Top 10 Tiger Killers
By Blake VandeBunte • May 18th, 2009 • Category: Casey Blake, Jim Thome, Joe Crede, Joe Mauer, Luke Scott10. Jody Gerut: 146 AB, 10 HR, .329/.383/.616, 154 OPS+ Gerut has been in the American League since 2005, but he is still playing pro ball, so he sneaks onto this list. The 2003 Tigers lost 119 games but I think they would have lost only 115 had Gerut not been playing for the Indians that season. Gerut smacked 7 HR in only 69 at-bats against the Tigers that season.
9. Travis Buck: 35 AB, 1 HR, 8 RBI, .400/.476/.629, 186 OPS+ Like Gerut, Travis Buck has not had a great career, though he is still young. However, Buck has had no trouble against Tigers pitching. In 2007, Buck was 10-19 (.526) against the Tigers. Not bad. Hard to figure why he didn’t get more playing time against the Tigers this past weekend.
8. Mike Redmond: 83 AB, 1 HR, 14 RBI, .398/.444/.494, 164 OPS+ Mike Redmond is the Twins back up catcher and he sports a career batting average of .292 which is very good for a back up catcher. However, he hits over 100 points higher when he’s facing a pitcher wearing a Tigers uniform. It’s really annoying since the Twins other catcher is perrenial all-star, Joe Mauer.
7. Albert Pujols: 35 AB, 3 HR, 6 RBI, .543/.628/.857, 185 OPS+ It’s no secret that Albert Pujols is a talent individual. Pujols crushes most pitchers in baseball, but his .543 average against the Tigers is his highest against any team in baseball. Against former Tigers closer Todd Jones, Pujols went 6-7 (.857) with three home runs. This among many other reasons is why I’m glad Todd finally retired.
6. Joe Mauer: 255 AB, 7 HR, 43 RBI, .341/.439/.478, 112 OPS+ Mauer is a lot like Pujols is in that he is an all-star every season but steps his game up an extra notch when he faces the Tigers. He’s a .320 career hitter that hits 21 points higher against the Tigers. Last season, Mauer hit .424 against the Tigers.
5. Melvin Mora: 215 AB, 11 HR, 42 RBI, .335/.415/.563, 144 OPS+ Mora is a decent enough player. He’s made it to a couple of all-star games. However, against the Tigers he plays like an MVP. Last season, in only seven games against the Tigers, Mora hit 6 HR and drove in 17 runs. He also managed to hit for a .571 average. That series in Baltimore last season was one of the low points of the season. He is a .429 hitter in his career against Fernando Rodney
4. Jim Thome: 598 AB, 56 HR, 125 RBI, .291/.433/.634, 120 OPS+ Thome has been a fixture in the AL Central for the last 15 years and has done a lot of damage against the Tigers. He’s played the equivalent of a full season against Tigers pitching to help put those 56 HR, 125 RBI, and 142 walks into perspective. In 1996 he hits seven homers against the Tigers and hit .447. He has 6 HR in only 35 AB against Justin Verlander.
3. Luke Scott: 24 AB, 5 HR, 10 RBI, .542/.607/.1.333, 338 OPS+ This is only Scott’s second season in the AL, but what he did to Detroit last season puts him this high on the list of Tigers killers. His homer rate against the Tigers is one homer for every 4.8 at-bats. He reaches base in over 60% of his plate appearances and if he’s fortunate enough to get the bat on the ball, there’s a pretty good chances it’s going out of the yard.
2. Joe Crede: 305 AB, 24 HR, 70 RBI, .275/.338/.554, 135 OPS+ Crede is only a .256 career hitter and has a career OBP of only .305, but when he faces the Tigers he turns into an absolute monster. His career high for homers in a season is 30, but if he played a full season against the Tigers, he would probably hit 50. Among those home runs would be a ton of back-breakers and game winners. He has at least one homer against the Tigers in every season starting in 2002 when he two in only three at-bats.
1. Casey Blake: 332 AB, 22 HR, 51 RBI, .295/.390/.557, 140 OPS+ Blake is now hidden safely away in the NL West with the Dodgers. He boasts a higer average, OBP, and SLG against the Tigers than Crede. It seems like most of his bombs were of the game-winning kind. I remember a few years back I was at a Fourth of July Party and at least three of us predicted a Casey Blake HR to beat the Tigers. It happened and we were not surprised. From 2005-2007, Blake played in 48 games against Detroit and hit 17 HR, that’s just sick. He has six homers off of Nate Robertson. Ugh.
Honorable Mention: Greg Norton, Cristian Guzman, Carlos Quentin, Aaron Miles, Milton Bradley, Kevin Youkilis, Gregg Zaun, Billy Butler, Denard Span, Bobby Abreu, and Marlon Byrd
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Nice list! Is it bad that at points you hope that a Crede becomes a Tiger, so he can’t kill your pitching anymore?
Where is Karkovice? I think Thome should be #1.
I went with active guys only. It would have been way too much work to look at past players.
What about Brandon Lyon?
The guy just got here and he’s already a BIG Tiger Killer!
To bad he’s on our team!
Nice List ..Thanks! I am curious as to where David DeJesus ranks…He is always kills the Tigs!
I looked into DeJesus when making the list. He’s a .310 hitter against Detroit. So he’s been good, but not great. From 2005-2006 he hit .400 against the Tigers but he’s hitting .077 this year and hit only ..255 last season. Maybe the Tigers are finally figuring him out.
yes the 05-06 seasons still must play in my head… Thanks for looking into it Blake!
Gomez for the Twins has always made some plays against the Tigers the last couple years. I agree with Crede and Blake. Blake and Guitierez (sp) last year with the Indians always had career days.
Here’s Karko’s splits vs. the Tigers - far and away better than vs. any other team:
G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG.
Detroit Tigers 77 64 258 221 39 67 13 0 17 45 0 1 24 47 .303 .369 .593
You only picked Blake for the #1 spot because of his name!
Ahhh, you busted me.
Forget Blake, he’s no longer in the american league. And just a few minutes ago, Luke Scott hit a grand slam that I knew was coming. In fact, before that slam, I had called Crede the worst Tiger killer in baseball, but now, I am calling Luke Scott the worst Tiger killer of all-time, regardless of other players in years past being bigger devils. And it’s all thanks to the four-run moonshot in tonight’s game. Here’s who I think are the 10 worst Tiger killers:
10: Paul Konerko
9: Mike Sweeney
8: Jason Kubel
7: Casey Blake (now in NL)
6: David DeJesus
5: Justin Morneau
4: Joe Mauer
3: Jim Thome
2: Joe Crede
1: Luke Scott
I also feel sometimes that the teams these guys are on just acquire them to kill Tigers pitching. This is exactly why the Twins acquired Joe Crede, the Orioles acquired Luke Scott, The White Sox acquired Jim Thome, and the Indians acquired Casey Blake. With the exception of Scott, the others have all played in the AL central previously.