Tigers rookie outfielder Brennan Boesch continues to struggle at the plate completing a 10 game home stand with seven hits and a .212 average. His season average remains steady at .283 but is way down from the .345 that he was batting during the first half of the season. So what to do with Brennan Boesch? Do you send him down to Triple A Toledo to work things out? It seemed to help with Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello who both eventually found their way back up after spending some time with the Tigers’ Independent League affiliate. However, according to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press, Tigers’ Manager Jim Leyland wants to keep Boesch up with the team and have him work things out here.
“I’ve decided that I think it’s best for the organization right now to stay with it, because I think he’s one of the futures,” Leyland said. “I see his pace is a little bit better right now. I think he’s relaxing a little bit more.
“I don’t want to tear the kid up, and I don’t want to hurt him in any shape or form, but I think he can handle it.”
“For now, we’ve decided to let him grind it out,” Leyland said. “I kind of want to see him grind it out. I really like him a lot. I really do.
“I think he’s going to be a major league, productive hitter. I think right now we’re going to let him grind it out. I don’t know what the best solution is to be totally honest with you.”
The Tigers are well into the second half of the season and at this point if the team were to send Boesch down he probably would remain down there for the remainder of the year. At this point I would like Boesch to remain up with the team and have him work things out here as well. Not to mention it is important for the Tigers to evaluate Boesch at this level to determine whether or not they are going to have to spend the money on a corner outfielder for next season. However I do agree with Leyland in thinking that Boesch does still have the potential to be a very productive player with this team.