The Detroit Tigers might have found their double-play tandem of the future in the draft on Sunday night.
Fire and the Icicle.
The fire?
That would be Jace Jung, a second baseman from Texas Tech and one of the best college hitters in this draft. But Jung brings something else. Something important this rebuild needs desperately.
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He is a fire-breathing, forearm-smashing, chest-slapping, home run-cranking, trash-talking competitor, who fell into the Tigers’ lap at No.12. If you want a guy to hit a home run and then run through a wall for you, while trash-talking his way around the bases, Jung is your guy.
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Yes, it’s easy to love him, if only for his intensity and attitude.
What did the Tigers like?
“The obvious stuff as far as his ability, his power from the left side, gonna be a good second baseman,” Scott Pleis, the Tigers director of scouting, said Sunday. “You can see his emotion and his competitiveness on the field, and how he wants to win, which is huge. He’s a gritty guy. But his teammates love him.”
The Tigers might have found their Kirk Gibson. If only for the attitude.
Now, let’s move to the icicle.
That would be Peyton Graham, a tall but thin shortstop from Oklahoma who stands 6 feet 3 and 185 pounds. Even though he’s built like something hanging above the porch in early spring, Graham showed power in college, smashing 20 homers in 67 games with an 1.058 OPS, and the Tigers nabbed him with the No. 51 pick.
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“There’s a lot of things to like, super-toolsy guy, had a great year,” Pleis said. “I know everybody looks at the body and thinking it wouldn’t project power, but the guy’s got freaky power for his build.”
I don’t care how skinny a guy is. “Freaky power” is a great thing.
A method to the madness
The first thing you notice about Jung is the funky, unorthodox batting stance.
He sets up with his hands cocked low, behind his left shoulder, the bat pointed at the press box.
A coach suggested he try it when he was a freshman and laid out all the positives.
“Longer through the zone, more bat lag, more contact points in the zone,” Jung said. “You hear all the positives and you are like, ‘Why don’t more people do this?”
Some think he looks like Rod Carew, the Hall of Famer.
“A very unorthodox batting stance, but it does not limit him in terms of what he’s able to do in the box,” TCU baseball coach Kirk Saarloos told MLB Network. “For me, the big comp for Jace is Rod Carew. Not many times do you see an unorthodox setup like that have the ability to have the bat to ball skills that he does. Jace probably has little bit more power than Rod Carew. But Rod Carew currently has more career homers.”
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Jung did show power against Texas, cranking a homer; and before he reached first base, he was trash-talking anybody he could find. As he went around the bases, it grew even more intense. He was jacked up with adrenaline and confidence. Screaming. Pounding his chest.
“I like to compete nonstop,” he said. “I like to be a vocal leader on the field. I like to get out for a pitch to pitch. … I’m intense … I like to be a spark plug. I like to get momentum going, rallies going.”
If there is a question about his game, it’s his range and arm strength. He has below-average speed, according to scouting reports, and is not considered an elite defender.
“That makes me work harder and get better,” Jung said. “If people want to doubt me, I’m just going to keep working hard and getting better at my craft everyday. Pick up that glove extra, show them that I can play defense a little bit.”
But, oh, that bat.
He has a great eye and rarely strikes out — a concept that is mystifying to far too many in the current Tigers lineup.
Jung hits breaking balls, takes pitches to the opposite field and has a great sense of the strike zone.
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Or, put another way: He’s exactly what this team needs.
Like right now.
Granted, he did all of those things in college.
And we’ve seen plenty of great college hitters struggle at the MLB level.
See Spencer Torkelson, who just got sent to Toledo, mercifully.
Sure, nothing’s guaranteed
But there is an old axiom in baseball. If you can hit, they will find a place for you in the lineup.
And if you can’t hit?
Well, we have to call you the 2022 Tigers.
So they went out and drafted a couple of hitters on Sunday night.
For an organization desperately in need of bats, it was a fantastic start to the draft. And there was a lot to love about these picks.
Yes, we know these are college kids, and there is no guarantee that they will hit in the majors, and we won’t see them for years — yes, all the usual caveats in a MLB draft day column — that’s the worst part about the MLB draft.
But for what it is, this was encouraging.
Not just the bats.
But the attitude.
“Honestly, if there was a wall in front of me,” Jung said, “I probably would have ran through it.”
After watching the Tigers sleepwalk through countless games this year, that kinda attitude is a welcome thing.
Even if it’s gonna take a few years to arrive.
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Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff.