Houston — Where have you gone, Matty V?
Matt Vierling, such an integral part of the Tigers’ run in 2024 and, by his absence, a big part of the team’s slide last September, suddenly finds himself without a regular role.
“Just keep on going,” said Vierling, who has started five of the 13 games in June. “Just having the perspective of, like, it’s been a month or two but it’s not the whole season. I’ve been down and out before — and I wouldn’t say this is down and out. I feel I’ve been a lot better than the numbers show.”
A couple of things have conspired against Vierling, in terms of the size of his role. When Parker Meadows and Javier Báez were lost to injury, Vierling was getting regular playing time in center field.
According to the metrics, that didn’t go well. He posted a minus-7 defensive runs saved. That pushed the Tigers to claim James Outman off waivers. Against right-handed pitchers, Outman has been getting the bulk of the starts.
Vierling has been used more as a right-handed-hitting platoon player in the outfield.
“Right now, in the last two series, the reason he hasn’t started a ton has been the right-handed starters we’ve faced,” manager AJ Hinch said. “And we acquired Outman to play center.”
The other factor, whether it’s a cause and effect from the sporadic playing time or not, is Vierling’s bat has been quiet. He’s 4-for-25 this month and he’s slashing .203/.264/.339 with a .603 OPS on the season. Most of those would be career lows.
“For Matty, he gets caught in between being super aggressive and super patient,” Hinch said. “He knows the strike zone. He knows how to conduct his at-bats and he’s handled lefties really well. And that’s the role, when we are at full strength, that he will fit in best.”
The Tigers haven’t been at full strength all season and over his career, Vierling has handled right-handed pitching adequately, slugging 31 of his 39 homers and producing 117 of his 173 RBIs against righties.
“It’s just getting in a groove, I would say,” Vierling said. “I want to put together multiple games with multiple hits. I haven’t done that a whole lot. It’s been a little different but that’s baseball. In all honesty, I feel like I’ve hit the ball hard a lot. Not using that as an excuse, but I’ve had some pretty good at-bats where I hit it hard without anything to show for it.
“I feel like I’m having good at-bats for the most part.”
He is. Like Tuesday night in the eighth inning when he pinch-hit for Outman after Hao-Yu Lee doubled off lefty Bryan King. Vierling did his job, hitting a ground ball to the right side to advance Lee, setting up a sacrifice fly by Dillon Dingler that put the Tigers up 2-1.
Vierling is striking out a low 15.7% and his walk rate is up to 8.1%. But the hits haven’t come. And part of that is because he’s had trouble timing up the four-seam fastball. He’s hitting .125 with a .167 slugging percentage against velocity fastballs.
“I don’t know why that is but I’ve definitely noticed that,” he said. “I’ve talked about it with the hitting staff and we’ve been working on that. From a mentality standpoint, just committing to that and going for it.”
Vierling struggled with velocity when he first broke into the big leagues in 2021 but he quickly made the adjustment.
“I worked on it and I got better at it,” he said. “Maybe it’s one of those things. I have to do what I’m doing now, just putting in the work and getting back to it.”
The sporadic at-bats certainly don’t help.
“Playing time, confidence, regular at-bats, that can be part of it but it’s just excuses,” he said. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to put in the work and make the adjustment.”
Hard work has always been Vierling’s calling card. Recently, he’s begun doing early infield drills with coach Joey Cora and taking ground balls at third base and first base.
“AJ didn’t tell me or anything, I’m doing it on my own,” he said.
On Saturday in Cleveland, a game Vierling started in center, Hinch had emptied his bench and there was a point when he nearly had to move Vierling to third base, even though he hadn’t played there since last season.
Vierling dusted off the infielder’s glove the next day.
“I want to keep that in the bag after playing all those games there in center field,” Vierling said. “I started working on infield again and making it an option.”
It’s happened every year he’s been a Tiger. At some point, Vierling is going to be an answer to facilitate an in-game move in the infield.
“That’s still an option,” Hinch said. “And with Gleyber (Torres) being down, it makes it even more important that he’s able to do that. It would not be something I’m pushing out there right away. But the way things have gone, we need to cover our bases.”
The playing time is going to increase for Vierling, maybe as soon as this weekend against a White Sox team that features six left-handed pitchers.
“He’s going to get plenty of playing time,” Hinch said. “Trying not to make up for lost time is going to be key for him. Just put up good at-bats, hit the ball hard and let the results be what they are.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Matt Vierling fighting to regain his rhythm and role with Tigers
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chris McCosky, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
