An interesting component of this winter’s complicated three-team trade between Arizona, New York, and Detroit, was the embedded center-fielder swap done by the Tigers and Yankees. As part of the trade, Curtis Granderson went to New York, while the Yankees sent minor league prospect Austin Jackson to Detroit.
Yankee Angst Alert: Austin Jackson Off To Scorching Start
↵At the moment, Granderson is hitting .225, and is on the 15-day DL, while Jackson is one of the hottest players in baseball. Jackson, who has been installed as the Tiger’s starting CF and lead-off man, is currently hitting .367/.420/495 (BA/OBP/SLG). Jackson, only 23 years old, has been incredibly hot as of late, hitting .487/.524/.641 in his last nine games, a stretch in which the Tigers have gone 7-2 and played themselves into the AL Central race.
↵Jackson has been a singles machine, and he currently leads the American League with 40 hits. He also leads the AL in strikeouts with 34. Jackson is striking out 28.6% of the time, a figure usually seen with pure take and rake sluggers like Adam Dunn. There is some irony here, given that the Tigers, and manager Jim Leyland, had grown tired of Granderson in part because he was seen as a leadoff man who struck out too much.
↵It makes for a strange offense profile, and Jackson’s high strikeout rate is part of why the ZIPs projection system hates him for the rest of the 2010 season. Even factoring in Jackson’s hot start, ZIPs sees Jackson hitting .262/.313/.359 the rest of the way, a line that would represent a drag on the Tiger lineup, especially at the leadoff spot. For the time being however, he’s been terrific, and the Tigers have benefited greatly from an always-on-base Jackson hitting just ahead of Miguel Cabrera.
↵Even if Jackson slumps from here on out, non-Yankee fans can be thankful that Jackson’s fluky start didn’t come in Yankee pinstripes. There are only so many “he reminds us of a young Jeter” and “he’s keeping the clubhouse loose with his energy” stories one can take.
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