Baseball

Lucky and Good

Promising first baseman Chris Shelton got a few breaks, but he looked like The Natural in the Tigers' hot start

Although Detroit is abuzz over Tigers first baseman Chris Shelton, the city can't seem to settle on a nickname for its new sensation. "I've heard just about everything, from Red Bull to Red Pop to Big Red," says Shelton, a 25-year-old redhead. "One radio talk show in Detroit did a poll, but the results were all over the place. Me, I'm fine with anything."

But all of Motown can agree on this: Shelton is red hot. Last week the 6-foot, 215-pound righthanded hitter became the third player in history to hit five home runs in his first four games of the season ( Lou Brock and Barry Bonds are the others) and the first player in 22 years to notch three hits in each of his first three games. Shelton's heroics powered the Tigers, who were 5-1 through Sunday, to their best start in 21 years.

Even Shelton is shocked by his slugging--"I don't consider myself a home run hitter at all," he says--though Detroit has believed since making him a Rule 5 pick in December 2003 that he had untapped long ball potential. ( Shelton had a career-high 26 homers last year in Triple A and the majors combined.) A good contact hitter who succeeded in the minors by driving the ball to the opposite field, Shelton had a sit-down last August with then Tigers bench coach Kirk Gibson, who urged him to concentrate on pulling the ball. Shelton began doing so late last season and continued this spring; four of his five home runs last week were to leftfield.

Shelton's shaky defense--he also struggled at catcher and in the outfield in the minors--was the main reason that the Pirates, who made him a 33rd-round draft pick in 2001, didn't include him on their 40-man roster three years ago, which allowed Detroit to pick him up for $50,000.

After splitting time with Carlos Pe�a at first base last season, batting .299 with 18 homers in 388 big league at bats, Shelton spent the winter in his native Salt Lake City, trained with the baseball team at Utah, his alma mater, and focused on improving his defense, taking hundreds of ground balls. The Tigers saw significant improvement in Shelton's glovework during spring training, at which he put in extra work with infield coach Rafael Belliard, and cut Pe�a, who hit 27 homers in 2004 but batted .235 last year.

Shelton's hitting feats in the opening week of this season overshadowed Detroit's impressive all-around performance. The Tigers became the first team in history to hit 15 home runs in its first three games; the pitching staff had a league-leading 2.89 ERA through six games; and the defense had yet to commit an error--the franchise's longest such streak at the start of the season in 12 years.

"They're not this good--they're virtually the same team [that lost 91 games last year]," says an AL executive, "but what they've shown is that if they get breakout seasons from guys like Shelton and big years from [23-year-old righthanded starters] Jeremy Bonderman and Justin Verlander, they could absolutely surprise people."

In explaining his team's start, new manager Jim Leyland says, "I think you can use the word lucky--but I don't think it's totally luck." Shelton, however, is the first to admit that luck has played a role. Last Saturday against the Rangers, he flicked a low-and-away fastball from Kevin Millwood into rightfield, where the ball landed inches inside the foul line. Shelton, who entered the game with three career triples, cruised into third base with his second of the game. He stood on the bag with a huge smile, a bit incredulous over his week.

"Everything is a bit surreal," he says. "I know things won't keep falling my way and the team's way exactly like this--but I do feel like we have a good season ahead of us."