The Detroit Tigers were eliminated from the 2025 MLB playoffs by the Seattle Mariners in the ALDS, but there were still a lot of positives to take away from the 2025 season.
Aside from the obvious return to the playoffs, a lot of the young Tigers players look solid, and a few other key players, like Spencer Torkleson and Dillon Dingler, took the next step to become stars in the Majors.
But Riley Greene, one of the mainstays of the lineup over the last few years, regressed from his 2024 All-Star season. While his .806 OPS was still good, his strikeout number jumped significantly, and could be a concern going forward.
As Marc Ryan of 97.1 The Ticket shared, following some recent comments from Tigers' GM Scott Harris during the Tigers' end-of-season press conference, Greene might have been indirectly called out by his general manager.
Tigers general manager subtly calls out Riley Greene for strikeout issues
"We need to make more contact as an organization. We need to move the ball in the big leagues more than we are." Harris said. "This has been a theme for the last two years, I think. There are a lot of players on our team right now who have some swings and misses in their games. But I think there are some things we can do to improve upon it."
Riley Greene: “Nobody cares about my 200+ strikeouts.”
— Marc Ryan (@MarcRyanOnAir) October 13, 2025
His boss, Scott Harris: “I care immensely about those strikeouts 😬.” #RepDetroit pic.twitter.com/qe3vJgPDi0
While Harris isn't calling out Greene, or any player for that matter, it's hard to ignore that Greene is the one who's likely to be the most affected by this change in mindset.
This season, the Tigers' two-time All-Star struck out 201 times, the most in the American League. What makes this number so concerning is that Greene had only 156 strikeouts in 2024, and his on-base percentage took a .45 point dip from a year ago.
He still has some great slugging ability, hitting a career high 36 home runs this season to go with 31 doubles, also a career high. He had 111 RBIs, also a career high by far, and finished with 155 hits and 84 runs scored that were, unsurprisingly, career highs.
Greene had the second most strikeouts of any hitter this season, with James Wood at 221 the only hitter who had more strikeouts than Greene. But Kyle Schwarber had 197, Eugenio Suarez had 196, Shohei Ohtani had 187, and Cal Raleigh had 188 strikeouts.
More: Tigers owner Chris Ilitch comments on a Tarik Skubal extension after Wild Card win
Players can still be incredible hitters even with a lot of strikeouts. But, compared to those other hitters, Greene is a bit of a way away in the power department, and he's also not getting on base as much as any of those players.
The Tigers outfielder has 46 walks, a dip below his 64 total from 2024, and is tied for 108th in the Majors this season, tied with Eugenio Suarez, but well behind the other sluggers around his strikeout total this season.
While Harris has good reason to want Greene to cut down on the strikeouts, he was still a top-40 hitter in baseball, with his .806 OPS ranking 40th in the Majors among qualified hitters this season.
Greene is a good player, and the Tigers are lucky to have him, but with Harris's comments, there could be some change coming for Greene in the 2026 season based on the Tigers' pursuit of contact.
While trading Greene wouldn't make much sense, the Tigers might focus on Greene cutting down his strikeouts to force higher rates of contact, even if it comes at the expense of Greene's power.
Harris is calling for more frequent contact from his players, and the player most likely to feel the brunt of this philosophy will be Greene, who had 201 strikeouts this season, the second most in all of Major League Baseball.
More Tigers News:
- Tigers make ridiculous MLB postseason history with wild card series win over Guardians
- Tigers' Tarik Skubal joins elite company with stellar outing, but not enough to beat Mariners
- Tigers-Mariners ending: Detroit's Zach McKinstry drives in winning run in 11th inning of ALDS Game 1
- Tigers owner shares interesting belief after Wild Card win over the Guardians