36-year old lefty swinging Johnny Damon will bat 2nd and play left field for the Tigers in 2010. Damon played in 143 games for the Tigers last season and he was 155 of 550 (.282 avg, .854 OPS) with 107 runs scored, 24 homers, 82 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. It will be interesting to see if Damon’s power from last season holds up in Detroit as the new Yankee Stadium favored lefty hitters. Regardless of the power, Damon should give the Tigers a nice season in 2010 as he has shown no signs of slowing down. Damon made 5 errors in 132 games in LF for the Yankees last season while showing slightly below average range. But, he did have six assists out of LF as his arm is a little bit stronger than he gets credit for.

28-year old righty swinging Ryan Raburn will be Damon’s backup in 2010. He played in 70 games in LF for the Tigers last season and he made 5 errors while showing outstanding range. Raburn has a very strong arm as he had 9 assists while playing LF in 2009.

24-year old righty swinging Wilkin Ramirez will likely start the year in AAA but he might get a chance at some point for the Tigers in 2010. Ramirez played in 15 games for the Tigers last season and he was 4 of 11 (.364 avg, 1.203 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 1 homer and 3 RBIs. He also played in 113 games in AAA-ball last season in which he was 112 of 434 (.258 avg, .771 OPS) with 69 runs scored, 17 homers, 51 RBIs and 33 stolen bases. Ramirez played in 3 error-free games in LF last season for the Tigers while showing above average range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE LF IN 2010: B