Jackson Key to Tigers Lineup

Austin Jackson enters the 2012 Major League Baseball campaign with a career .271 average, 14 home runs and 86 RBIs. His sophomore season last year was forgettable as Austin only hit a mere .249 with 10 home runs, but also recorded 181 strikeouts.
With the offseason addition of Prince Fielder, the expectations for the Detroit Tigers is to hit many home runs throughout the season. The Tigers feel that the offense will be electric with names like Fielder, Miguel Cabrera, Delmon Young, Brennan Boesch and Alex Avila. However, the lack of speed in the lineup erases the old-school style of play by bunting to move the runners up into scoring position, stealing the bases and just manufacturing runs.
In a season consisting of 162 games, there are going to be days where the "big guns" do not produce the hits that drive in runs, so a absence of a manufacturing type game may hurt the Tigers in that situation.
That's where Austin Jackson comes into play.  Jackson defensively is arguably the best centerfielder in the league because of his blazing speed and ability to judge a flyball in the air.  His offensive game needs to improve because of that speed and him being a "tablesetter" for the big bats in the lineup. Jackson hit .293 and had an on-base percentage of .345 his rookie season where he narrowly lost in the rookie-of-the-year voting to Texas Rangers then closer Neftali Feliz.  His numbers then fell to the numbers listed above.

Austin Jackson is looking for a rebound year when the Tigers need him most

For the Tigers to truly be successful as an offensive team, Austin Jackson must reach numbers mirroring his rookie season and even improve on those numbers to get on base more often so the rest of the team can string hits together and score more runs.With Jackson on base, that can turn a potential Miguel Cabrera solo home run into at least a two-run homer, giving the Tigers a better chance to win more games.
Luckily through the first nine games of the season, Jackson has been hitting like he has been up to that challenge, hitting .412 by going 13-for-30 and also has an on-base-percentage of .528. An entire season won't bring a .400 average out of professional baseball players, but Jackson is showing good signs of becoming an elite leadoff hitter, an elite table setter. If he maintains his hitting and keeps the confidence he has had in his at-bats, the Tigers will be successful offensively as all predicted they would be for the 2012 season.