| Detroit Free Press
Detroit Tigers’ Riley Greene homers in instructional league game
Detroit Tigers prospect Riley Greene homers during an instructional league game in Lakeland, Florida, on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020.
LAKELAND, Fla. — Riley Greene, the Detroit Tigers‘ 2019 first-round draft pick, walked through the first-base dugout on Wednesday morning in Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium, clapping his hands.
“Let’s go!” he screamed.
On the other side of the field, Spencer Torkelson, the Tigers’ 2020 first-round draft pick, clapped his hands in the third-base dugout and did a chest bump with Bryant Packard, a left fielder/first baseman.
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Team Greene played Team Torkelson in Game 2 of the Tigers World Series — a three-game series to end the instructional league. Both Greene and Torkelson were named captains and drafted the teams. And if there was any question about their standing in the Tigers organization, that’s probably all you need to know.
Team Torkelson won Game 1 of the Tigers World Series on Tuesday, 2-1.
And now, they were getting ready for Game 2. Greene was fired up. He took his role as team captain seriously. Granted, it was only an intrasquad game in an empty stadium.
But Greene showed something important on Wednesday.
Thirty-seven days after turning 20, it’s obvious that Greene is growing into a leader.
‘Tiger Kings are out!’
The sky was bright blue, the temperature in the mid-70s and not a cloud in the sky.
So, basically heaven.
I sat in the front row, about 15 feet from Team Greene’s dugout — close enough to hear everything. And Greene didn’t stop chirping, talking trash at Team Torkelson and constantly encouraging his teammates.
When the umpire called a questionable strike against catcher Eliezer Alfonzo, Greene started talking trash at Gary Cathcart, the manager of Team Torkelson.
“Cat is paying him!” Greene screamed.
In the top of the second, Wenceel Perez singled to right field, driving in Carlos Irigoyen. Greene was on deck and he ran to home plate, jumping up and down, celebrating with his teammates.
[ What Torkelson showed in Tigers instructional league game ]
This might have been the last week of instructional league — in a year when they played just six games against teams from other organizations because of COVID-19 — but they were taking this seriously.
Then Greene stepped in the batter’s box and he did something that looked familiar. He crushed a home run into a strong wind over the right-field fence and his teammates started screaming.
The ball landed in the bullpen and Greene lifted his hand into the air.
“Let’s go!” somebody screamed, as Greene went on a home-run trot. “Let’s go!”
There was screaming and clapping and whistling. When he reached the dugout, Trei Cruz, a 2020 draft pick, opened his jersey, revealing a “Tiger Kings” T-shirt he wore underneath.
“Tiger Kings are out!” he screamed.
A natural leader
Greene’s attitude was infectious. Team Greene’s dugout was loud and energetic.
“Hey, Cat, what’s the score?” Cruz screamed to the other dugout.
Silence.
Team Greene was holding a 3-0 lead but Greene wasn’t satisfied.
“Come on, let’s go!” Greene screamed, walking through the dugout. “Energy!”
Gage Workman was on deck, getting ready to bat and Greene gave him some last-minute advice. “Hey, Work, take it that way,” Greene said, pointing to the left side of the field.
When Parker Meadows came up, Greene screamed: “Come on, Park!”
Before Irigoyen batted, Greene sat on the edge of dugout and gave him advice: “Iri, be patient.”
Irigoyen grounded to Torkelson at third base, and Torkelson made it look routine, fielding the ball with ease and making a perfect throw — one of two solid plays he made.
Then, Greene came up and he pounded a double to left center — it’s like he was born hitting the ball and has never stopped.
“Greene — attaboy!” somebody screamed.
If I walked away with one strong impression from Wednesday, it was how comfortable Greene looked.
He has a natural shyness about him until he gets to know you, and then he opens up. And it’s clear that he is comfortable with this group of players, comfortable with his role in the Tigers organization and comfortable as a leader.
His confidence is unmistakable.
But there is something else: it’s clear that he is an unrelenting desire to win.
All of those things bode well for the future for this organization.
After Team Greene celebrated a 3-0 win, setting up the championship game on Saturday, everybody started celebrating.
“Saturday!” somebody screamed on the mound. “Saturday!”
In one sense, this was a nothing game featuring 18-to-24-year-old prospects. But in the bigger picture, we learned something important.
We knew Greene can hit the ball. We knew he can play defense. But now, he was showing something else — vocal leadership and a fiery desire to win. This wasn’t false leadership. It seemed organic and natural.
Don’t get me wrong. Greene is not ready to jump to Comerica Park and lead a team with a future Hall of Famer like Miguel Cabrera. Of course not. That will only happen in time.
But in this place, with this group of position players, Greene’s status is crystal clear: He is an alpha dog in the Tigers’ rebuild.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel/.