Detroit Tigers' Ryan Kreidler talks past injuries, hitting with Mark Trumbo, 2024 goals

Detroit Tigers infielder Ryan Kreidler played 160 games in the major leagues and minor leagues across the past two seasons, limited because of right hand surgery and core muscle surgery.

Thirty-seven of those games were with the Tigers.

Kreidler, 26, experienced a breakthrough on offense for Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo in 2021, but since then, multiple injuries and poor performances have taken away from his opportunities. Kreidler, an elite defender, owns a .165 batting average with one home run, six walks and 29 strikeouts across 102 plate appearances in his MLB career, spanning two seasons.

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Kreidler, a former fourth-round draft pick out of UCLA, talked to the Free Press about making the Opening Day roster in March, getting sent down to Triple-A Toledo in April, undergoing his second surgery in as many years in June, working with a new personal hitting coach this offseason and his expectations for the 2024 season.

(This Q&A has been edited slightly for length and clarity.)

How do you recap your 2023 season?

"It was up and down. The high of making the team was great, and then I got optioned. I expected to go down, find the swing, and then come back up and hopefully do more damage and make an impact. It was frustrating. I started to swing it a little bit better in Toledo right after I got optioned, and then I banged my knee against the ground on a slide, which was kind of a freak play avoiding a collision. In that rehab process, I figured out the stem of some of the other injuries was this sports hernia.

"I went to the best guy, and the surgery was great. It seems like I'm banged up, but really, in 2022, I got hit by a pitch on my hand and broke a bone, and then in that rehab, I had a weird groin thing, which was this hernia, I believe, that we didn't really know yet, and in 2023, I banged my knee on a slider and had the hernia. Really, it was just a string of unlucky things."

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How frustrating are the injuries and surgeries in 2022-23 after hitting .270 with 22 home runs for Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo in 2021?

"It's frustrating when you feel like you have a good process, and that same process was the one that allowed me to have success in 2021. Off the field, I'm taking care of business in the training room. This happens to every player. I'm not unique. Maybe not the surgeries, but everybody grinds through some things where it's a stretch of some bad luck combined with not swinging it particularly well at certain points, but by no means do I feel down and out about any of it. I'm very optimistic. I still feel young, even though I'm older than Colt (Keith), (Justyn-Henry) Malloy and all those guys. They're keeping me young.

"I just feel like I have so much baseball left to play, and I haven't really even played that much in the last couple of years. In certain spurts, like towards the end of this year, I started to find it again. The power came back, the defense was good and playing some outfield was fun for me. But I've learned so much through the rehabs. It's been an all-around good experience for me. Not that it's a fun experience, but it's valuable in its own right."

After making the Opening Day roster, the Tigers optioned you to Triple-A Toledo in mid-April. What was the conversation like and how did you handle the news?

"As far as the option, it was just a conversation. Part of it was (Michael) Lorenzen was coming back. He had gone down with (groin tightness) in spring, so he was coming back from the injured list. And then (Tyler) Nevin hit like .900 in Triple-A on his rehab assignment, so it was like, 'You're the odd man out right now.' They had some options in the infield. That's part of the business. I understand that, and by no means was I lighting the world on fire. I tried to take it in the way that was beneficial for me, which was to use it as a learning opportunity, come back and never get sent down again. That's still my goal. If I get another chance up there, I don't plan on getting sent back down."

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Do you believe you have a chance to contribute with the Tigers in the future?

"I don't think I'm ever out. I wasn't drafted by Scott (Harris), but I respect the operation that they have going on, and I do feel a part of it. I feel included. I feel like there's an opportunity. In baseball, some of the opportunities are in disguise sometimes, and it can feel crowded at times, but I have a lot of belief in myself. I think that if I can be myself on the baseball field I can carve out a role for myself on any team, not just our team. That's the work you put in during the offseason, and that's the work that you put in during the season. ... I believe there's a role for me. There are a lot of other circumstances that I can't control, but of course, I believe so."

What can you explain about the sports hernia and core muscle surgery?

"It was a weird feeling that I'd never had before, and it was lingering. None of the stuff that typically helps with soft tissue injuries helped, so that was a red flag for me. The other part, it just kept getting worse. When I was on my rehab assignment after the knee injury I was noticing it was a daunting task, pain-wise, to play a full nine innings on defense. Normally, I jump at that. I thought it would pass, but it didn't pass. I tried not to wait too long to get it addressed. I saw our team doctors, and then I flew to Philly to see Dr. William Meyers, and he took care of me. He is the leading guy in that field. The rehab, actually, was a little bit difficult because you keep popping scar tissue. This happens to everyone. Daniel Norris, Justin Verlander, David Fletcher, tons of guys had the same experience, and you can't avoid it. Now that I'm on the other side of it, I don't have any pain anymore, and I have a much greater understanding of how to navigate that stuff in the future. It's been eye-opening for me."

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Why was the rehab assignment — playing in the Florida Complex League, Low-A Lakeland and High-A West Michigan — valuable to you?

"Baseball is funny because you get to a certain point, and then you stick. For example, Toledo is my normal right now. The Toledo experience is the minimum, but then I have this experience in rookie ball again, and you realize how far you've come and you appreciate the luxuries that are afforded to you when you progress in baseball. The major leagues, obviously, there are so many luxuries, but they're earned and the players are worthy of them. When you have to rehab, you really appreciate a nice clubhouse and not playing a day game outside in Florida in August. There's a reason why the (Tampa Bay) Rays and (Miami) Marlins have domes.

"Not only that, but there's so much talent in the low minors. I loved watching Max Anderson with Lakeland. He got promoted up there pretty quickly after his draft, and I was impressed with him. I was impressed with (Max) Clark and (Kevin) McGonigal. I think the optimism around the farm right now is very warranted. I learned from them. It's interesting to hear different routines, and in our conversations, maybe they learned something from me. I tried to be pretty open as far as my experiences in baseball. Overall, if you take away anything negative from that rehab experience, I think you're ignoring the beauty of it all, which for me is the experience of playing with guys who were in my shoes. I didn't necessarily have a mentor when I was in the minors. There were guys that I looked up to, but when I was in college or the low minors, it was always appreciated when someone took time out of their day to help me, or just to be there in batting practice. That's what I made a point to do when I was rehabbing."

What stood out the most about Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle?

"I think there's a higher level of polish now than there was before. I think there's something everyone can work on in the minor leagues, but I was impressed with the overall skills that a lot of these guys have. I was excited for those guys because they have a head start with the skills that I don't think I necessarily had. I've had to come a long way in pro ball.

"I think Riley (Greene) was the same way because he clearly had something when we were in Connecticut together in 2019. There was something special about the way the ball jumps off his bat, and I think the same can be said for Clark and McGonigle. They swing, and it looks good. They hit the ball, and it sounds good. I was impressed."

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What is your plan for the offseason? I'm told you're hitting with Mark Trumbo (who hit .249 with 218 home runs over 1,097 games in his 10-year MLB career).

"My priority is health. I'm doing my best to have a program that's designed around health, durability and feeling good. Going into spring training with a plan that'll last me through the season, that's the number one goal. Number two, it's cleaning up the swing a little bit. I have been working with (Mark) Trumbo. He probably doesn't like me yapping about him, but he was a player. He is not a coach. He really is gifted at talking about hitting, but I relate to him as a player because I got to watch him play a lot on the West Coast when he was with Anaheim. I remember how complete of a hitter he was, in my opinion. He sprayed the ball all over the field and hit with control and pace.

"It's been a really good experience for me learning how to control my body, learning how to harness the athleticism and clean up some of the moving parts. My back leg is one of those things. It's also learning how to feel dangerous in the box. Sometimes you feel great and dangerous, and other times you don't, and that's natural, but when you feel dangerous, what gets you there? Understanding more underneath the hood about what's going on when times are good, and when times are bad, how quickly can you right the ship? Some of it is mechanics, but a lot of it is talking hitting and understand the swing. I don't think I'm doing a swing overhaul, but I'm really trying to fine tune some of the parts of my swing that make it good."

You previously worked with Doug Latta as your personal hitting instructor. What are some of the differences between Latta and Trumbo?

"Some of the things that I've learned this year make more sense to me now. Coming out of college I had a spinny swing. On the West Coast, you face a lot of sinkers and everything is away from you, so you grow accustomed to covering those pitches off the plate away. When I got to pro ball, guys were throwing four-seamers up and in, and I couldn't cover that. Doug (Latta), for me at the time, was an amazing resource. He is still like my biggest mentor in baseball, and he's mentored so many other players. What I love about the way he teaches the swing is the linear nature of the swing. You see it with (Jake) Rogers. It's more of a linear path to the ball. In 2021, I felt like I had a better mix of rotation and linear nature, so I was pretty adjustable and still had that natural athleticism. When you grow accustomed to something, you can start to take it to an extreme. Now, I'm reevaluating what makes me good when I'm good. I need to let that athleticism, like how I throw when I play defense, come out on the offensive side of the ball. I love where I'm at right now. I feel dangerous. I feel athletic. Most importantly, I feel like it's repeatable, natural for my body and going to keep me a little bit healthier."

How are you preparing mentally for spring training ahead of the 2024 season?

"These guys gave me an opportunity last season to make the team, and I made the team. I know I can do that. That's something I'm capable of doing. I'm capable of playing in the big leagues. For me, going into spring training, I have this nothing-to-lose attitude, and I feel like that's when I'm most dangerous as a player. I felt that way in 2021 after the COVID year. I was like, 'Dude, you better do something.' I feel the same way this year. I feel at peace with my past as far as the injuries and not playing well in the big leagues, but with that being said, it's on. I feel very excited for the spring."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Ryan Kreidler has plan after 'up and down' season