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David Price Is The Ace Detroit Tigers Desperately Need Right Now

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Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

On Thursday afternoon, the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros kicked off a four-game set. The Tigers won the first contest of the series in extra innings on a heroic home run off the bat of catcher James McCann, but David Price‘s stellar outing was certainly a big part of the victory as well.

Although he hit a bit of a snag in the seventh, Price still went a solid 6.2 innings, allowing only five hits, two earned runs, and one walk while recording a season-high 12 strikeouts. While he received a no-decision and his record remained the same at 3-1, his ERA and WHIP fell from 3.40 and 1.25 to 3.32 and 1.21 respectively.

With so many uncertainties in the Tigers’ rotation, it is obviously a good thing that they acquired Price at the non-waiver trade deadline last summer. Over the offseason, many Tigers fans raised concerns about the starting staff after the trade of Rick Porcello and departure of Max Scherzer, and some of their fears have now been realized.

Although Tigers starters currently rank sixth in the AL with a decent enough 4.05 ERA, that doesn’t necessarily tell the entire story. To put it simply, it is tough to imagine where the Tigers would be without Price.

Perhaps one of the most troubling issues is the fact that 2013 AL ERA champion Anibal Sanchez has been so inconsistent. While he has certainly resembled his former self at times, he has also been hit around quite a bit this year, and he is currently sporting a 3-5 record to go along with a 5.60 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. Furthermore, Shane Greene is also having an up-and-down year, sandwiching three extremely rough outings in between six great ones.

The 34-year-old Alfredo Simon has been quite solid, but it will be interesting to see what he is able to give the team going forward. After all, he did have a rather rough second half with the Cincinnati Reds last year. Plus, Justin Verlander has still yet to make his 2015 debut, although it should be noted that Kyle Lobstein has been doing some pretty nice work filling in for the most part.

While Price is certainly having a good year, most are still convinced that he isn’t exactly having a great year either. However, if one were to erase the only truly rough outing he had, which came against the New York Yankees back on Apr. 22 when he allowed eight earned runs over 2.1 innings of work, Price would have a 2.20 ERA in eight starts this year.

Obviously, the Tigers still need their other starters to be more consistent and hopefully Verlander can rediscover some of his past dominance upon his return, but the Tigers are in terrific shape with Price at the front end of their rotation. He is the ace that they desperately need right now.

Brad Faber is a Senior Writer and Sabermetrics Columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Brad_Faber, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on LinkedIn or Google. 

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