Look, I’m not here to tell Detroit fans who they should or shouldn’t like. Everyone is entitled to their opinion of a player, but I do think people are kind of quick to give up on Colt Keith, and the reasons why I stay in the video. He clearly had the Yips in the early part of last season, and I really think that soured Tiger fans on him. That’s an unfortunate situation. It’s got to be a vulnerable position for any player to be in, but I can’t imagine it’s what should define his tenure as a Detroit Tiger. He’s got a lot of good baseball left in them. I said him a video, the guy is only 24 years old. He’s going to grow, and he’s going to get better.
One thing that I forgot to say in the video is that I truly don’t care what Colt Keith’s personality is. This is not exclusive to Colt; I really don’t care what any Detroit athlete's personality is like. I think in an ideal world, we’d all want Detroit to be represented by athletes that we can relate to, guys we feel like share the passion that we share as fans. I mentioned Tarik Skubal in the video as a prime example of that. But what matters to me more than anything is production. I want a guy who performs. I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but Detroit has had some athletes in the past who have put up monster numbers, and I’ll be honest with you, they probably weren’t the best people. At the end of the day, nobody really cares.
We remember the moments on the field, and maybe that’s the issue with Keith. There’s nothing particularly wrong with him as a player; it just feels like he gets lost in the shuffle. The numbers are fine, but it’s a lot of empty calories. I understand this cause I feel very similarly about Riley Greene. The difference is that even in a year in which Riley was objectively awful down the stretch, he still put up pretty gaudy offensive numbers. I think Keith can be an outstanding player, but I have serious doubts he’ll ever hit 30+ home runs in a season like Riley.
I hate to preach patience with a fan base that I think has been remarkably patient already, but this is an instance where I feel like the organization hasn’t necessarily put Colt Keith in the best position to succeed. They have to give them a position for next season and keep them there. I don’t need him to be Nolan Arenado at third base. I just need him to be OK and put up good offensive numbers. He’s still a very young player, so I think that he’s more than capable of being a tremendous hitter in this league.