Paredes’ first MLB HR a grand slam

While the Tigers’ highly touted pitching prospects received most of the attention this week, Isaac Paredes made an impact with his first Major League home run on Friday night. His grand slam punctuated a seven-run fourth inning as Detroit roared back from a five-run deficit in Cleveland for a 7-5

While the Tigers’ highly touted pitching prospects received most of the attention this week, Isaac Paredes made an impact with his first Major League home run on Friday night. His grand slam punctuated a seven-run fourth inning as Detroit roared back from a five-run deficit in Cleveland for a 7-5 lead.

Paredes became the first Tiger in a decade to hit a grand slam for his first big league home run. Brennan Boesch was the last, clearing the bases off Angels right-hander Joel Pineiro at Comerica Park on April 30, 2010. The only other Tiger to do it since 1992 was Cody Ross, who took Cleveland’s Cliff Lee deep on Sept. 2, 2003, for his first and only home run in what ended up being his final game in a Detroit uniform.

If Paredes’ homer could ignite the kind of tear that Boesch enjoyed in Summer 2010, the Tigers would gladly welcome it. They called up Paredes on Monday to provide some offense in the wake of C.J. Cron’s season-ending left knee injury.

Paredes hasn’t been known for home run power despite putting up double-digit home runs in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League in 2018. He hit 13 homers last year at Double-A Erie in what ended up being a pitcher-friendly Eastern League, but he was better known for his plate discipline, declining to chase pitches with a strike-zone knowledge well beyond his age and arguably among the best of anybody currently in the Tigers’ lineup.

That discipline helped the 21-year-old Paredes on Friday. He declined to chase Adam Plutko’s first-pitch slider off the plate, took a slider at the top of the zone for Strike 1, then fouled off back-to-back pitches, including a high fastball.

Plutko went back to the fastball with a 1-2 count, but he left it over the plate. Paredes hit a line drive with a 99.2 mph exit velocity that maintained altitude just over the high left-field wall at Progressive Field to power Detroit in front. It was his second career base hit of any kind.

Paredes is Detroit’s No. 6 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.