I am doing a series where I offer up three fantasy baseball thoughts for every MLB team. I’ll take a look at under-the-radar stats, playing time projections, projected roles, and off-season news to try and highlight the nuggets that might help you in your 2025 fantasy baseball drafts. We’ll do this thing in alphabetical order, and next up are three thoughts for the 2025 Detroit Tigers.
3 Fantasy Baseball Thoughts for the 2025 Detroit Tigers
Kerry Carpenter Has to Platoon, But Don’t Ignore Him
At first glance, Kerry Carpenter has a relatively easy path to 30 home runs. He’s projected to bat second for the Tigers and there is a lot to like about his power. However, rostering Carpenter does require some planning to truly maximize things.
If you look at the overall body of work, it seems obvious that Carpenter just needs to stay healthy and we are looking at a 30/85 player after pick 150. Last season, Carpenter needed 87 games to hit 18 home runs while driving 57. At that point, it becomes a simple exercise in math.
Upon closer inspection though, increasing Carpenter’s at-bat total isn’t just tied to his health. Detroit truly treated Carpenter as a platoon option last year. He had just 28 at-bats against southpaws last year, and Carpenter didn’t show that he was deserving of more. Carpenter hit just .107 with one home run and four RBI and that tracks with his career production.
On an overall basis, Carpenter hit .284 last year with an insane .303 ISO. Carpenter’s .587 SLG followed suit and his .570 xSLG was also in agreement. With that being said, his 16.9% barrel rate really shouldn’t be a surprise. Now only if Carpenter was at least serviceable against southpaws.
Riley Greene Will Be a 30/100 Player
Not to hedge at the start, but this will be contingent on a Riley Greene making it through 145 games. Of course that applies to most players, but at the least, this is a pace that Greene should maintain.
The former fifth overall pick will be playing just his age 24 season and Greene is truly coming into his own as Detroit’s cleanup hitter. Striking out about 25% of the time doesn’t seem to be an issue for the outfielder as he did boost his walk rate to 11% last year. Greene had a solid .262 batting average with his .348 OBP making him an asset in those leagues as well.
In 137 games last year, Greene hit 24 home runs with 74 RBI and 82 runs scored. As he finds his groove at the major league level, his ISO jumped to .217 from .159. Greene had an xSLG of .490 while posting a career-high 13.4% barrel rate. It was clear that Greene changed his approach at the plate as his average launch angle jumped from 6.6 to 12.2 degrees. The good news is that it didn’t have a negative impact on another part of Greene’s game as he looks to take the next step.
Detroit Has a Strong Top Two
Everyone knows about Tarik Skubal after his dominant 2024 season. The southpaw is in contention to be the first pitcher off draft boards and will likely be gone after the first round. My attention in Detroit’s rotation though comes about 250 picks later with Reese Olson.
Olson won just four games in 22 starts last season but that shouldn’t alter your thoughts on him. Between 112.1 innings in the regular season with Detroit and another five in Triple-A, it was actually a reduced workload from Olson’s 140.1 innings in 2023. The Tigers will ask more of Olson this year, and the good news is that he is in position to deliver on that.
Throughout his minor league career, Olson generally struck out more than a batter per inning, so his 8.09 mark last year doesn’t concern me too much. What catches more of my attention, is that Olson walked just 2.64 batters per nine innings while allowing only 0.56 home runs.
Olson’s 50.6% ground ball rate speaks to his approach which resulted in a 3.53 ERA on the season. His 3.17 FIP and 67.6% strand rate from a year ago also point to some upside. With a 5.5% barrel rate against, opposing hitters didn’t hit Olson well last season and his 8.9-degree average launch angle against is a great sign for limiting the damage.
For more of the great fantasy baseball rankings and analysis you’ve come to expect from FantraxHQ, check out our full 2025 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit! We’re here for you all the way up until Opening Day and then on into your championship run.
