Detroit Tigers' Riley Greene tops MLB in this key stat: 'Walks are freaking awesome'

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Just four MLB players this season have recorded at least 15 walks and registered at least an .800 OPS with roughly 15% of the 162-game schedule in the books.

Three of the four aren't terribly surprising: Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts, New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto and Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker. That trio has 12 All-Star selections, and each player has won the World Series.

The other member of the foursome? Detroit Tigers outfielder Riley Greene, whose 20.4% walk rate leads MLB and drives his .811 OPS. Greene has 20 walks in all, tied with Betts for the most in baseball and ahead of Soto's 19.

"It's been a lot of nibbling and trying to get me to chase," said Greene, now in his third season in the big leagues. "The more that I don't chase, the more that they'll come back in the zone and hopefully try to challenge me. I'm just taking my walks. Walks are freaking awesome. I love walks."

Greene, who has been in the leadoff spot for two weeks, didn't draw a walk in Monday's 7-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, but he did so twice — and scored three runs — in Sunday's 6-1 win against the Minnesota Twins, marking his 19th and 20th walks.

Greene has produced the most walks by a Tiger over the first 23 games of a season since Mickey Tettleton, a two-time All-Star, and Tony Phillips each had 21 in 1993, more than three decades ago.

But Greene walked just 35 times in 99 games last season.

"Walks are a byproduct of a good approach," manager A.J. Hinch said. "They're not something you go into a game looking for. You certainly can't create it at this level because the pitcher has something to do with it. But your approach is pretty sound when you're doing both, damage and walking. The more disciplined he's going to be, the better he's going to be. In general, he's going to get more pitches to hit."

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For three years, Hinch has instructed Greene — who has All-Star and MVP potential — to get a good pitch to hit, a mantra that's basically the only thing they ever talk about from an offensive standpoint. The words "get a good pitch to hit" have been burned into Greene's brain.

It has evolved into the foundation of Greene's approach at the plate.

"The walks, for me, I'm being selective and trying to get a good pitch to hit," Greene said. "That's what A.J. has preached to me for the longest time now, which is a real thing. If you get a good pitch to hit, you're going to hit the ball hard 95% of the time."

Greene is swinging at 38.7% of pitches this season, well below last season, when he swung at 46.8% of pitches. Part of that is because he isn't getting as many pitches inside the strike zone, from 48.7% last season to 45.8% this season. But he also isn't chasing as many pitches outside of the strike zone, from 26.5% last season to 21.9% this season.

Essentially, Greene is swinging less and chasing less while pitches aren't throwing him as many pitches in the strike zone.

That's how he's working his walks.

"I think it's a product of me sticking to my approach and sticking to the process that I'm trying to have in the box," Greene said. "It starts in the (batting) cage. I'm very process-oriented with the way I hit and the way I work. If I can trust it, then good things will come. I'm just trusting the process, as cliché as that always is."

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Controlling the strike zone, even with more pitches thrown outside of it, is an encouraging sign for Greene's immediate future.

He has struggled with changeups away in the past.

Pitchers are throwing him more changeups than ever before.

"Heater in, changeup away," Greene said. "It's almost automatic now. Until I can prove that I can lay off the changeup away, they're going to keep throwing it. And I feel like I've been doing a good job recently of laying off the changeup away."

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Pitchers will target new ways to attack Greene — possibly inside the strike zone — if he continues to avoid swinging at pitches outside of the zone. Until that happens, Greene is focused on swinging at in-zone mistakes as a result of sticking to his "get a good pitch to hit" approach.

After 23 games, Greene — who leads the Tigers and ranks ninth in MLB with 18 runs scored — is hitting .231 with three home runs, 20 walks and 25 strikeouts across 98 plate appearances.

Check back in at this time next month.

"He's already a dangerous hitter," Hinch said. "The more he controls the strike zone, the more impactful he's going to become. It's not something I want him center-focused on, except for getting a good pitch to hit. If he doesn't get it, take it. If he takes four before three, then he gets on base a different way."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Riley Greene walking his way to a spark for Detroit Tigers' offense