Coming into the 2018 season, Jeimer Candelario was considered one of the cornerstone players of the rebuilding Tigers. He hit .330/.406/.468 for the Tigers last year in 106 plate appearances with a 137 wRC+, after the deadline trade that sent Alex Avila and Justin Wilson to the Chicago Cubs. His high on-base percentage and walk rate (9.2 percent) had the analytics department convince new manager Ron Gardenhire to bat him second in the lineup, a position that’s reserved for one of the better hitting players on the team.
For the first two months of the season, all was going well for Candelario.