Or actually, being effective on offense when you're not hitting. See, it seems the Tigers didn't have trouble hitting the ball last year. Scoring runs was a different story. A team that was fourth in batting average (.272) finished 11th in runs.

So, some would argue, hitting isn't necessariliy a predictor of offensive success, since hits don't necessarily correlate to runs. Sticking with the numbers, the Tigers were 12th in on-base percentage, partially because they were last in the league in walks.

But new manager Jim Leyland is more concerned about capitalizing on whatever scoring opportunities you can get.

Freep: Time to square up hitting:

"There is a difference between an out and a productive out," Leyland said. "There are situations where you need to make a productive out." ...

"That's the only time on offense when you can really feel like you're a team player," [Brandon] Inge said. "You're making an out and sacrificing your stats for the good of the team. That shows me you're a team player, you don't care about stats, and all you care about is winning."

The end of the story mentions the defensive wisdom the coaches can impart: 15 Gold Glove seasons between instructor Al Kaline and new outfield coach Andy VanSlyke and infield coach Rafael Belliard's 10 total errors over his final six seasons. (My math could be wrong, but that's like 1 miscue every 14 weeks or so.)

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