With four outfielders already on the injured list, the Tigers might’ve lost another key contributor when Kerry Carpenter left today’s 4-3 loss to the Royals with what manager A.J. Hinch described as right hamstring soreness. As Hinch told the Detroit News’ Chris McCosky and other reporters, Carpenter suffered the injury while running out an infield single in the seventh inning. Nothing appeared to be amiss until Carpenter was replaced in left field in the top of the ninth inning.
More will be known about Carpenter’s status tomorrow, but if he has to miss time, he’ll join Parker Meadows, Matt Vierling, Wenceel Perez, and Manuel Margot (who was signed in late March to help address the outfield depth issue) on the increasingly crowded Detroit injured list. Carpenter likely would’ve been a part-time outfielder and part-time DH in the world where everyone was healthy, but he has played only twice at the DH position this season. Beyond the outfield crunch, Carpenter’s absence would also remove a big bat from the Tigers’ lineup, as the slugger is hitting .315/.338/.562 with five homers in his first 77 plate appearances of 2025.
More from around the AL Central…
- Returning to that same Royals/Tigers game, Carlos Estevez tossed two innings of relief work, as setup man Lucas Erceg is still recovering from a contusion on his left foot. Erceg left Friday’s game in obvious discomfort after being hit in the foot by a Riley Greene comebacker, though the good news is that tests came back negative for any structural damage. Erceg told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters on Friday that he was day-to-day and didn’t think he would require an IL trip. The hope is that with now two days of rest and an off-day on Monday, Erceg might ready to pitch for Tuesday’s game with the Rockies. The Estevez/Erceg combination has been a shutdown late-inning duo for K.C. thus far, with Erceg contributing a 1.23 ERA over nine appearances and 7 1/3 innings.
- Chase Meidroth was a late scratch from today’s White Sox lineup, though he did play the last two innings of the 8-4 win over the Red Sox as a defensive sub at shortstop. Pale Hose manager Will Venable told reporters (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin) that Meidroth is dealing with right thumb inflammation, and was limited to fielding only due to the thumb discomfort. The rookie will receive some imaging on his thumb before a decision is made about a possible IL stint. Meidroth is a well-regarded infield prospect who has hit .269/.387/.269 in his first 31 PA and nine games of his big league career, and it would be a tough break to see him sidelined so soon after appearing in the Show.
The White Sox really need Chase in their lineup. Never before have I seen a starting lineup with SIX of the hitters batting below .150 with an OPS below .575
And yet they STILL scored 8 runs off Red Sox pitching! LOL!!
Wait till you see the Mariners lineups. lol
Not sure they’ll score 8, though.
Those slash lines are becoming common around the league. It’s like all of the fundamentals of hitting have been thrown out the window
You’re absolutely right, Rsox. All that seems to matter is swinging for the fences. It’s an all-or-nothing game, it seems. But I was encouraged yesterday when rookie Quero shortened up with two strikes and stroked a base bit to the opposite field. Refreshing, especial from a rookie on only his third game in MLB. Meisroth, too, seems to value contact. There’s hope yet.
Isn’t the single basic fundamental of hitting to score as many runs as possible?
gbs – No, not always. It depends on the situation.
Ghost Runner on 2B, bottom of the 10th, tie score, nobody out, Hamilton at the plate.
Without question he should be bunting or trying to hit a GB/FB to the right side of the field.
In that situation the primary goal is to score one run, not multiple runs.
real – I’ve done extensive research on this subject. Not every team embraces the all-or-nothing philosophy to the same degree.
For instance the Padres have 28 SH’s, the Red Sox have just 7.
Yesterday when Baldwin stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out while down two runs, he bunted.
Merloni blathered on and on about how “dumb” it was to bunt in that situation …. but it scored a run and kept two runners in scoring position for the next guy Quero, who laced a game-winning 2-run single.
Unlike the Red Sox who would have had 2 strikeouts or a strikeout & doubleplay and not scored anything in the inning ….. and then the NESN announcers would whine about the number of RISP the Red Sox left stranded, as they did yesterday.
Perfect example is a game earlier this season when the Red Sox TWICE had speed demon Hamilton and his .056 BA at the plate with nobody out and a runner on base in a tie game.
First time was the 8th inning, runner on first, nobody out …. instead of bunting, Hamilton swings away and doesn’t advance the runner on a flyout. .
Second time was the 11th inning, ghost runner on 2B with nobody out, Hamilton swings away and strikes out. Red Sox lose the game.
Absolutely horrendous tunnel-vision managing. If a great hitter like Altuve can bunt 14 times last year and get 9 base hits from doing so, and Jake McCarthy can get 10 bunt singles from 21 bunts, then a crappy hitter with blazing speed like Hamilton should be doing the same to at least advance the baserunners.
FPG,
Sure, there will always be exceptions, but the basic tenet holds true: outscore your opponent, and scoring as many runs as you can generally facilitates victories.
gbs – Sure, but it’s the approach that is being heavily questioned here.
Do you take the more conservative and reliable approach of advancing runners and driving in runners by making contact, or do you take the much harder approach of trying to make great contact while swinging your hardest?
Hitting is always situational, it’s not wise to swing away in every situation just like it’s not wise to bunt in every situation (such as against a pitcher who often throws 100+ MPH fastballs up in the zone).
FPG,
I see two main things driving this discussion.
1. Pitching is so much better now than it was a generation or two ago, with guys throwing several miles per hour faster than before and with crazy movement due to the developments they’ve made with their teams and in pitching labs. That means hitting is much harder, so bunting, going the other way, and simply making contact is more difficult than it’s ever been.
2. What teams have found to be an efficient way to score runs isn’t necessarily aesthetically pleasing. Someone like Schwarber may be an effective leadoff hitter, but he sure doesn’t look the part based on the prior 100+ years of the game. I certainly would rather watch someone like Vince Coleman on the basepaths even if he wasn’t a particularly efficient leadoff hitter. He sure was a lot of fun to watch.
gbs – #1 is backwards, contact hitters with shorter swings will reach base safely more often against power pitchers than sluggers with longer swings. Sure the power hitters will hit the ball farther when they do make contact, so again it all depends on situation. If you’re trailing by a run with 2 outs in the 9th then yeah you want to swing for the fences.
As an example, look at Schwarber. In 2023 he hit 47 bombs, but he also struck out 215 times while batting only .197
Why is that? Because you’ll hit more homers by swinging for the fences all the time, but you will make far more outs.
As for #2 I wasn’t engaged in the discussion about that, but again it all depends on situation. If he was the only power hitter on the team, I definitely would NOT want him batting leadoff …. but the Phillies have other guys in their lineup that are very capable of driving in runs from the middle of the batting order.
I agree, Rsox. I noticed the other day that about 4-5 teams highest average in their lineup was around 250. Everyone else was under. It’s nothing but home runs and strike outs nowadays.
dsett75,
BA is largely insignificant in and of itself – with the exception of some specific situations. Yes, a .150 BA is bad, but mainly because that’s part of the more important stats like OBP and SLG.
If a guy is hitting .150/.220/.280, that awful any way you look at it, but if it’s .150/.320/.425, that above average production overall. Do you want the later player batting in a tie game, runner on third, bottom of the ninth? Probably not. But players like Schwarber and Muncy have succeeded the last few years despite low BAs.
It’s really frustrating. I know batting average isn’t everything but I’ll never get used to sub .240 average players being great. It’s just weird. Used to have guys hitting over .300 with power and on base skills. My Pirates seem to look for the right pitch forever. They draw walks but can’t hit.
I’m with you. I grew up watching MLB in the 70s and just about every team had a .300 hitter.
I hated the way the numbers were skewed during the steroid era as I hated that historic numbers were going to be minimized by chemicals.
I’m not crazy how things are now skewered in the pitching direction. However, I can accept the pitching domination now because the improvement is evolution due to R&D, not chemicals.
They’ve actually done really good against Boston. Those losses could very well come back to bite the Red Sox at the end of the season.
dsett – Chicago has a real chance of winning the season series today, which would be a huge embarrassment for the Red Sox.
It’s a competitive pitching matchup with Cannon vs Buehler.
Chicago has Quero batting cleanup, but no Vaughn or Meidroth in the lineup.
Yup and after a win today, redsox lucky to split. Could have easily lost this series
Carpenter hurt color me shocked
If Carp is going to be out for a while they may need to look at making a trade for an OF bat. Now or the deadline I think they will need it. If not then maybe bring up Jahmai Jones or Baddoo, or Jung and shift McKinistry/Ibanez to the OF to cover. Kreidler needs to do down. His bat is terrible.
It’s white knuckles time when I think about “position flexibility” and the Tigers outfield. Is Riley Greene the next one to go down? He plays with reckless abandon when he’s out in CF,diving for routine fly balls when he shouldn’t. His offense suffers too. We already know that this is a high-risk proposition…
I couldn’t agree more. Kriedler is an automatic out. His defense isn’t that much better than someone with at least a chance to get a hit. I literally feel like he has no chance.
They should go get either Duran or Rafaela from Boston, considering that they won’t wanna come off of Anthony or Abreu. Or possibly Thomas, who’s on fire right now, or McCarthy from Arizona.
Jace Jung spotted at Comerica Park. Could a corresponding move involving Kerry Carpenter be far behind?
Just heard that they sent Kreidler down…
I wonder if any of Riley Greene’s offensive woes have to do with his 48% pull rate, which is up 9 percentage points from last year.