The Tigers placed right-hander Beau Brieske on the 15-day injured list yesterday, and righty Brenan Hanifee was called up in the corresponding move. Brieske has been sidelined by inflammation in his right ankle, and manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News) that the pitcher had been trying to play through ankle soreness for the last couple of weeks.
The injury went from sore to more severe after Brieske rolled his ankle while fielding a grounder during a relief appearance in Detroit’s 7-6 win over the Twins on April 11. Brieske wasn’t used again until Thursday when he threw 30 pitches over one-plus innings of relief, “and was pretty beat up” physically, Hinch said. The decision was then made for a proper IL stint in order to help the righty fully recover.
Playing hurt might explain Brieske’s shaky numbers over the season’s first three weeks. The reliever has an 8.59 ERA and only an 11.1% strikeout rate in his first seven games and 7 1/3 innings of the 2025 campaign, though Brieske has had some bad luck in the form of an unfathomably low 39.2% strand rate. However, he has already allowed two homers this season, after giving up five long balls over 67 2/3 frames in 2024.
Brieske was far more effective in 2023-24, posting a 3.59 ERA over 102 2/3 innings while working in a variety of different roles out of the Tigers’ bullpen. Technically, some of those bullpen outings were starts since Hinch frequently used Brieske as an opener, but the right-hander also got long relief work and some more standard one-inning outings. Brieske’s flexible usage contributed to the “pitching chaos” strategy that helped Detroit make its big late-season surge and playoff run in 2024, though obviously he simply hasn’t been nearly as effective in the early going this year.
Jason Foley is another reliever whose fortunes have taken a turn for the worse in 2025, as the Tigers’ more frequent closer from last season began this year in the minor leagues after a rough Spring Training. He looked sharp in throwing five scoreless innings with Triple-A Toledo, but any plans for a call-up were put on hold when Toledo placed Foley on the seven-day IL on Thursday due to a right shoulder strain.
Foley hasn’t pitched in a week, and Hinch told MLB.com’s Jason Beck that “We’re getting him evaluated. I feel for him, because it comes at a time where he was starting to throw the ball pretty well and [was] starting to look like the player that we expected him to be this spring.”
A proper recovery timeline will likely be known once more tests are complete, and it may be something of a good sign that Foley wasn’t immediately placed on the IL in the wake of his initial shoulder discomfort. Still, the Tigers will naturally be cautious with any shoulder-related injury, and Foley seems likely to miss well beyond the seven-day minimum. Foley missed the entire 2018 season recovering from a Tommy John surgery but has since been injury-free, and he was a workhorse in tossing 189 1/3 innings over 199 appearances for Detroit during the 2022-24 seasons.
In better injury news for the Tigers, Parker Meadows has been cleared to start a throwing program. A musculocutaneous nerve problem in Meadows’ upper right arm arose during Spring Training, preventing Meadows from throwing and necessitating a season-opening stint on Detroit’s 60-day IL. The fact that he has restarted his throwing progression in even a limited fashion is a big plus for Meadows, even if Hinch cautioned that the team will still be carefully monitoring Meadows’ ramp-up before making any further steps in his rehab.
Since Meadows can’t be activated until the last week of May at the earliest, he has plenty of time to gradually rebuild his throwing strength. He has been able to take part in other baseball-related activities during his IL stint, so the throwing is the only obstacle remaining between Meadows and what will likely be a pretty lengthy minor league rehab assignment, given how much time Meadows has already missed.
Meadows is one of several Tigers outfielders sidelined by injury early in the 2025 season, and utilityman Matt Vierling has also yet to play after straining his right rotator cuff back in February. Vierling has now also been cleared to throw, allowing him to fully partake in baseball-related activities. The Tigers are hopeful that Vierling can begin a minor league rehab assignment before April is over.
Yet with Krusty the Clown playing centerfield, somehow the Tigers have managed to be in first place. Yes, it is early, but having a centerfielder hitting a buck-thirty makes for a giant hole in the lineup. I’m excited to have Meadows, Vierling, and eventually Wenceel Perez back on the field.
That’s great news. Particularly for Meadows. I seriously thought there was a chance he could miss the vast majority, if not all of the season. Nerves take forever to heal sometimes. I fell asleep “Indian style”, with my legs crossed and the weight on the nerve in the ball of my ankle made my foot feel asleep with not much control with it for about 6 months, years ago.
The Tigers opened the season looking like the Lions Defense, missing 3 of 4 Outfielders on IR. York, who lost his First Base role, and was talked about being traded or even not making the team. York has been a Beast at the plate.
The Backup Players have played well in the field and at the Plate. To be sitting in the 1
Spot, without at least 7 starters is awesome. The are never NOT playing hard, the game is not over until the 3rd out in the Ninth is completed. They can absorb a 130 avg if that player is great in the field!
Go Tiger! Most of the injured are starting to be ready for throwing and should be back within a month.
Tigers are the team to beat in the AL Central. They’re stacked with pitching, the resurgence of Tork’s power, Baez fixed his plate approach and batting stance and swing, Carpenter can hit lefties, and if only they could get Meadows and Vierling back, put their best team on the field everyday, they’ve got a heck of a team.
I wouldn’t mind the Tigers trading for Daz Cameron again. His defense is good and he at least does hit some.
Good start to the season. Lights out pitching again, especially the starters. The offense has been great too somehow and is second only to the Yankees. Getting their outfielders back will help a lot. I’ll be happy for the .106 hitting Kreidler to never touch a bat again. I was very wrong about Tork and he has looked great, along with Dingler. Big steps forward from them and Torres so far. Keith is getting lots of walks but really needs to pick it up. Jung should be up soon to help too.
Great season so far!!!
Jung got off to a great start for Toledo, but he has recently cooled off.
Hopefully he catches fire now that he’s up with the big club. Anything is better than Kreidler
Their bullpen is shining with a 2.86 ERA but their 3.52 SIERA tells me that some regression is coming soon.