Riley Greene is a superstitious baseball player.
“Not as much as I used to be,” Greene insisted.
To be fair, Greene hasn’t changed his walk-up song from “Cowgirls” by Morgan Wallen despite a rough stretch at the plate recently, but throughout his three-year MLB career, he has been one of the most superstitious players with the Detroit Tigers, often switching his walk-up song in search of snapping a slump.
Now, after Greene had some of his best swings in the month of May during Friday’s 6-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, the Tigers are leaning into the City Connect superstition.
“I just started (my swing) a little earlier,” Greene said. “I wish I would have known that a couple weeks ago.”
The Tigers decided to wear the City Connect uniforms for Saturday’s game, even though they weren’t initially supposed to wear them after Friday’s win snapped a five-game losing streak. After the win, catcher Jake Rogers polled all the players about the idea of wearing the City Connect uniforms for Saturday’s game.
Other teams have bought into the City Connect superstition, too.
“The whole organization allows it,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “It’s actually kind of turned into a thing around the league, where teams wonder if there’s a little bit of good fortune with the City Connects.”
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Greene, meanwhile, has struggled to find his groove throughout the last 18 games, hitting .169 with one home run, five walks and 22 strikeouts. He went 1-for-4 with a double in Friday’s game, but he put four balls in play with at least a 90 mph exit velocity while elevating the ball in the air to the pull side.
He had his best swings since the beginning of May.
“My hitting coach texted me the night I punched out three times,” said Greene, who struck out three times in Thursday’s game. “He was like, ‘What do you got?’ I’m like, ‘I’m going to be honest, I have no clue what I’m doing.’ He goes, ‘Just start earlier, man. You’re late as can be.’ So, I started earlier yesterday.”
His hitting coach is Jered Goodwin, his former high school coach who trains him (and other MLB players) in the offseason and works as the vice president of scouting operations at Perfect Game.
The advice from Goodwin helped Greene realize his slump wasn’t related to his swing mechanics, rather the timing of his swing.
“Sometimes, it’s as simple as that,” Greene said. “When he told me that, I was like, ‘Why didn’t I figure that out a couple days ago, or a couple of weeks ago?’ He’s a good dude. He knows what he’s doing.”
Finally, Greene feels like himself again.
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Greene, a streaky hitter so far in his career, is capable of single-handedly carrying the Tigers on offense, as exemplified by a 16-game stretch from April 17 through May 4, when he hit .339 with five home runs, 11 walks and 16 strikeouts in 16 games.
“He’s the type of hitter that none of us ever really worry about,” Hinch said. “We probably should pay a little bit more attention to the ups and downs that he goes through to try to support him more, but he’s so easy. He comes to the ballpark every day the same. He’s a swing or two away from greatness at all times.”
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Colt Keith’s walk-up song
Colt Keith, a rookie second baseman, likes the choice to wear the City Connect uniforms again, but he isn’t a superstitious player. He knows the jersey he wears doesn’t determine whether or not he performs well.
He hit the first home run of his MLB career in Friday’s game.
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“I feel like I’ve been dreaming of that for a while,” Keith said. “It was kind of a blur when it happened. I don’t even know what pitch I hit. I just knew that I hit it good, and I was just happy to see it fly into the stands.”
Unlike Greene in the past, Keith has stuck with his walk-up song — “Rocketeer” by Far East Movement — throughout the ups and downs of his rookie season. The 22-year-old considered switching his walk-up song earlier in the year, but his fiancée, Kaitlyn Vickers, wouldn’t let him change it.
Sounds like the soon-to-be Mrs. Keith isn’t superstitious, either.
“She told me if I change it, she’s going to hit me,” Keith said, jokingly. “I thought about changing it a couple of times, and Kait said no. She said, ‘That’s the best walk-up song on the team, you got to keep it.’ Whatever she says.”
Spencer Torkelson on the bench
First baseman Spencer Torkelson, who continues to struggle at the plate, sat the bench for Saturday’s game against the Blue Jays. Instead of Torkelson, outfielder Mark Canha handled the duties at first base.
The 24-year-old is stuck in an 0-for-19 slump.
He is hitting .135 in his last 10 games.
Torkelson previously had hits in 12 of his 13 games from May 5 through May 19, but even then, he hit just .280 with two walks and 12 strikeouts during that stretch. For the entire season, Torkelson is hitting .207 with three home runs, 16 walks and 45 strikeouts in 49 games.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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