Most Tigers think Kinsler is team's best all-around athlete, but not all
DETROIT -- The Tigers have a lot of excellent baseball players, but which one of them is the best all-around athlete?
It's a question the players have debated themselves.
Some of the Tigers' best baseball players, Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez, weren't even mentioned by teammates in that particular conversation.
Rick Porcello, enjoying a career year with a 15-9 record and 3.10 ERA, weighed in with a split vote.
"I'd say it's a neck-and-neck tie between Rajai (Davis) and (Ian) Kinsler," Porcello said. "They're the most athletic."
Fellow starter Justin Verlander partially agreed with Porcello, as did reigning AL Cy Young winner Max Scherzer.
"I would say Kinsler. He's a good golfer," Verlander said.
"Kinsler probably gets my vote," Scherzer said. "Ping-pong, golf, you name it. Soccer, he can play it. He's your all-around athlete."
Versatile utility man Don Kelly also voted for Kinsler.
"You watch the way he plays," Kelly said. "He can run, he can hit, he can throw, he plays tremendous defense. Just the way he moves and goes after balls, I think he's very talented."
J.D. Martinez, who delivered the game-winning home run Tuesday night in Cleveland, said if Austin Jackson were still with the Tigers, that's who he'd choose. Since he's not...
"Maybe Raj," Martinez said. "Raj is very athletic, the way he runs the bases, stuff like that, it's like whoa! He's fast and he gets away with a lot because he's so fast. He's fun to watch."
Rookie Nick Castellanos couldn't confine himself to just one teammate.
"It's definitely not me. Maybe Kins," Castellanos said. "I would say Ian because I know he grew up a really good soccer player and stuff. Maybe Torii back in his heyday. Put Rajai in that discussion."
Castellanos then turned to Andrew Romine, sitting at the next locker.
"Romine, are you a good athlete? Just put Romine in there, I feel sorry for him."
When Romine was asked his opinion, Castellanos had to clarify if the question was for right now or in their prime.
"On the team right now I'd take Kins," Castellanos said, finally making a choice. "But I think the best athlete period in this locker room would be Torii (Hunter) in his heyday."
Romine agreed that Hunter deserved consideration.
"I'm going to go with Raj," Romine said. "I can picture him playing multiple sports and being good at it. Obviously having the speed he does helps a lot, for sure. I can see him playing football, I can see him playing basketball. He just looks like the type of guy that would be able to pick up a sport easy."
Joba Chamberlain didn't let the fact that Hunter is 39 get in the way of giving him a vote.
"Probably Torii," Chamberlain said. "I've seen him play baseball, I've seen him play basketball. I'm assuming he's pretty good at football because that's what he was better at than he was at baseball. So I'd probably have to go Torii."
Not surprisingly, left-hander Phil Coke gave his vote to a pitcher.
"Jackson's not here anymore. That'd be my first," Coke said. "I would say Rick Porcello. He's one of those guys, he can play basketball from stories I've heard. I've never watched him. I know he can play basketball. I'm pretty sure he can play football. Pretty sure that if he was pushed into it and had to, he could probably wrestle a little bit. Give him some basic techniques, he'd be all right. Obviously he can play baseball with the best of them. He's just one of those cats that you look at like, man. I don't know how I forgot about that, he's a good golfer, too. Pretty talented guy."
After first trying to vote for himself, Alex Avila went with the popular choice.
"On this team I'd probably say Kinsler," Avila said. "He reminds me a lot of (Brandon) Inge in that way. He's just good at a lot of things."
Avila wasn't the only one who mentioned Inge, the former Tiger.
"The best athlete I've ever played with is Brandon Inge, no doubt," Kelly said. "He was unbelievable at anything he did athleticism-wise. When you look around the clubhouse, there's a lot of good athletes. I just think that Kins stands out a little bit."
That's 5.5 votes for Kinsler, 2.5 for Davis and one each for Hunter and Porcello.
So what do those getting votes think?
"I think Kinsler could be all-around," Hunter said. "He can play every sport -- football, basketball, soccer. I think he'd be a good one. If Austin was here, (maybe him). I played everything. I can't say myself so I'm going to have to say Kinsler."
Davis liked Porcello's idea.
"I think Kinsler is right up there, right along with me," Davis said. "He's just athletic, smart, quick-thinking, able to think quick and make quick decisions. I think that translates well into other sports."
Davis made it clear that he was indeed an all-around athlete growing up.
"I played all the major ones -- football, basketball, baseball," Davis said. "I didn't play soccer. Football, basketball, baseball were the main sports I played. That took up the whole year. I loved playing basketball, basketball was my sport. All I wanted to do was shoot. I was a very good shooter, three-point specialist. But I realized as I got older, I wasn't getting any taller. These guys were still growing, getting taller. I just felt like this is a game for giants. Unless you have a really good dribble, which I didn't have and didn't work on it. Could have but I didn't work that hard at it. So I figured baseball was my thing, I could swing all the time and that's what I did."
Kinsler, who has impressed his teammates with his impeccable defense this season, sounded confident.
"I don't know who could compete with me," Kinsler said. "Torii's a pretty good athlete. He's getting older though. I don't know, I don't know what guys are capable of. I'm sure David Price is probably a pretty good athlete."
Like Davis and Hunter, Kinsler played multiple sports growing up.
"I like to play everything really," Kinsler said. "I'm not that good at tennis. It's kind of hard. I'm good at golf, I'm OK at basketball. Soccer, I played soccer when I was a kid. Never really played football so I don't really know. I played with kids on the playground growing up. I enjoy everything -- ping-pong, stuff like that."
While Kinsler won the majority of votes with Davis coming in second, catcher Bryan Holaday went in a different direction.
"Myself. Because I'm the best athlete," Holaday said. "I can play football, soccer, basketball, I can swim. What else is there? I can play badminton, I can play tennis, ping-pong, hockey. Really good at golf."
Holaday said he and Avila felt overlooked when the topic came up in the clubhouse.
"We were upset that nobody was saying us because I mean, how many guys on the team can catch?" Holaday said. "We can play any other position. We can pitch and play any other position but how many guys can catch? Think about it."
