Outman Is The Worst Hitter In MLB

[Peter Welch]

James Outman has 36 wRC+, which is the worst in MLB of anyone with more than 100 PA.

Just from the eye test, Outman is one of the worst hitters I've seen in a Tigers' uniform.  He literally is a blind squirrel up there just hacking away.  He has 4 homers with the Tigers so his blind squirrel approach has found the nut 4 times. 

Sometimes he looks like if a random fan was pulled out of the stands and asked to try to hit a major league pitcher.

Outman will probably stay on the roster until Max Clark can be called up on August 14 so that Clark can keep his rookie eligibility next year.

Peter

[Mike Coveyou]

Maybe this is pessimistic; why not Outman out for Javy?  That sounds as though it might be sooner.

Promoting Clark this season may come; I think it's more likely if the Tigers are clearly out of the playoff picture.

Mike Coveyou

P.S. I would not be opposed to Outman remaining in the Tigers organization; maybe the hitting coaches can get him back to what he was like at the plate for the Dodgers in 2023.  He was a good, although not great hitter for an outfielder, but combined with his speed and fielding ability, a very useful piece.

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[Roger King]

I know I suggested Vierling should be released when Baez comes off the DL, but I’ve been assuming Outman will be the one to go. His performance, as noted below, obviously. Plus, he doesn’t cost as much and isn’t as versatile defensively.

Roger King
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[Peter Welch]

I'm guessing they'll send down Malgeri for Baez.  They'll want Outman's lefty bat and they like Outman's defense better than Malgeri's, especially in CF.

I think Malgeri should be getting more playing time (especially over Outman and even Vierling). but they don't seem to like his defense in CF.

Peter

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From: Mike Coveyou <mcov...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2026 1:53 PM
To: Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>
Cc: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Outman Is The Worst Hitter In MLB

 

[Michael W]

I had proposed that the McKinstry, Outman and Veirling outfield with OPS+ of 61, 59 and 48 was the worst for a very long time.

I did find that the 1996 Tigers had some troubles when Bobby Higginson was injured for several weeks in May.  On May 25th that year (with Felipe Lira on the mound) Buddy Bell chose a starting outfield of Kimera Bartee, Duane Singleton and Melvin Nieves.  Inexplicably, Singleton and Bartee batted first and second that day.  Although Nieves had an acceptable OPS+ that year of 101, Bartee and Singleton were at 56 and 6, respectively.  (Yes 6, that's not a typo).  In that game, the Tigers also brought in Chad Curtis and Danny Bautista (OPS+ 87 and 82) off the bench - giving them 5-pack of dubious outfielders.  

To give you a sense of what an OPS+ of 6 means, Singleton played in 18 games for the Tigers that year, and the Tigers went 0-18 in those games.  

Michael

[Roger King]

Hilarious.  Buddy Bell clearly having no idea what OBP is, let alone any other analytics. I’ll just put the two fastest guys at the top.

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