DETROIT -- Tigers catcher Alex Avila batted .228 with seven homers last season. Now, he's a force.
Avila went 2-for-3 with a three-run homer, a double and three runs scored in Detroit's 8-4 victory over the Twins on Friday. The 24-year-old All-Star is now batting .303 with a .394 OBP, .527 SLG, 18 homers and 72 RBI.
"I think anybody who's seen him in the last year or so would say he's really come into his own," said Kevin Slowey, who threw a second-inning fastball that Avila hit over the left-field wall for an opposite-field home run. "He has a great approach at the plate, knows what he's doing, fouls off some good pitches here and there. I think he fits in good in that lineup with the other good hitters."
Avila is a good catcher, too. He's thrown out 32 percent of his opposing base stealers this year. Perhaps most impressively, Avila has now started 31 consecutive games -- all at catcher.
"Solid-as-a-rock guy," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He wants to play. He's out there every day, and he's got a big bat in the middle of it. That's a big pick-em-up for them. I don't know that they expected that much offense from him, and it looks to me like he's getting better and better."
