Detroit Tigers’ Ramon Santiago gets another chance to avoid struggles on the plate – MLB News
According to a leading sports website, Detroit Tigers’ Manager Jim Leyland believes Ramon Santiago should play winter baseball this offseason to fine tune his swing. The infielder was re-signed by the Tigers for two years last offseason.
However, he was unable to live up to expectations and posted his worst season with the Tigers. In 93 games played, Santiago hit just .206 with 2 home-runs and 17 RBI’s. His .555 OPS was also among the worst in the American League Central Division.
"If he's smart, he would," he said.
"I think that he was a perfect case of a guy that doesn't play all the time," Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland said in an interview. "That's getting a little older, that didn't play winter ball for the first time, and I think he paid a price for it."
"I don't think Santiago's been himself all year," Leyland further added. "I don't think it was one half or two halves. I don't think he's been himself all year."
Santiago has a decent .245 career average and he hit .260 with five home-runs and 30 RBI’s in 2011. The source claimed that the infielder will be taking part in the winter workouts to get back into form. Some Tigers’ fans are convinced he played well enough
at times to deserve another shot as a second baseman this season.
In 2012 Spring Training, he competed at second base with Ryan Raburn and Brandon Inge.
Inge, who has problems with Leyland, joined the Oakland Athletics in first half of 2012 regular season. His absence will surely give Santiago an excellent opportunity to cement his place on Tigers’ big league roster.
Santiago hit .230 with 17 RBI’s in 195 at-bats prior to the All Star Break in 2012. However, he wasted a large number of opportunities in second half of the season, hitting just .130 in 54 at-bats. He did not drive in a single run after June 25.
It will be interesting to see if Santiago can learn from his mistakes to turn things around in the next season as he has some work to do in order to regain some lost form.
Tags: