The Tigers reassigned four players to minor league camp.
The Detroit Tigers will wrap up their third week of Spring Training over the coming days. They’re just about to the halfway point in camp, with Opening Day now 22 days away. On Wednesday, after shellacking the Phillies in Lakeland, the club announced their first small round of cuts from major league camp.
RHP Wilmer Flores, RHP Wilkel Hernandez, NF Eddys Leonard, and C Eliezer Alfonzo were all reassigned to minor league camp. With an off day for the Tigers on Thursday, presumably there will be a day of reflection from the coaches and front office on what they’ve seen in the early going.
Overall, the Tigers didn’t bring quite so many minor league players over to the major league side of camp this season. It’s really a technicality, as obviously they can send players back and forth at will, but there has been an emphasis this spring on the older minor leaguers who may be in position to help the Tigers this season. As a result, the few actual prospects we’ve seen, infielder Hao-Yu Lee and catcher Thayron Liranzo most notably, have gotten significant plate appearances.
Flores is still rehabbing his shoulder and was never expected to be ready for Opening Day. Of the group of cuts, really only Eddys Leonard has a real chance at playing time with the Tigers this season. Wilkel Hernandez is a starting pitcher who may return to Double-A Erie this season, but really only has an outside shot an even a future relief role. Alfonzo profiles as a decent org catcher. So none of these players, nor their reassignment, really moves the needle at all. They just need playing time, and major league camp is going to be about getting more reps for guys who might have a shot.
The key roster spots with possible openings are center fielder and right field with Matt Vierling headed to the injured list to start the season and Parker Meadows looking more likely to join him every day that the nerve issue in his upper right arm doesn’t resolve itself.
The Tigers also need to decide on third base. It would seem that Jace Jung is likely to start the season getting most of the reps. Lee, the Tigers best position player prospect already in the upper minors, has been getting a lot of reps at the position as well, but it would be a real surprise if the Tigers had him skip Triple-A and burn an option just to help cover third base until Vierling returns.
So the focus will be on non-roster invitee Jahmai Jones, who has some track record of hitting lefties and is red hot so far in camp, Ryan Kreidler, who can play all over the infield and has been dabbling in center field with Meadows out, and bat first right-handed hitters like Spencer Torkelson and Justyn-Henry Malloy, who may find playing time available to start the season as the Tigers are forced to cover for Meadows and Vierling with depth players.
On the pitching side, things look outstanding. Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, and Reese Olson, are all healthy and looking in good form. Meanwhile the competition for the last two spots is getting fierce. Jackson Jobe and a surprisingly reinvigorated Kenta Maeda have looked really good so far, while Casey Mize and Keider Montero haven’t been quite as impressive but both have pitched like they could land a spot on most rotations in the league.
The fight for those final two rotation spots will remain interesting to watch.
In terms of the bullpen, Jason Foley and Beau Brieske have had their struggles and might need to get it going pretty quickly here. RHP Tommy Kahnle and minor league signing LHP Andrew Chafin have yet to make an appearance. Kahnle is guaranteed a spot, and the Tigers are presumably still just taking their time ramping him up as he had a longer season than most in 2024. Look for him to make his first appearance by early next week if not this weekend. He probably needs less work than most to get ready. Chafin is slated to make his first appearance on Friday against the Baltimore Orioles.
So far, the early leaders to possibly usurp one of the Tigers core relievers is right-hander Tyler Owens. Left-handers Lael Lockhart Jr., Dietrich Enns and Jordan Balazovic, have all pitched fairly well in the early going and may have a shot at a bullpen role over Sean Guenther, unless the Tigers decide to move Brant Hurter into the bullpen rather than stashing him as starting depth in Toledo.
There are only a few weeks left of camp, but those are the weeks that really matter in terms of roster decisions. The Tigers will play 19 games over 19 days starting Friday night. With 21 days left until Opening Day on March 27th, competition is going to start heating up quickly this weekend.