2026 Team Previews: Detroit Tigers
A detailed fantasy baseball oriented team preview of the 2026 Detroit Tigers
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Podcast
I’ll cover the Tigers in a multi-team podcast coming up! Check the podcast feed here to get all of the audio versions of these bad boys.
Intro
The Tigers got a super hot start last year and had the most wins in the league for a good while. But they really tanked late and lost the division in the final weekend, blowing a 15.5-game lead. That was wild stuff. And now they’re almost surely heading into their final year with Tarik Skubal. It’s been a long time since the Tigers have had a really strong roster, and the long-term prospects look pretty rough on the pitching side right now. And that was their whole strength last year. So I’m not super optimistic about them. If they aren’t competing in July, you’ll likely see Skubal be the big name to move at the deadline.
There were some changes made to the park last year, and it played much more hitter-friendly.
The HR/Brl% was actually above the league average last year, and that was after this park had come to be known as one of the toughest parks for homers. So it’s a neutral park at this point, we think.
They have a solid young core of bats, but no superstars other than Skubal, and not a lot of SP depth behind the big man.
But who is going to step up and win this AL Central? It hasn’t been an impressive division in recent years, and this year looks particularly lame. But it should be a fun race, I guess! Let’s get into these fantasy-relevant Tigers players.
Hitters
Riley Greene
Age: 25
Pos: OF
In some ways, the Tigers were a two-man show in 2025. Tarik Skubal won the Cy Young on the pitching side, and Riley Greene hit 36 bombs on the offensive side. He was their best hitter without much doubt. Only Torkelson and Carpenter joined him above a .770 OPS, and Carpenter didn’t even make it to 500 PAs.
Greene’s growth has been steady. He has brought up the SLG every year, and piled on a dozen more homers to his total from 2024.
It did come with more strikeouts and fewer walks, so his OPS was actually worse in 2025 than in 2024. And I guess that’s a bad thing in real life, but you certainly like the 36 homers for fantasy leagues.
It wasn’t hard to see an eventual 35+ homer season coming from the guy. He hits the ball super hard. His EV90 last year ended at 107.8 with a max of 115.1. All he needed to do was lift the ball more, and lift the ball more he did!
So he’s gone 57% → 49% → 44% → 41% in the ground ball rate, and that has lifted the barrel rate up multiple points in each year of his growth stage. That’s great to see, and it makes you wonder if he can’t reach a 19% Brl% in 2026.
I’d bet against that. I think a 17% Brl% is about as good as you’ll get from him. That’s a very high mark. Only 11 hitters were above 17% last year:
That’s a great list to be on, but the strikeout rate and lack of steals are keeping Greene away from having the same fantasy impact as some of the other names on that list.
What you get with Greene is a good bet for 30+ homers and a bunch of RBI (although the Tigers have been struggling to field good hitters in front of him, which brings the RBI opportunities down), but with a low batting average and a handful of steals at best.
The .246 xBA shows that he might have over-performed a bit with the .260 mark he gave you last year. But I do think he can drop that K% down a couple of points back to where he’s normally been in his career.
The upside is 40 homers with 100+ RBI and a .265 batting average. The downside is more like 30 homers with 85 RBI and a .240 batting average.
He’s a solid piece to add to a fantasy team that needs a power-hitting outfielder in rounds 5-6. He’s a great addition to a draft that starts with a high average, lower HR guy or two (Carroll, Vlad, Chourio?).
File it in the “not exhilarating, but solid” category.
Projection
582 PA, 75 R, 26 HR, 86 RBI, 4 SB, .246/.313/.460
Ranking
Spencer Torkelson
Age: 26
Pos: 1B
Torkelson gave some people the warm-and-fuzzies in 2025 with a massive bounce-back season. He played 155 games and jacked 31 bombs with a .240 batting average. This was after a 2024 season where he was sent back to the minors.
So his career has been a yo-yo:
Two very strong power seasons with a dud in between.
The profile is similar to Greene’s. Probably not a good batting average and he’s never been a base stealer, so you’re really hoping for HR and RBI coming from the big man.
A 26% K% with a 82.4% Zone-Contact% gives him some floor. He’s not a guy likely to go on massive cold streaks. He’s patient at the plate and makes good swing decisions.
The one criticism, maybe, is the lack of elite EV. His max last year was 110.5, and the EV90 was under 105.
But he makes up for that with his air pulls. He was third-best in baseball in that category last year.
He showed all-fields power as well:
So I think you can take 25+ bombs to the bank with Torkelson, health provided.
There’s not much upside beyond that, though. Maybe he can knock the K% down a couple of points and hit .270 or something like that, but for a standard roto league, you’re not feeling all that great about it. 20+ homers with a .260 batting average and no steals isn’t all that hard to find on waivers.
I should probably go back and file all players into one of three categories before draft season truly gets going:
Green: Priority Targets
Yellow: Will draft if the team context / price is right
Red: Avoid at most/all costs
Most guys would go in the yellow, and that’s certainly where Torkelson would end up for me.
Projection
577 PA, 66 R, 23 HR, 71 RBI, 4 SB, .224/.310/.411
Ranking
Dillon Dingler
Age: 27
Pos: C
Dingler took over the starting catcher role for Detroit last season with an injury to Jake Rogers, and he did not give it back. He played 126 gams ans had a nice season with the bat.
He posted an .803 OPS in his minor league career with a homer every 25 PAs, so we knew he had some potential with the bat. And that played out in 2025.
Drafters aren’t overly excited about him, though, making him the #18 catcher off the board on average this year. He made just three starts as the DH last year, so he’s not a guy who can play 130+ games. He’ll be on the bench on the days they give him a day off behind the plate. That knocks him down a couple of tiers right away, but once you’re into the group of catchers who don’t play another position, Dingler would seem to be right there with the better options.
A .299 xBA with a .360 xwOBA and a 9.2% Brl%. Not many other catchers are doing that sort of thing. His EV90 was 105.4, which is enough. The 19% Air Pull% is pretty high up there, and the 85.5% Zone Contact% is impressive to boot.
I’m not sure what the hesitation is. He’s behind guys like Kirk, Moreno, Teel, Alvarez, and Jensen at the catcher position. I guess the worry is that he’ll split time with Jake Rogers more than those guys split with their backup. So let’s explore that closer. Rogers came off the IL on May 20th. From then on:
Dingler: 84 starts, 58 vs. RHP, 26 vs. LHP
Rogers: 32 starts, 27 vs. RHP, 5 vs. LHP
So he’s two-thirds against righties and 84% against lefties. And he started all eight playoff games. He’s clearly the guy. So I think you have some nice value on Dingler this year.
I don’t think I’ll have him in my top 12 (which is about how many catchers should be drafted in a 12-team standard league), but he’s on the fringe.
Projection
329 PA, 39 R, 11 HR, 40 RBI, 2 SB, .258/.306/.422
Ranking
Kerry Carpenter
Age: 28
Pos: OF
This dude now has a .507 career SLG with an elite home run rate, but he just can’t get enough reps to enter true fantasy baseball greatness. He played just 130 games and turned in only 460 PAs. He missed 3+ weeks with a hamstring injury, but he’s been a guy they’ve benched/subbed out against lefties for his career.
The career splits:
vs. RHP: .278/.330/.536, 138 wRC+
vs. LHP: .207/.270/.335, 69 wRC+
I suppose they’re justified in doing it. But you do start to wonder if he could improve if they would let him try. It’s tough to project the guy for more than 450 PAs. His career marks in three full seasons have been 459, 296, and 464.
The walk rate tumbled last year to 3.9%, so the OBP landed at a very poor .291. You probably don’t want this guy in weekly lineup lock leagues where OBP matters.
But he’ll continue to be a nice value in deeper leagues where you have bench flexibility and daily roster changes. The career .828 OPS and 193 homers in 1,332 PAs prove that out.
Projection
430 PA, 58 R, 21 HR, 63 RBI, 2 ,SB. 256/.310/.482
Ranking
Gleyber Torres
Age: 29
Pos: 2B
Torres returns to the Tigers after accepting a one-year qualifying offer. That’s typically bad news for the organization, but in this case, I don’t think the Tigers will be too upset about paying him the $22 million for another year of his services. It was a nice season in the Motor City for Gleyber, putting up a .745 OPS with 16 homers and a high .358 OBP.
That came after a disappointing 2024 season in his final year with the Yankees.
The guy has never been a fantasy stud, but he’s a good real-life player. We’ve seen some moments from him. His 25-13-.273 season in 2023 was pretty awesome. But with just 31 bombs and eight steals with a .257 batting average since then, he’s been a guy you’re not pumped to start in fantasy leagues.
He’s pretty vanilla across the board.
→ 16% K%
→ 13.5% BB%
→ 8.2% Brl%
→ .277 xBA
→ .372 xwOBA
→ 104.5 EV90
→ 13% Air Pull%
→ 38% GB%
The plate discipline marks were fantastic last year, with that K% and BB% gap being just 2.5 points. As I constantly say, the best way to rack up the walks is to just not swing. And he did not swing much last year:
A 41% Swing% is about six points below the league average. The zone swing rate is only three points below the league average, so he is good at knowing what to swing at. My Swing Decision metric is simply what percentage of your swings come on pitches in the zone. The league average there is 71%, so he’s well above average in that regard. In fact, he was seventh-best in the game:
So the guy is solid for points leagues and OBP leagues. But when you’re looking for HR + SB contributions, he is not great.
The park does him no favors; it’s tough to rack up homers in Detroit. So he’s going around these very boring veteran names:
But at least he’ll be in the lineup! Torres is a durability king with more than 1,900 PAs in the last three years.
Projection
637 PA, 78 R, 17 HR, 66 RBI, 6 SB, .256/.346/.405
Ranking
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