Last year Dean Green put together a fine season at Double-A Erie. He was named to the Eastern League’s post-season all-star team and ranked among the league leaders in batting average (.312), home runs (15) and RBIs (60) despite earning a promotion to Toledo after 90 games.

It seemed natural that Green would begin this season with the Mud Hens.

But the Tigers had other plans, as Green returned to the SeaWolves to start the 2016 season.

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“Obviously I wasn’t happy about going back because I thought I had proven myself there,” Green admitted. “But that being said, it was out of my hands.

“I had to trust the Tigers’ judgment on my development, and I had to do the best I could with it. It was out of my control, and I had to play with the hand I was dealt.”

Green used the slight as motivation to terrorize Eastern League pitchers. In 69 games with the SeaWolves he hit .286 with 16 home runs and 72 RBIs.

Even though he has been gone for a month, Green still ranks fourth in the Eastern League in RBIs and fifth in home runs.

“Looking back, it was a proper progression,” Green said. “I got to work with [Erie hitting coach] Phil Clark a little bit and be with [SeaWolves manager] Lance Parrish a little more, and I thought I learned from those two.

“They worked with me on some things about my approach that made me a more ‘professional’ hitter, and I thought they bettered me as a player.”

One of the things Green said he learned from his time in Erie was about making adjustments at the plate.

“And not just every game, but every at-bat — and really, from pitch to pitch,” he said. “I felt the numbers I put up proved that I had learned that lesson.”

The Oklahoma native said his RBIs total came in part because of his Erie teammates.

“Guys like Jeff McVaney, who is here in Toledo now, and a bunch of other guys did a great job of getting on base,” Green said. “My hat’s off to them, first or foremost, because otherwise that wouldn’t have been possible.

“But I also thrive on being the guy who has to come through in a clutch situation. There are times I’m up there and I don’t get the job done, and I kick myself.”

The number that has changed the most for Green this season has been his home run totals. Last season he finished with 15 in 90 games for Erie; this season he pounded 16 long balls in just 69 games.

“When I was here last year, I worked with [Hens hitting coach Leon] ‘Bull’ Durham on getting the ball in the air more,” said Green, who has added four home runs with Toledo to give him a career-best 20. “It wasn’t that I wasn’t hitting the ball hard; it just seemed I would hit hard line drives or hard ground balls right at people.

“Then when I was back in Double-A, we worked on driving the ball more. And I think I’ve been able to put together some of these things better.”

All through his career Green has hit for high average. A seven-game hit streak with the Hens has raised his season totals to .315 with four homers and 18 RBIs in 27 games with the Mud Hens.

That gives him 90 RBIs this season, tying him with Rhys Hoskins of Double-A Reading for the most in minor league baseball.

“He handles the bat OK,” Toledo manager Lloyd McClendon said of Green, “He’s able to put the meat of the bat on the ball, and he used the entire field to hit.”

Green, who hit .253 in a 23-game cameo with the Hens last season, said the key to hitting Triple-A pitching is to make adjustments.

“A lot of guys are pitchers I’ve faced in the past,” Green said. “But it’s also better than I faced at Double-A because it’s more polished. They know how to set batters up, and they don’t automatically do things like throw a fastball when they’re behind 3-0.

“It’s something I’ll have to keep adjusting to, and just roll with the punches.”

And when it comes to rolling with the punches, the Tigers decision to send Green back to Erie this season is a blow he already has deflected.

“What they decided to do, I’ll respect their decisions,” Green said. “But me being the competitor that I am, I’ll always want to be better than I am. I wanted to come up here and compete at a higher level. But I’m here now, like I felt I should have been. Now it’s up to me to prove I belong here.”

Contact John Wagner at: jwagner@theblade.com, 419-724-6481 or on Twitter @jwagnerblade.

First Published July 27, 2016, 4:19 a.m.