The Tigers optioned right-hander Keider Montero to Triple-A Toledo on Wednesday afternoon. That takes him out of consideration for the Opening Day roster.
It’s a moderate surprise that Montero was demoted this early in camp. The 25-year-old finished last season on the MLB roster and added 5 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run over three playoff appearances. Detroit’s offseason additions of Framber Valdez, Justin Verlander and Drew Anderson left him without a path to a season-opening rotation job.
Rather than keeping Montero in the mix for a swing role, they’ll have him stay stretched out in Triple-A. Montero is away from the team pitching for his native Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. Manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic) that the plan is for Montero to make one or two bulk appearances in the tournament. He’ll continue to build to a starting workload with Toledo after that.
Detroit has a front five of Tarik Skubal, Valdez, Verlander, Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize. Anderson is out of options and needs to be on the MLB roster. He’ll start the season in long relief assuming no injuries for the rest of camp. He’d presumably step into the rotation if anyone gets hurt.
Montero, who turned in a 4.37 ERA across 90 2/3 innings a year ago, is seventh on the rotation depth chart with Troy Melton likely to open the season on the injured list. He has one minor league option year remaining. Assuming he spends at least 20 days in the minors over the course of the regular season, he’d be out of options going into 2027.
While Montero will be playing in the WBC, another Detroit player has pulled out of the tournament due to injury. Chinese Taipei announced that second/third base prospect Hao-Yu Lee strained his left oblique (relayed by Evan Woodbery of MLive). He had been with the Taiwanese team in Tokyo for pool play but is headed back to the Tigers’ spring complex for evaluation.
The 23-year-old Lee spent all of last season in Toledo. He hit 14 homers with a .243/.342/.406 batting line across 579 trips to the plate. Lee, whom Baseball America ranked as the #6 prospect in the organization over the winter, was added to the 40-man roster in November.
Lee wasn’t likely to receive consideration for the Opening Day roster, but the injury is a small hit to Detroit’s infield depth. Even less severe oblique strains typically require multiple weeks, meaning he’s probably headed for the minor league injured list to begin the season. Meanwhile, Chinese Taipei was blanked 3-0 by Australia in the first game of the WBC tonight.