LAKELAND, Fla. -- Austin Jackson's game has been picked apart, critiqued piece-by-piece and second-guessed for nearly three months since he became a Tiger. Starting Tuesday, the Tigers and their fans can actually judge him by the way he plays.
Of all the Tigers looking forward to Spring Training games -- and honestly, after more than a week of working out on the back fields, all of them are looking forward to it -- Jackson might have the best reason. He has a chance to reinforce some believers, make some new ones and change some minds among those who have prejudged him.
More important to him, he has a chance to put into practice some of what he has already learned in camp.
"You want to get in and start the games," Jackson said, "let them know early that I'm here to help the team however I can. You can practice so much, but until you get out there in game speed, it's totally different. I'm really eager, I think everybody is at this point, to get out there and start the season."
Jackson will be the first Tigers batter to step to the plate this spring when he leads off against Florida Southern College in the bottom of the first inning of their exhibition game Tuesday at 1:05 p.m. ET. He gets the first crack at the leadoff spot that opened up when Detroit traded Curtis Granderson to the Yankees in December.
Jackson came to Detroit in that trade. The Yankees' former center fielder of the future has a good opportunity to become the Tigers' center fielder of the present. Team officials believe he can play center in spacious Comerica Park, and they believe he has a chance to hit.
Starting Tuesday, Jackson can turn potential into reality. In the process, he can hammer home the point that he isn't just the guy staked with the challenge of replacing Granderson. He's his own player, with a chance to be a pretty good one at that.
Manager Jim Leyland isn't promising the leadoff spot to him, or even the starting center-field job, but he makes no secret that he wants Jackson to win it. If he isn't a prototypical leadoff hitter at this stage in his career, he's pretty close, close enough that longtime Major League leadoff man Johnny Damon will be hitting behind Jackson in the second spot in the order.
"I think it would be advantageous for us," Leyland said, "if he can handle that spot."
Jackson has no Major League at-bats to indicate whether he can. He spent a full season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last year, but batted second or third for most of the year. So Spring Training is going to play a big part in his evaluation, and the Tigers' decisions off that.
Jackson has spent much of the last two weeks working out on his own with a program designed to help him with his quickness. The program is designed to get him a better first step in the outfield when he breaks on fly balls. He also has been working with hitting coach Lloyd McClendon on his mechanics at the plate.
The main focus, Jackson said, has been on how he sets up at the plate, getting him in a better position to hit.
"I have a tendency to kind of lean over sometimes," Jackson said. "Once I go to swing, my bat angle is kind of at an angle. When I stand tall, my bat is more flat [swinging] through the zone. It's just things like that, [McClendon] kind of reminding me of the basics sometimes. I tend to get away from that sometimes, and start worrying about something else. And really, it's something at the start that's kind of messed up. I'll be worried about my hand path, but if I'm already set up wrong, my path is going to be off every time."
Jackson has had several days of live batting practice to try out the tweaks, and his latest sessions have been encouraging. Still, live BP doesn't test it nearly the same as actual pitching.
Seeing Florida Southern College pitchers is the start. Though it's an exhibition, the Mocs have been known to give the Tigers a competitive game on several occasions. They're ranked atop the NCAA Division II polls with a 13-1 record entering Monday.
Tuesday's lineup follows Jackson with Johnny Damon, Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera in the cleanup spot, then Carlos Guillen, according to Leyland. Either Don Kelly or Kory Casto will start at third base and bat sixth, followed by Scott Sizemore, Gerald Laird and Adam Everett. Many of Detroit's veteran hitters are expected to bat only once or twice before the reserves enter.
Left-hander Phil Coke is scheduled to start for the Tigers and pitch two innings, followed by two innings each from Eddie Bonine and Enrique Gonzalez. Joel Zumaya, Fu-Te Ni and Cody Satterwhite are all scheduled to pitch an inning.
Once Jackson steps to the plate Wednesday against Blue Jays left-hander Ricky Romero in Dunedin, Fla., at 1:05 p.m. ET, the Major League portion of the Tigers' Spring Training schedule will be under way. And Jackson's learning process will take another step.
It won't just be about making adjustments at the plate. It'll be about adjusting to the leadoff role and understanding what it entails.
In Jackson's case, it entails a balancing act unlike any he has encountered.
"You have to be patient," Jackson said, "but at the same time you have to be aggressive too. You're not up there to necessarily just draw a walk, but you have to patient up there. In the past, I've jumped on a lot of first pitches because I didn't want to let a cookie get away. But at the same time, hitting No. 1, you have to be able to relay messages back to your teammates, let them know the movement, the velocity, things like that."
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