Granderson just keeps swinging - 15 game streak!

06/27/2008 10:55 PM ET
Granderson just keeps swinging
Center fielder's hitting streak coincides with team's resurgence
By Scott McNeish / MLB.com

DETROIT -- Basketball players get out of slumps by continuing to shoot. According to Curtis Granderson, the best way to escape a hitting slump is to keep swinging.

The Tigers' star center fielder has employed that tactic recently. No drastic adjustments. No change in approach. Maintaining the same swing that made him a premier leadoff man last season, he has hit his way out of a month-long slump.

Not to mention, he's riding a career-high 15-game hitting streak.

"It's like in basketball: You got to just keep shooting your way out of it," Granderson said Friday afternoon. "In baseball, you got to hit your way out."

Granderson has hit .443 (27-for-61) during his streak, with four doubles, three triples, seven RBIs and 12 runs. His batting average has jumped 54 points to .294, thanks in part his second straight four-hit game on Friday. More importantly, however, his production has given the team a boost. He has jumpstarted the offense and helped the Tigers become one of the hottest teams in the Major Leagues.

Detroit's record during Granderson's hitting streak: 12-3.

"He's our catalyst," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "When he's hot, we're pretty good."

Granderson didn't sizzle much in May, when he hit .226, including an 0-for-6 in one game. His average dropped to .235, and his on-base percentage nearly dipped below .300. His strikeout problems resurfaced, as he struck out 26 times in 106 at-bats. Worse yet, he couldn't explain why it happened.

Again, Granderson, a former basketball player and devoted University of Kansas men's hoops fan, likened the situation to basketball.

"You step on the court [and] you have your basketball shirt, your shorts, your shoes tied up. Then you play, and no matter who I'm playing against, you can't stop me," Granderson said. "The next day we come out, we got the same teams coming out, everything's the same, and I can't hit a shot. That's what happens in baseball.

"You pick up your bat, and you say, 'Is this my bat? It doesn't feel right; my timing is off; I can't see right; I'm not picking up the spin good.' But everything is the same. You get to the ballpark at the same time, you do your batting practice, and next thing you know, you just can't get a hit for three weeks.

"I was sitting there watching film trying to find something wrong," Granderson continued, "and everything was the exact same. So I think, 'Why am I not getting it done?'"

But he kept the same approach and the same swing. Then, without warning, everything clicked. The hits piled up. A spike in confidence followed.

"Something happens and you say, 'There's my bat. It feels good again.' And nothing's changed," Granderson said. "You either feel it or you don't. They guys that are the best can find a way to continually feel it."

He's certainly feeling it right now.

Granderson extended his career-high streak with an impressive 4-for-5 effort Friday against the Rockies, his second four-hit game of the season.

He's not concerned with the streak or jinxing it. He'll talk about it. Teammates tell him not to, but that became difficult when text messages and calls about it flooded his cell phone. But whether the streak continues or not, he wants to remain focused on the game at hand.

And keep on swinging.

Scott McNeish is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.