. As part of that, he is hitting .250 (3-for-12) in 13 plate appearances as a pinch-hitter, including three of those opportunities in five games since returning from injury.

Pérez didn’t make the Opening Day roster out of spring training, but five months later, he is proving to be an important player for the Tigers — even if he isn’t considered an everyday player anymore — as the team pushes for the postseason.

“It’s special,” Pérez said. “All that matters is winning the game. You’re not thinking about you. You’re thinking about the game, and going to the playoffs.”

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.

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Detroit, MI

Winter solstice brings Detroit its shortest day of the year. Here’s when the sun will rise and set Saturday.

Published

30 minutes ago

December 20, 2024

Press Room

Winter solstice brings Detroit its shortest day of the year. Here’s when the sun will rise and set Saturday.

Winter solstice traditions around the world

People around the world ring in the winter solstice with ancient traditions

01:01

(CBS DETROIT) — The Winter Solstice arrives this weekend and, with that, so too does the season of winter. The Winter Solstice is our second solstice of the year, marking the shortest day, while the Summer Solstice marks the longest.

This is different from an equinox, of which we have two (vernal in the spring and autumnal in the fall) where the day is split evenly between daylight and night.

The solstice is at 4:20 a.m. on Saturday, giving us an almost full day of winter to kick things off. Sunrise is at 7:58 a.m., with solar noon not long after at 12:30 p.m.

Sunset arrives at 5:02 p.m., leaving us with a very short Saturday this weekend.

Dec. 20 and 21 both have daylight lengths of 9 hours, 4 minutes, and 46 seconds. However, on the 21st there is actually a daylight difference of less than 1 second compared to the 20th.

Despite these numbers, our latest sunrise and earliest sunset do not arrive on the winter solstice. Our latest sunrise is 8:01 a.m., which occurs every day from Dec. 30 through Jan. 7.

Our earliest sunset is 4:59 p.m., which occurs from Dec. 4 through Dec. 13.

In contrast, our earliest sunrise is 5:54 a.m. That occurs from June 13-16, while the latest sunset is 9:13 p.m., from June 25-28.

No matter what, winter is here, and we’ve already had a few tastes of snow. As we enter our winter months, it will be a good idea to have those shovels handy.

Ahmad Bajjey

Ahmad Bajjey is a CBS Detroit meteorologist. Coming to CBS Detroit is a return home after growing up in Dearborn where his family still lives. He has spent the past 9 1/2 years in Flint as a meteorologist and most recently as chief meteorologist for WEYI and WSMH.

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Detroit, MI

Phoenix faces Detroit in non-conference action

Published

8 hours ago

December 20, 2024

Press Room

Phoenix faces Detroit in non-conference action

Associated Press

Detroit Pistons (11-17, 11th in the Eastern Conference) vs. Phoenix Suns (14-12, ninth in the Western Conference)

Phoenix; Saturday, 9 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: The Detroit Pistons visit the Phoenix Suns in a non-conference matchup.

The Suns are 9-5 on their home court. Phoenix has a 3-6 record in games decided by 10 or more points.

The Pistons have gone 6-9 away from home. Detroit is eighth in the league with 45.3 rebounds per game led by Jalen Duren averaging 9.1.

The Suns are shooting 47.2% from the field this season, 0.5 percentage points higher than the 46.7% the Pistons allow to opponents. The Pistons are shooting 46.2% from the field, 0.7% lower than the 46.9% the Suns’ opponents have shot this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Devin Booker is averaging 25.1 points and 6.4 assists for the Suns.

Jaden Ivey is scoring 17.3 points per game and averaging 4.1 rebounds for the Pistons.

LAST 10 GAMES: Suns: 5-5, averaging 116.7 points, 42.5 rebounds, 28.5 assists, 7.8 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 49.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 114.2 points per game.

Pistons: 4-6, averaging 112.9 points, 41.8 rebounds, 27.0 assists, 7.9 steals and 4.9 blocks per game while shooting 47.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 119.0 points.

INJURIES: Suns: Collin Gillespie: day to day (ankle).

Pistons: Isaiah Stewart: day to day (knee), Jaden Ivey: day to day (knee).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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Detroit, MI

Detroit Tigers Most Productive Prospect For 2024 Season Revealed

Published

16 hours ago

December 19, 2024

Press Room

Detroit Tigers Most Productive Prospect For 2024 Season Revealed

The Detroit Tigers had success in a 2024 season that saw an epic playoff run from 9.5 games back in the Wild Card race in late August to coming within just one game of their first ALCS appearance in a decade, and a ton of that was due to contributions from young players.

But just because the fruits of the rebuild finally started to bear this season doesn’t mean the Tigers don’t still have a ton of young studs who haven’t even seen the Major League game yet. Though some has obviously been lost via trades and graduation to the pros over the years, Detroit still boasts one of the best farm systems in all of baseball.

From guys like Max Clark to Bryce Rainer to the soon-to-be star Jackson Jobe, there is certainly some young and exciting talent in the organization. That being said, the most productive of the bunch this season in the minor leagues took some people by surprise this season and seems to be well ahead of schedule. In their ranking of every team’s most productive farm system player in 2024, MLB.com’s article named middle infielder Kevin McGonigle as the Tigers’ most impressive.

“The Tigers were enthused to add McGonigle with the No. 37 overall pick in ’23 and over-the-moon with his early results in the Minors, particularly when it came to his plate discipline,” the article stated. “The left-handed-hitting middle infielder walked 46 times while striking out only 28 in 74 games between Single-A and High-A before suffering a season-ending right hamate fracture. His K/BB ratio was best among 1,081 Minor Leaguers who got at least 300 plate appearances in ’24.”

There’s no question as to whether or not McGonigle is ahead of schedule, he certainly is. Just how quickly he can get to the majors is obviously the next question, but he has yet to play in Double-A to this point. Nonetheless, McGonigle has put up wildly impressive OPS numbers of .863 and .853 during his two seasons from rookie ball through High-A.

With only 14 games of High-A ball experience under his belt. it will likely be a couple of years before he’s ready to make contributions at the MLB level. But McGonigle has clearly established himself as a name to closely monitor as he begins to climb the ranks and establish himself as a key piece of the future of the Detroit Tigers.

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