Our long national nightmare is over redux

[Mark Pattison]

So Colt Keith hit his first home run of the season this afternoon, a two-run blast with nobody out in the sixth. I don't care whether it was wind-aided or humidity-aided, it provided the stick-a-fork-in-him-he's-done moment for Zebby Matthews, who still emerged as the Twins pitcher that day with the lowest ERA (5.20) after the 11-0 shellacking was over.

Mark Pattison

[Michael W]

I’m happy for Colt.  I’m sure that was a big monkey off his back.

Michael 

[Tapu Shaikh]

On 6/12/26 05:36, Michael W wrote:
> I’m happy for Colt.  I’m sure that was a big monkey off his back.

He was beaming as he rounded the bases, and the dugout briefly gave him
the silent treatment when he got back.

[Paul Meloche]

If I'm remembering correctly, Keith took a while to hit his first homer last season  - though not as long as this year - and then went on a hot streak. We'll see if yesterday kick starts his offense moving forward.

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[Peter Welch]

I don't know if it's something the Tigers' organization is teaching, but Keith seems to have been almost trying not to be a power hitter and more of a "go with the pitch" hitter and "line drive" hitter.  When he was hitting .300 a few weeks ago he was getting mostly singles.  The problem was that this sapped him of his natural power.  The other troubling sign for Keith this year is that his walk rate is only 5%, which is below average (MLB average is 8.5%).  It was 10% last year.  HIs K rate is at 20%, which is about the same as his last 2 seasons and lower than MLB average (MLB K rate is 22%).  So it's not like he's having problems making contact.  It's just that his contact hasn't been that hard and he isn't working the count as well as in the past.

When Keith came up through the minors, he looked like a guy who could hit 25+ homers, a lot of doubles, and draw a good number of walks and not strike out excessively.  He even hit lefties ok in the minors and as a rookie in the majors.

I think you can argue that by not letting Keith hit against lefties the last 2 seasons, his development as a hitter has been stunted, but his approach has changed as well.  I'm not sure what he's been working on is actually helping him, but maybe it's a long-term process.

Trying to hit major league pitching is very difficult so it can take some good hitting prospects a few years to figure it out.  Keith isn't the only good young hitting prospect who takes a few years to find himself in the majors.

Peter

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From: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Paul Meloche <meloc...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2026 10:13 AM
To: Tapu Shaikh <taput...@gmail.com>
Cc: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Our long national nightmare is over redux

 

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[Peter Welch]

There was also talk a while ago of Keith having a sore wrist.  It's very possible he's been trying to play with an injury most of the season.  Trying to hit with a sore wrist could certainly affect his power.

Peter

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From: Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2026 11:04 AM
To: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com>