Toronto – Day after day this spring, Tigers outfield coach Dave Clark and roving outfield coordinator Gene Roof would line up the outfielders – either on one of the back fields or the stadium field – and hit balls in front of them.
“Get to the ball!” Clark would yell. “Get to the ball!”
There was a heavy emphasis on charging base hits hard to discourage runners from taking the extra base as much as possible. Opposing base runners had a 58-percent success rate going first to third on base hits to the outfield against Tigers outfielders last season.