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Tigers Place Victor Reyes On Injured List

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The Tigers announced today that they have placed outfielder Victor Reyes on the injured list with a left quad strain. Fellow outfielder Derek Hill has been recalled to take his place on the roster.

Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic relays word from Reyes, who says he’s been battling the injury all season. Despite that, he was off to a fairly strong start to the year. Reyes has a strikeout rate of 16% so far this year, well below his career mark of 22.1%. Similarly, his walk rate is at 8% on the young campaign, more than double his 3.9% career rate. His 112 wRC+ is also quite healthy, compared to the 82 he’s put up in his career so far. Of course, this is a tiny sample of just ten games and it would be unwise to draw sweeping conclusions from it, though there are positive signs in his Statcast profile as well, with his .394 xBA easily outpacing his numbers from previous years. It’s surely discouraging for the 27-year-old to have to sit out the next little while after a promising start to the year. Evan Woodbery of MLive relays word from manager A.J. Hinch, who apparently had a challenging time giving Reyes the news. Based on the fact that Reyes wanted to keep playing, it shouldn’t be a lengthy absence.

In more positive news for the Tigers, a couple of their offseason acquisitions could be returning from injuries shortly. Hinch told reporters that shortstop Javier Baez and reliever Andrew Chafin should be back in the coming days. (Twitter links from Woodbery) Baez played in five games for the Tigers, hitting .316/.350/.526, before being placed on the IL with thumb soreness. Chafin was signed by the Tigers to a two-year, $13MM deal but has yet to appear for the team due to a groin strain. Whenever they return, they will bolster the lineup and the bullpen, respectively. In the absence of Baez, the Tigers have been relying on two Castros, Willi and Harold, to fill the shortstop position. Gregory Soto is the only lefty in the club’s bullpen right now, but he has been deployed in the closer role, leaving the club a bit short-handed in the southpaw department.

Tigers Announce Several Transactions, Finalize Opening Day Roster

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The Tigers announced a landslide of roster moves Wednesday as they set their Opening Day roster. Most notable among them is the formal selection of top prospect Spencer Torkelson’s contract. It was already known that Torkelson, the No. 1 overall pick from the 2020 draft and a consensus top-five prospect in all of baseball, would make the Opening Day roster, but his promotion to the big leagues is now official.

Detroit also selected the contracts of right-handers Drew Hutchison, Jacob Barnes and Will Vest. In a series of corresponding 40-man roster moves, Detroit designated left-hander Miguel Del Pozo for assignment and placed catcher Jake Rogers (recovering from Tommy John surgery), Spencer Turnbull (recovering from Tommy John surgery) and Jose Cisnero (strained right shoulder) on the 60-day injured list.

The Tigers also announced an additional series of placements on the 10-day injured list: lefty Andrew Chafin (groin strain), outfielder Derek Hill (hamstring strain) and righty Kyle Funkhouser (shoulder strain) are all beginning the season on the 10-day IL. Top outfield prospect Riley Greene is being placed on the minor league injured list after fracturing his foot late in Spring Training. The Tigers also announced that righty Elvin Rodriguez made the roster over infielder Willi Castro, and the team has assigned veteran right-handers Chase Anderson (Triple-A) and Wily Peralta (Class-A Advanced) to minor league affiliates to begin the year.

None of Hutchison, Vest or Barnes has an extensive track record of big league success, but they’ve all logged MLB action in the past and will give Detroit some bullpen depth early in the season, particularly while Cisnero sits out at least the first two months of the season mending a shoulder injury. That absence is perhaps the most surprising revelation in today’s sequence of moves. Cisnero was behind schedule to start camp and felt some discomfort in his most recent outing, but prior to today’s announcement there was no indication he’d require such a lengthy absence. It’s a notable loss for the Tigers, given the 32-year-old’s 3.45 ERA, 24 holds and four saves over the past two seasons.

Chafin, who signed a two-year, $13MM contract with an opt-out after the 2022 season will hope for a minimal absence. There’s been no indication from the club that he’s expected to require a long stay on the IL, but he’s been trending toward a 10-day placement since originally experiencing pain at the end of March. Hill has also been ailing since the final day of March, so his move to the IL doesn’t rate as much of a surprise.

As for the 29-year-old Del Pozo, he lasted the offseason on Detroit’s 40-man roster after allowing two runs on eight hits and no walks with four punchouts during a brief Detroit debut late in the 2021 campaign. He’s allowed a total of 20 runs in 18 1/3 Major League innings, however, and didn’t help his cause this spring when he appeared in two games and was tagged for a combined five runs in just one inning of work. Detroit will have a week to trade him or try to pass him through outright waivers.

Veterans Anderson and Peralta will give the Tigers some pitching depth in the minors to begin the season. Anderson joined the club on a minor league deal in mid-March and allowed three earned runs on nine hits and a walk with a pair of strikeouts in five innings during camp. He’s struggled substantially in the Majors across the past two seasons but from 2014-19 was a solid back-of-the-rotation arm, logging a combined 3.94 ERA in 857 innings between the D-backs and Brewers.

Peralta seems even likelier to be added to the big league roster, despite his assignment to a Class-A affiliate. The right-hander had a strong showing in Detroit last year after signing a minor league pact, pitching to a 3.07 ERA across 18 appearances (17 starts) — a total of 93 2/3 innings. But Peralta was slow to get to camp, owing to visa issues, and he’ll remain at the Tigers’ Lakeland facility, where their High-A team plays, as he builds up toward game readiness. Peralta didn’t make it to Tigers camp until this past weekend and didn’t have time to get into an official spring game, but once he’s built up he’ll be an option to join the club’s rotation or pitch in a long-relief role.

Tigers’ GM Al Avila Discuses Offseason Priorities

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The Tigers are slated to enter the 2022 campaign with more hope than they’ve had in a long while. Detroit’s rebuild has begun to bear fruit, with the team’s above .500 showing from May 1 onwards suggesting the roster has at least progressed to respectable after a four-season stretch in which the Tigers were among the worst teams in the league.

Detroit dipped into free agency a bit last offseason, picking up Robbie Grossman and bringing back Jonathan Schoop. Those low-cost additions paid off, and both Grossman and Schoop will return in 2022 (the latter on a midseason, two-year extension). Owner Christopher Illitch suggested in August the club could make some “high-impact” additions to the roster this winter. Speaking with reporters (including Evan Woodbery of MLive, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News and Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press) this afternoon, general manager Al Avila shined some light on more specific target areas for the club.

Bolstering the starting pitching is a primary goal, with Avila bluntly noting that “an established starter would be a necessity, yes. … If you can add an established starter that can give you those type of innings, that’ll be a big plus for us. If we can’t, for whatever reason, then again, we’re going to have to mix and match more often. If we could come in and sign a good, established starter to be part of that rotation, it’s a big plus. We can’t guarantee that, because I don’t know how the market is going to play out.”

Detroit has broken in young pitchers like Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning over the past couple years, but they’re lacking in veteran certainty at the moment. Excepting Mize, Spencer Turnbull and Matthew Boyd were the Tigers’ best starters this past season. Turnbull will miss most or all of next season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in July, and Boyd himself underwent a late-season elbow procedure that puts his future with the organization in question.

Boyd is expected to pitch at some point in 2022, but it’s not clear that’ll be in Detroit. The southpaw is entering his final season of arbitration eligibility and would be entitled to a raise on this year’s $6.5MM salary if tendered a contract. It’s possible Detroit non-tenders Boyd in hopes of re-signing him to a lesser salary. Doing that would give Boyd an opportunity to hear from other clubs, though, and Avila acknowledged such a scenario would involve “a decision to be made on his part, if it gets to that point.”

Regardless of whether the club tenders Boyd a contract, the season-opening rotation needs to be addressed. Manning himself struggled and could require some additional Triple-A time. Tyler Alexander had a nice season but has worked in a swing capacity throughout his career. Last offseason’s José Ureña pickup didn’t work out, while Wily Peralta quietly posted a 3.12 ERA over 92 1/3 innings but only struck out 14.4% of opposing hitters. Both Ureña and Peralta are slated to reach free agency this offseason. Reuniting with either player wouldn’t be costly, but both hurlers are better fits for the back-end of a rotation anyhow.

As always, free agency offers a wide variety of starting pitchers. Robbie Ray, Kevin Gausman, Marcus Stroman and former Tiger Max Scherzer are top-of-the-rotation arms who’ll land significant deals this winter. Jon Gray and Steven Matz are among the mid-rotation options, while there are a host of veteran innings-eater types who figure to land lower-cost one or two-year deals. Given the Tigers’ needs throughout the rotation, it seems likely Avila and his staff will try to land multiple additions, perhaps one higher-tier option and a more affordable back-end piece.

On the position player side, Avila pointed to shortstop and catcher as the most likely target areas. Niko Goodrum and Willi Castro are each coming off disappointing years, contributing to the Tigers’ cumulative .201/.275/.321 line from the shortstop position. The upcoming free agent class is loaded, and there’s already been speculation about the possibility of Astros star Carlos Correa reuniting with former Houston skipper A.J. Hinch in the Motor City. Correa’s just one of numerous options who’ll be available.

Any investment in the top of the shortstop market would certainly count as “high-impact,” but it’d require a significant expenditure. Avila didn’t rule out that possibility, telling reporters he’d have “no fear factor in signing a big contract” but cautioning that the front office doesn’t feel obligated to land a superstar in free agency.

The Tigers’ payroll outlook could certainly support such an investment, should Avila and his group zero in on Correa or any other top-of-the-market player. Detroit has just under $45MM on the books in guaranteed money for next season, in the estimation of Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez. That’s before accounting for an arbitration class that includes Turnbull, Michael Fulmer and Jeimer Candelario, but there’ll still be plenty of room if Illitch is willing to sign off on a payroll anywhere near the $160+MM range at which the franchise perennially spent before embarking on the rebuild.

With the rotation, shortstop and catching situation taking precedence, Avila downplayed the possibility of making significant alterations in the outfield. Grossman will return in a corner spot, while Akil Baddoo earned a season-opening job with an impressive performance as a Rule 5 draftee. Avila suggested top prospect Riley Greene could make an impact at some point, not surprising considering he’s begun his Triple-A career with a .308/.400/.553 line over 185 plate appearances. And the club still has Víctor Reyes and Derek Hill as in-house options capable of manning center field.

Hill, whose season ended early because of a meniscus tear in his left knee, will undergo surgery in the coming days, Hinch informed reporters. The manager downplayed the severity of the procedure, and it seems he’s expected to be ready for Spring Training. Hill’s one of numerous young players likely to take on key roles with next year’s club, but Avila’s comments unsurprisingly suggest the franchise anticipates taking further steps towards contention this winter.

Tigers Place Gregory Soto, Derek Hill On 10-Day Injured List

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The Tigers placed closer Gregory Soto (left finger fracture) and outfielder Derek Hill (left knee sprain) on the 10-day injured list.  Both players are expected to miss the rest of the season, manager A.J. Hinch told The Detroit News’ Chris McCosky and other reporters.  Outfielder Daz Cameron and infielder Isaac Paredes were called up from Triple-A Toledo to replace Soto and Hill on the active roster.

Soto suffered his injury after being hit by a Manuel Margot line drive on Friday, while Hill sprained his knee while trying to beat out a bunt single yesterday.  Hill had to be wheeled off the field following the awkward-looking play, which also involved a collision with Rays first baseman Ji-Man Choi.

Soto’s strong work in the first half of the season saw him reach the AL All-Star roster, as he ended up being Detroit’s top choice to preserve late-game leads.  Soto posted a 3.39 ERA over 63 2/3 innings out of the bullpen, racking up 18 saves while recording a solid 27.5% strikeout rate.  On the down side, Soto’s 14.5% walk rate was one of the league’s worst, as the control problems that bothered Soto in his first two MLB seasons continued in 2021.

As a result of these walks, Soto never exactly held a firm hold on the closer role, as Michael Fulmer also received a good chunk of save opportunities.  It remains to be seen if the Tigers will continue with Soto as part of a closer committee in 2022, give him a clearer opportunity as the ninth-inning man, or perhaps go in another direction entirely and acquire another closer.  Regardless, Soto has certainly done enough to earn himself a spot in Detroit’s late-game mix.

Hill was the 23rd overall pick of the 2014 draft, and he mostly appeared as a pinch-runner and defensive sub over 15 games in his debut season in 2020.  Getting a longer look this year, Hill hit .259/.313/.388 with three home runs over 150 plate appearances, though he also missed about a month total in two separate IL stints (shoulder sprain, ribcage contusion).

Hill’s bat has been a question mark throughout much of his minor league career, though he batted .320/.377/.504 over 141 PA for Toledo this season.  A right-handed hitter, Hill has a .311/.353/.459 slash line in 63 PA against southpaw pitching this year, which bodes well for his chances of sticking in the majors as at least a platoon player.  Hill is known for excellent speed (160 steals in 206 chances in the minors) and defensive ability, though metrics are split on his glovework in center field this season.

Injury Notes: Paddack, Snell, Hill, Gallo

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It “seems more likely than not” that Blake Snell and Chris Paddack won’t pitch again for the Padres in 2021, sources tell Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune.  With just two weeks left in the regular season, time is running out for either pitcher to return from the 10-day injured list.  Paddack was retroactively placed on the IL on September 12 due to right elbow inflammation, while a groin strain sidelined Snell on September 15.

Snell isn’t likely to pitch again unless San Diego is still playing into the postseason, while Paddack has some smaller chance of a quicker return, as he said his elbow felt fine after a game of catch yesterday.  Still, Paddack was only throwing lightly from a 75-foot distance, so it remains to be seen if he can progress quickly enough to get back on the mound before the regular season is over.  “Regardless of how [Paddack] is feeling the Padres almost certainly won’t even consider him pitching again in 2021 if they are not squarely in contention,” Acee writes, and that latter scenario is starting to look more remote.  The reeling Padres are 5-10 in September, and have dropped 2.5 games behind the Cardinals for the last NL wild card slot.

More updates on injury situations from around the game…

  • Tigers outfielder Derek Hill had to be helped off the field via a cart and a wheelchair after suffering a knee injury in yesterday’s 4-3 win over the Rays.  Hill was trying to beat out a bunt grounder to first base, and seemed to hyper-extend his knee while colliding with Tampa first baseman Ji-Man Choi.  While Hill was still being examined by team medical staff, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press) that an IL trip seems pretty inevitable for the 25-year-old.  It seems as if Hill’s rookie season might well be over, after 49 games and 150 plate appearances that saw the 2014 first-round pick hit .259/.313/.388 with three home runs.  Injuries have been a big factor in Hill’s season, as he missed time in two separate IL stints due to a left ribcage contusion and a right shoulder sprain.
  • Joey Gallo left the Yankees’ 11-3 loss to the Indians yesterday due to neck tightness, and is day-to-day.  Gallo took one plate appearance before being replaced in left field prior to the start of the fourth inning.  Manager Aaron Boone told The Associated Press and other media that Gallo was receiving treatment on his neck before the game, and “I think after his first at-bat, it was just barking too much on him.”  While the injury seems pretty minor, the Yankees surely want one of their hottest bats back as quickly as possible to aid their pursuit of a wild card berth.  Gallo got off to a slow start after being acquired by the Yankees at the trade deadline, but has posted a 1.490 OPS and six home runs over his last 25 PA.

Tigers Outright Renato Nunez

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Aug. 23: Nunez went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Toledo, the team announced. While Nunez had the option of declining the assignment in favor of free agency, MLB.com’s Jason Beck tweets that Nunez will instead remain with the organization and head to Toledo.

Aug. 21: The Tigers have reinstated Derek Hill from the 10-day injured list. To make room on the roster, Renato Nunez was designated for assignment, per the team.

Nunez joined the Tigers after being released by the Orioles in November. He’s spent most of the season in Triple-A, where he slashed .291/.383/.585 in 311 plate appearances. Despite that impressive showing, the success hasn’t translated to the bigs. Nunez has appeared in 14 games, amassing 55 plate appearances and slashing .189/.218/.472. Nunez is likely to accept an assignment back to Triple-A, as he’s done earlier this season.

Hill was out the minimum amount of time with a ribcage contusion. He missed some time earlier this season with a shoulder sprain. The 25-year-old rookie outfielder owns a .250/.345/.316 triple slash line through 87 plate appearances this year. He’ll return to the mix in centerfield, along with Daz Cameron and Victor Reyes.

Tigers Select Renato Nunez, Place Akil Baddoo On 7-Day IL

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The Tigers have selected the contract of infielder Renato Nunez, recalled infielder Zack Short from Triple-A Toledo and placed outfielders Akil Baddoo and Derek Hill on the injured list, per a club announcement. Baddoo is heading to the seven-day concussion list, while Hill has been placed on the 10-day IL with a ribcage contusion. Hill and Baddoo sustained their injuries on a frightening, full-speed collision at the wall in left-center field in yesterday’s win over the Orioles.

This will be the second big league stint of the season for Nunez, who hit .148/.207/.444 with a pair of homers in 29 plate appearances earlier in the year. The 27-year-old went unclaimed when Detroit placed him on waivers earlier in the year, and he accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Toledo, where he’s batted .291/.383/.585 (153 wRC+) with 20 home runs, 14 doubles and a pair of triples in 311 plate appearances.

The second big league stint could prove to be something of a longer-term audition for Nunez, who has a decent big league track record at the dish. From 2018-20, he posted a .250/.316/.457 batting line with 51 homers in 1076 plate appearances between Oakland and Baltimore. Nunez’s power production in Baltimore resulted in a good bit of surprise among fans when the O’s placed him on waivers prior to Dec. 2020’s non-tender deadline, but no team claimed the slugger, whose defensive limitations and sub-par on-base percentage have sapped some of the value that power brings to the table. That said, he’ll now get another run with the Tigers, who’ll have the option of controlling him all the way through 2024 if he impresses enough.

As for the 22-year-old Baddoo, the injury throws a wrench into his hopes for a late Rookie of the Year push. Baddoo was a surprising pick by the Tigers in the Rule 5 Draft, having missed most of the 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery and spending the 2020 season recovering. He hadn’t played at either the Double-A or the Triple-A levels, but he’s shown barely any signs of rust, hitting at a .267/.333/.467 pace with 10 home runs, 18 doubles, six triples and 14 stolen bases. He wasn’t necessarily a Rookie of the Year favorite, but Baddoo, Randy Arozarena, Luis Garcia and Cole Irvin are among the AL rookies who could’ve conceivably separated themselves with a big finish.

There’s no word on how long Baddoo will be sidelined, as it’s difficult to project recovery timetables for concussions and concussion-like symptoms. He’ll spend at least a week on the shelf, though, and he’ll automatically be moved to the 10-day IL if he’s not ready for reinstatement once 10 days have passed.

Hill, meanwhile, had been in line for his first real look in center field at the big league level. Through 87 plate appearances, the former first-rounder was batting .250/.345/.316 with a home run, a triple and six steals. As with Baddoo, there’s no projected timetable for his recovery. With Baddoo and Hill both joining Daz Cameron on the injured list, the Tigers will look to Robbie Grossman, Victor Reyes and perhaps Harold Castro or Nunez in the outfield.

Tigers Release Nomar Mazara

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JULY 21: Detroit has requested unconditional release waivers on Mazara. He’ll almost certainly clear after 48 hours, at which point he’ll be free to sign elsewhere.

JULY 16: The Tigers announced Friday that they’ve designated outfielder Nomar Mazara for assignment and optioned infielder Willi Castro to Triple-A Toledo. Outfielder Derek Hill and infielder Isaac Paredes are up from Toledo in a pair of corresponding roster moves. Detroit has also appointed lefty Miguel Del Pozo as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader against the Twins.

Still just 26 yeas old, Mazara once ranked as one of baseball’s elite prospects, entering the 2016 season as one of the consensus 25 most promising minor leaguers in the sport. He looked the part when he made his MLB debut that season, too, hitting .266/.320/.419 with 20 home runs in 145 games. It wasn’t a dominant showing, of course, but Mazara was just 21 years old at the time and was making the jump with only 23 Triple-A games under his belt. It was an impressive showing, and it was reasonable to expect that he’d only improve with more reps against big league pitching.

That, however, never really proved true. Mazara spent the next four seasons as the primary right fielder in Texas but more or less just kept repeating his 2016 season. He posted a 93 OPS and 91 wRC+ as a rookie in ’16 and, from 2017-19, posted collective marks of 94 and 92 in those same respective categories. He hit exactly 20 home runs again in 2017 and 2018 before hitting 19 in 2019. Essentially, he’d settled in as a slightly below-average hitter with well below-average defensive grades. The Rangers trade him to the White Sox during the 2019 Winter Meetings.

At that point, Mazara was a highly interesting change-of-scenery candidate. He’d plateaued in Arlington, to be sure, but he was a former Top 25 prospect who was heading into his age-25 season with two years of club control remaining. For the White Sox, it was a sensible enough roll of the dice to see if they could help Mazara take the next step. Instead, he turned in a career-worst .228/.295/.294 batting line with just one home run and a career-high 29.5 percent strikeout rate through 149 plate appearances last summer. Chicago non-tendered him in the offseason.

Mazara took a chance with his second AL Central club, landing with the Tigers on a one-year, $1.75MM deal late in the offseason. Things have gone a bit better in Detroit than in Chicago, but only by a slight margin. Mazara’s strikeouts are down a bit and he’s shown a little more pop. However, his overall .212/.276/.321 batting line through 181 plate appearances so far simply wasn’t enough for the Tigers to keep giving him at-bats over more controllable players who are hoping to emerge as long-term fits in Detroit.

The Tigers will have a week to trade Mazara, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or place him on release waivers. Mazara has more than five years of service time, so even if he does go through outright waivers without a claim, he can reject an outright assignment to the minor leagues and retain the entirety of his remaining salary. It’s unlikely that another club would claim that salary, given his poor showing at the plate. The likeliest outcome is that Mazara becomes a free agent, whether via unconditional release from the team or via rejecting an outright assignment. At that point, he’d be free to sign elsewhere for only the prorated league minimum. That amount would be subtracted from the roughly $753K the Tigers still owe him through season’s end.

Hill, 25, is a former Tigers first-rounder who has had some sparse big league looks but hasn’t yet had a lengthy audition. He’s hitting .320./.373/.508 in 133 Triple-A plate appearances, however, and he’ll now return to Detroit for his second stint of the 2021 campaign.

The 22-year-old Paredes has been ranked among the Tigers’ better prospects since coming to the Tigers alongside Jeimer Candelario in the 2017 trade that sent Justin Wilson and Alex Avila to the Cubs. He hasn’t hit much in 145 prior MLB plate appearances, but his .261/.357/.412 slash in Triple-A will net him a look over the struggling Castro — another infield prospect who has stumbled to a .214/.278/.341 slash through 280 plate appearances with the big league club so far in 2021.

Roster Notes: Mariners, Tigers, Indians, Rockies, Mets

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The Mariners have reinstated Marco Gonzales from the paternity list, the team announced. Donovan Walton has been optioned to Triple-A to create the roster spot. Gonzalez was gone for just a couple of days, and he’ll step right back into his rotation spot. Walton, meanwhile, has appeared in 21 games and posted a .205/.254/.365 line.

Let’s make the rounds and check in on some roster moves and injury updates…

  • The Tigers and Indians will play a doubleheader today, meaning both teams get to add a 27th man for the day. The Indians have brought up infielder Owen Miller, per Mandy Bell (via Twitter). The Tigers, meanwhile, will add Derek Hill, who only recently has been healthy enough to return from the injured list.
  • Ryan Castellani has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A, the Rockies announced. Castellani made one start for the Rockies this year, tossing 3 1/3 innings and allowing two earned runs. The 25-year-old will look to put together more productive outings in Triple-A where he owns a 7.82 ERA across 35 2/3 innings.
  • Mets infielders Jonathan Villar and J.D. Davis will both begin rehab assignments with the Syracuse Mets today, tweets Tim Britton of The Athletic. What began as a hand contusion has ended up keeping Davis out for all but 14 games of the season thus far. Villar filled in ably for much of the year, but he, too, went down with a calf strain. Both now appear to be on the mend.

Tigers Promote Derek Hill

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The Tigers are calling up former first-round pick Derek Hill to make his MLB debut in the wake of JaCoby Jones’ season-ending hand fracture, manager Ron Gardenhire announced in an appearance on 97.1 The Ticket this morning (Twitter link).

Hill, 24, hasn’t lived up to his first-round draft status and only ranks 28th among Detroit farmhands at Baseball America. However, he’s a game-changing defender with excellent speed who’ll be tasked with at least helping to replace the quietly productive Jones. Hill spent last season in Double-A, where he posted a .243/.311/.394 batting line that actually checked in better than the league average in that extremely pitcher-friendly setting (108 wRC+). He slugged a career-best 14 home runs and swiped 21 bases as well, but a 27.9 percent strikeout rate also serves to underscore the concerns that scouts harbor with regard to his hit tool.

Even if Hill doesn’t prove himself capable of holding down an everyday role with the Tigers, his speed and high-end glove create the potential for him to be a fixture on the team’s roster for the next few years. A platoon arrangement seems unlikely, as the right-handed-hitting Hill has generally fared better against righties than lefties in the minors, but he could nevertheless be a valuable fourth outfielder with some power, above-average speed and strong glovework to back up at any of the three outfield slots as necessary.

The Tigers have won six straight games to boost their record to 17-16, leaving them just one game back of the Blue Jays for the No. 8 seed in the American League under this year’s expanded postseason format.

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