Tigers Stuck Between A Rock And A Hard Place With Shane Greene
By Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
"What comes first," Brad Ausmus asked, referring to the recent struggles of Shane Greene, "the chicken or the egg?"
In an effort to help Greene get back on track, the Tigers have moved him down the bullpen ladder and used him in lower-leverage situations. But Greene, a reliever who typically fares better in high-leverage situations, has only struggled further.
This is a dilemma for Ausmus and the Tigers, who must decide if Greene's issues are a product of his arm or a product of his environment.
"The stuff is there, the strikes aren't there right now. We need strikes from him," Ausmus said. "He warms up fine but when he gets in the game he has trouble putting the ball where he wants."
Greene has issued six walks in his last five innings pitched. Things took a turn for the worse on Tuesday night when Greene, brought into a blowout to get some work, couldn't pitch his way through a full inning. He yielded a hit and two walks and recorded just two outs before Ausmus lifted him from the game.
"That didn't work out so well," the manager said on Wednesday.
Asked if Greene's downturn could be related to the right finger blister that bothered him last year, Ausmus replied, "I don't think so, because he warms up fine."
It may be that in an effort to make life easier for Greene, the Tigers are actually making it harder. Since making the full-time switch to the bullpen early last season, Greene has performed better and looked more comfortable in high-stakes situations.
"There are guys like that," Ausmus said, "and he may be that guy."
Consider Greene's 2016 splits in high-leverage, medium-leverage and low-leverage situations, via baseball-reference.com.
High-leverage: .241 BAA/.625 OPS
Medium-leverage: .236 BAA/.635 OPS
Low-leverage: .284/.761 OPS
And then there's this: in late-and-close situations in 2016, Greene held hitters to a .230 average and a .587 OPS. But in situations where one team was ahead by five runs or more, he surrendered a .333 batting average and an .873 OPS.
Call it high-leverage, call it pressure-packed, call it late-and-close. Whatever the terminology, it was clear in Greene's first season as a reliever that he was better fit for the big moment.
"But he struggled a little bit in those situations this year," Ausmus said, "so we tried to put him in lower-leverage situations so he could reel himself back in. And that hasn't worked perfectly either."
To push Greene back up the bullpen ladder, the Tigers need to see him rediscover his touch. But to rediscover his touch, Greene may need to be pushed back up the ladder.
So: chicken or egg?
"My gut says he'll get past it and get on a roll again," Ausmus said.