It feels like forever ago.
Remember minor-league minicamp in February, when more than 60 players not covered by the MLB lockout gathered in Lakeland, Florida? Detroit Tigers outfield coordinator Arnie Beyeler conducted a presentation about defense — specifically, pre-pitch preparation. Manager A.J. Hinch and pitching coach Chris Fetter were the only MLB coaches in camp, but they were observers rather than instructors. After the presentation, top prospect Riley Greene — with hopes of being the Tigers’ Opening Day center fielder — asked Hinch if he met the requirements.
“You should know whether you do it or not,” Hinch responded.
Pre-pitch preparation is crucial to being a successful defender, and it’s something the Tigers didn’t teach until Hinch joined the organization. Infielders and outfielders must be ready to react and move in all directions. To do so, the Tigers instruct players to hop, landing on the balls of their feet in an athletic position, as the ball crosses the plate.
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“We looked, and he didn’t do it,” Hinch said. “When (bench coach George Lombard) got to camp, they immediately went in on it. He’s willing to try anything to get better, and that’s very refreshing. … It says to me that Riley’s built the right way to find small margins in the game that can make a good player great or make a great player elite. It keeps runs off the board, but it tells me more about the character.”
Greene wasn’t supposed be a center fielder. But looking at their 2022 roster construction, the Tigers — after watching reps in Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo — realized that was where he fit. Greene has always been more athletic than the industry has given him credit for; coming out of high school, and early on in the minor leagues, many evaluators viewed him as a corner outfielder in the big leagues.
A teenage Greene visited Comerica Park in June 2019, two weeks after graduating high school and less than a week after the Tigers drafted him with the No. 5 overall pick. He expressed his desire to command center field with authority.
Three years later, he is doing just that.
“He’ll get mad if I say he’s not a fast enough runner to play center field, or he’s not built the same way that some guys are,” Hinch said. “He makes all the plays, which is the most important skillset to have out there. We’ll see where his career takes him. It’s taken a toll on him at 21 years old, but I think you learn not to doubt.”
‘Locked in for the full nine innings’
Seven months have passed since Beyeler’s presentation in minicamp. On Tuesday night, Greene had a perfect jump — thanks to his pre-pitch preparation — on a fly ball to the deepest part of Comerica Park: right-center field. Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, a two-time All-Star, had hammered Andrew Chafin’s pitch 383 feet to the gap.
The catch probability: 55%.
“If you don’t have a good pre-pitch, you’re not going to get a good jump off the ball,” Greene said. “Maybe some guys can do it without having a good pre-pitch, but for me, I need to get a good pre-pitch to get my first explosive 6 feet out of that 10-foot circle that we always talk about.”
Greene, starting in center, covered 107 feet of grass. (His career-high for distance traveled to record an out, by the way, is 110 feet.) The ball had a hang time of 5.5 seconds. He leaped head-first, caught the ball and slid into the warning track in front of the out-of-town scoreboard. He lost his hat but held onto the ball, robbing Bregman of extra bases and recording the first out of the seventh inning.
It was one of Greene’s best catches in his 74 games in the majors, receiving a three-star rating from MLB’s Statcast. Greene has two five-star catches to his name, with the best grab of his career — a 20% catch probability — taking place Aug. 1 at Target Field. His Superman-style catch in right-center field robbed Gio Urshela.
“George has all the film,” Greene said. “He shows me almost every day. He tells me, ‘Hey, you took this pitch off,’ or, ‘Hey, you didn’t take any pitches off.’ My goal is not to take any pitches off. My goal is to do my pre-pitch and stay locked in for the full nine innings.”
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Injuries are a concern for all players, especially those who spend their days diving in the outfield with Greene’s caliber of aggressiveness. But Greene doesn’t play recklessly. He always has intent and appears in full control of his actions. For those reasons, the Tigers refuse to ask him to pump the breaks.
Greene wouldn’t have it any other way.
“That’s how he’s built,” Hinch said. “That’s certainly how I’m built.”
The metrics grade Greene as an average center fielder. His “first step” reaction (as measured by Statcast) is well above average, as he covers 1.7 feet in the first 1.5 seconds on plays with a 90% catch probability or lower. That’s the product of his pre-pitch preparation, ranking ninth among the 100 big-league outfielders that qualify for the leader board. His “burst” — the next 1.5 seconds — ranks 29th at 0.5 feet. Greene knows he isn’t the fastest player, but he thinks he can be the quickest.
“We didn’t see him a ton in center until this spring,” Hinch said. “I’m frustrated that we didn’t try it the year before. Maybe it was just the competition that was going on, but I’d always put him on the corner. The more he played that year in the minor leagues, the more we started to see it.”
The first 6 feet
Greene has been praised for several epic catches since his MLB debut on June 18, all thanks to his willingness to learn from Lombard — one of the best outfield instructors in baseball — and fellow coach Gary Jones in spring training.
Before this spring, Greene didn’t know anything about pre-pitch preparation. He quickly learned the first 6 feet are the most important part of the play, even though the last 6 feet always get the most attention.
“That’s the most important part of it, the jump and being ready for whenever that ball is hit,” Greene said. “I just try to lock in the whole game and never take a pitch off. I try to be ready every time.”
His first few spring training games weren’t easy. It was a mental grind to keep pre-pitch activities at the forefront of his mind. Defensive positioning was the first step in his development. Off the field, he became an intense student of scouting reports. On the field, positioning cards detailed where he was supposed to set up for each batter. After a couple games, Greene started to get comfortable checking these boxes while in center field.
“It just comes natural to me now,” Greene said. “I just do it without even thinking about it now.”
PitchCom, the electric pitch-calling system, is used during games by the pitcher, catcher, middle infielders and center fielder. This took Greene’s preparation to a new level. Since he knows every pitch the pitcher is throwing, he can help conduct outfield positioning and predict where the ball will travel.
“These guys are all good hitters,” Greene said. “They’re all going to hit that outside pitch the other way, and they’re going to pull the slider or curveball or whatever. It’s kind of like a cheat code. It helps me get a better jump.”
Offensively, Greene is producing as expected, despite a minor slump in August. He is batting .257 with five home runs, 27 walks and 98 strikeouts in 74 games. He enters the Tigers’ weekend series against the Chicago White Sox with a 20-game on-base streak, the longest active streak in the majors. Dating to Aug. 20, he has a .969 OPS and 181 wRC+ to accompany a .360 batting average and seven extra-base hits.
His defense, though, shows his true colors.
“I just love that he’s not afraid,” Hinch said. “You can’t play this game careful in advance. It’s easier to play it big and play it into a single or a double. He’s fearless. That’s not taught. That is inside his stomach and in his heart. I think it’s why we’re scratching the surface on what he can really be. He’s off to a good start.”
And Hinch believes Greene, a vocal leader in the outfield, will grow into one of the more influential personalities on future teams.
“If our team takes on the personality of Riley Greene eventually,” Hinch said, “and he becomes more of a central figure of how we operate on a day-to-day and how we interact and what our standards are, I’ll be perfectly happy.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.
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