Moya cracks two solo dingers for Mud Hens
Tigers No. 1 prospect homers for the third consecutive game; notches his 6th blast in 8 games
This weekend could have been Steven Moya's chance to get back to the bigs. Instead, he's been showing off his power with Triple-A Toledo.
When Tigers star Miguel Cabrera was placed on the disabled list with a left calf strain Saturday, it opened up a spot on the team's Major League roster. But the Tigers opted to leave their No. 1 prospect (No. 84 overall) in Ohio and instead called up third baseman Jefry Marte for his Major League debut.
Monday, Moya went 2-for-4 and hit two solo home runs in a 3-2 win over Indians No. 5 prospect Tyler Naquin (2-for-4, solo homer) and Columbus. Moya now has homered in three straights games for the Mud Hens and has six home runs in 8 games.
"I just wanted to get back to where I was hitting last year, just trying to get it back," Moya told MiLB.com after the victory. "I was going through a lot of changes in my mechanics early this year, but at some point, I decided it was time to get back to last year. Letting God do the work, trusting that it would work out again and having fun out there. I wanted to trust everything that had worked before."
The Tigers could've called up their top prospect for his second big league stint this weekend when Cabrera wound up on the DL.
The decision to allow Moya to get more at-bats at the Triple-A level appears to be paying off.
"Things are going really good right now," Moya told MiLB.com. "I'm just enjoying the game. That's pretty much all I want right now. I'm not trying to think too much about anything else."
The 6-foot-7 outfielder led Double-A Erie and the rest of the Eastern League with 35 homers last season and boasts a .432 slugging percentage to go with 12 homers and 46 RBIs with Toledo this season.