It’s mid-September, which means it’s playoff time at Double-A. The lights shine brighter, the pressure is on and every swing means more -- which makes what Luke Shliger accomplished on Tuesday night all the more impressive.
The Tigers prospect swatted not one but two grand slams in the same game, leading Double-A Erie to an 18-6 victory over Richmond at UPMC Park in Game 1 of the Eastern League semifinals. The first came in the bottom of the first off righty Miguel Mendez (SF No. 16), a picturesque moonshot to right field before he took southpaw Esmerlin Vinicio to nearly the same spot in the sixth.
Just how rare is what Shliger accomplished? Since 2005, it had never been done during a Minor League playoff game. In that same span, 15 batters have accomplished it during the regular season, most recently when Charlie Condon did so for Albuquerque just nine days ago. At the big league level, only two hitters have notched the mark this century (Josh Willingham the latest in 2009) and there have been just 13 instances in AL/NL history.
It marks Shliger’s second two-homer game as a pro -- and it comes exactly one week after he did it for the first time. A sixth-round pick in the 2023 Draft by the Giants, Shliger entered the night with 900 Minor League plate appearances under his belt, only two of which had resulted in a grand slam. But you know what they say about the playoffs bringing out the best.
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While never to this magnitude, Shliger has been on the playoff stage before, albeit as a member of the Giants organization. He appeared with Single-A San Jose in 2023 before returning with High-A Eugene in ‘25 where he homered in his first outing.
It’s been an unlikely route to this stage for Shliger, who was released by San Francisco in early May. Just three days later, he signed a Minor League deal to join the Tigers and has since ping-ponged around their system wherever an extra backstop has been needed, moving from High-A West Michigan to Triple-A Toledo back to West Michigan and now finally settling in with Erie, with whom he homered in his club debut on Aug. 12.
Through it all, the 5-foot-7 backstop posted a .900 OPS during the regular season. But nothing will top Tuesday as he quite literally slammed his way into the Minor League record books.