A booming start: Shelton swings a powerful bat for Tigers

DETROIT -- Chris Shelton is hotter than his hair color.

Plucked off baseball's scrap heap a couple of years ago, Detroit's redheaded first baseman is now more than a curiosity or cute, opening-week story.

Instead, Shelton is proving he has staying power with nine home runs through 13 games.

"This past week has been a little tougher to enjoy the success I'm having because we're not winning," Shelton said.

The Tigers won their first five games, the last AL team to lose a game, then dropped six of their next eight.

Heading into Tuesday night's game at Oakland, Shelton was among baseball's leaders with a .471 batting average, 17 RBIs, 24 hits, including five doubles and three triples -- an impressive total for the 6-foot, 215-pounder.

"He's a real good young hitter who has the potential to be an outstanding old hitter," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "He's the real deal.

"He'll have times when he struggles, but right now, he's hitting pretty much everything."

Shelton has been batting sixth in Detroit's lineup, and Leyland said he would be a "blooming idiot" to move him. Leyland also said he isn't thinking about resting him soon.

"He's a young fella," Leyland said.

Shelton turns 26 in June, giving Detroit hope it might finally have a player to count on in the years to come.

The Tigers have made countless moves that haven't worked out while going 12 straight seasons without a winning record. But they found a gem off the scrap heap on Dec. 15, 2003, when the Pittsburgh Pirates left Shelton unprotected at the winter meetings in the Rule 5 draft.

"Our scouts thought he could hit at a big league level because he swung a good bat and had a good command of the strike zone," Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski said Monday night. "We weren't sure where he was going to play defensively, but we liked his makeup as a hard worker and we put him at first base on the first day that we had.

"He's really worked hard defensively, and he's become very solid."

Shelton, who had six errors last year, did not commit an error in his first 13 games this season.

No room in Pittsburgh

The Pirates said they didn't have Shelton on their 40-man roster when Detroit selected him -- for $50,000 -- because they were hoping to pick up solid, veteran free agents as they had in the past.

"I wasn't surprised. I was more disappointed that they only protected 37 guys on their roster," said Shelton, picked by Pittsburgh in the 33rd round in the June 2001 draft. "All of my success is predicated on everybody telling me I can't do this or that. It's given me a chip on my shoulder to prove people wrong."

Pittsburgh general manager Dave Littlefield, leading a franchise that has struggled for more than a decade, has become testy when questioned about his decision to leave Shelton unprotected.

"As much as you hate to have players selected, it made the most sense for us," Littlefield said.

To keep Shelton from going back to Pittsburgh, the Tigers had to keep him on the major league roster in 2004.

Shelton hit just .196 in 27 games two years ago, then showed glimpses of his potential last year after starting the season at Triple-A Toledo. He was called up May 31 and hit .368 from June 14-July 1 and had a 15-game hitting streak later in July before finishing with a .299 average, 18 homers and 59 RBIs.

Shelton is a career .332 hitter in the minors with 48 home runs in 1,186 at-bats.

Even if Shelton can't come close to keeping up his staggering pace, he will be one of the best bargains in professional sports. The Tigers have an $82.3 million payroll, ranking 14th in baseball, and will pay him $365,000.

"We're all very excited for Big Red," Detroit outfielder Craig Monroe said. "We all just hope he can stay focused and keep it up."