Thomas Up, Kelly Down
July 8th, 2009 Posted in 2009 Season, Clete Thomas, Dane Sardinha, Don KellyClete Thomas was sent down to the minors in June to workout a few kinks in his swing. Leyland instructed Thomas to shorten his swing to cut down on strikeouts. In 114 at bats he had 25 strikeouts and was hitting .237 with 4HR 17RBI and 1 stolen base. While in Toledo Thomas hit .357 in his past 21 games for the Mud Hens after making adjustments to get his bat head through the zone quicker. Manager Jim Leyland said Thomas will start against the Royals on Wednesday, most likely in left field where he’ll platoon with Ryan Raburn.
Props to Kurt at MackAvenueTigers.com he has been pushing for this Thomas move for awhile now. I think we all agree that its the right move as Kelly had cooled down and was hitting a Dane Sardinha like line of .250/.308/.354 in 48 at-bats with the Tigers. Wow sadly that’s still over 100 points higher than Not so Great Dane. Seriously though glad to see Clete back in Detroit, looking forward to watching him play tonight.
One Response to “Thomas Up, Kelly Down”
By Tigers1957 on Jul 10, 2009
Clete is a good player. Probably the best arm in the outfield now. Definate left handed power hitter and can hit for average. I think the time in AAA only makes him better. Glad to see him back. Kelly just wasnt getting the job done.