{"id":261370,"date":"2026-08-08T01:45:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/261370\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:45:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:45:47","slug":"peyton-grahams-big-year-at-double-a-erie-has-been-a-blend-of-bat-glove-and-base-stealing-bliss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/261370\/","title":{"rendered":"Peyton Graham’s big year at Double-A Erie has been a blend of bat, glove, and base-stealing bliss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Peyton Graham\u2019s smoothness at that quarterback-like position of importance \u2014 shortstop \u2014 captivated Tigers scouts in 2022. (Photo by Terri Nummer)<\/p>\n

Even as Kevin McGonigle shows more gloss at shortstop than most thought likely during a cover-boy rookie year, the Tigers appreciate help at an infield\u2019s most sacred spot.<\/p>\n

They might have it percolating at Double-A Erie.<\/p>\n

Peyton Graham\u2019s season has been something of an 87-game marvel: .296 batting average, blow-away good .411 on-base average, .420 slugging and .831 OPS, all with a cherry on top: 54 stolen bases, which is best in the Eastern League, and four ahead of Graham\u2019s Erie fellow thief, Seth Stephenson.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more for the Tigers front office, not to mention manager AJ Hinch, to like about Graham:<\/p>\n

He can play second base as niftily as short. He also \u2014 hi, AJ \u2014 can play center field or left.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the versatility,\u201d his manager, Tony Cappuccilli, said during a Friday phone conversation as the SeaWolves prepped for an evening game against Altoona at UPMC Park. \u201cI can put him in center field for a game and you\u2019re not losing any defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives him a lot more opportunity on the offensive side, getting his at-bats, getting his hits, putting balls in play. He\u2019s learned to conduct an at-bat (Graham hits right-handed). Right now, he\u2019s in the leadoff spot. So, you get a talented guy leading off in front of Hope, Briceno, and Jenkins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those latter three would be outfielder Zyhir Hope, who arrived this week following Saturday\u2019s trade of Tarik Skubal to the Dodgers; Josue Briceno, the left-hand slugging catcher (and first baseman) who has parked four homers in five games this month; and Andrew Jenkins, the Georgia Tech ninth-rounder (2022) who plays first base and sports a .789 OPS.<\/p>\n

Graham\u2019s work in 2026 is in line with his draft status: He was the Tigers\u2019 second-round pick in 2022, from the University of Oklahoma. The Tigers were thinking Graham, 25, by now might be part of their big-league infield orchestra.<\/p>\n

But what a siege followed: shoulder, hamstring, ankle, and wrist ills, with the worst coming in 2023 when he was hit in the face by a pitch while playing for Low-A Lakeland, was concussed, and played in only 57 games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peyton Graham\u2019s smoothness at that quarterback-like position of importance \u2014 shortstop \u2014 captivated Tigers scouts in 2022. (Photo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":["post-261370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}