No fear of youth

When you think of an older manager or coach in one of the four major sports, you may think of Jim Leyland. You may also think of an 'old guard' thought process. Why let young players, unproven players, even *gulp* rookies, when you can just let the older guys play. Proven guys who may be passed their prime.

Leyland has bypassed this hat the last two seasons. Last year, Ricky Porcello and Ryan Perry both made the team out of Spring Training. Both were twenty years old. What were you doing at twenty? Porcello had a great rookie campaign, earning the second spot in the rotation (damn good for a rookie) and Perry did decent enough. Being in the bullpen doesn't always bode well development unless you have some serious talent and veteran leadership to talk to while waiting for the call from the dugout. So, Leyland's strategy of going with youth paid off last year.

And this year...his moves were a little more scrutinized. The main reason is because the organization moved two well loved and important pieces in previous years in Curtis Granderson and Placido Polanco. I was a little skeptical myself just because these two players were at the top of the batting order, so how do you replace them? With two rookies?! Are you kidding me! After the first month of the season, I am quite happy to eat some crow. Austin Jackson (replacing Granderson) has shown speed on the bases and out in the expansive field of Comerica Park. He hits in front of Johnny Damon, and that helps because Damon is an excellent number two hitter. The number two hitter doesn't always need to hit home runs, his job (in most people's opinion) is to move the base runner ahead of him. Polanco did that greatly in his time with the Tigs, and Damon has been doing it just as well.

So, that just leaves Polanco's absence in the field. How do you replace consecutive Gold Gloves? With a rookie?! Are you kidding me! Scott Sizemore has been a little bit slower to develop at the plate, but has shown why he is playing. He is a product of the Tigers organization, which is wonderful. He made his way up through the organizations, starting all the way down at Single A West Michigan. He hit his first home run of his pro career last night, and hopefully there are more to come. In the field, through close to twenty games, he has four errors. Not the greatest, but come on, he's twenty five years old.

The last rookie to play this year is Brennan Boesch. He was called up because of injury to Carlos 'no knees' Guillen. This better be a passing of the torch because Boesch is showing signs of power. His first career home run was a grand slam. When Guillen comes back, Boesch will head back to the farm in Toledo, which is okay, he will just be back when the Tigers make the playoffs....







You heard me.