Detroit Tigers spring training: Javier Báez reports early, six starters for the rotation
LAKELAND, Fla. — Baseball is back.
A majority of the Detroit Tigers' pitchers and catchers have reported to TigerTown, the team's spring training facility in Lakeland, Florida, with their first workout set for Wednesday. The first full-squad workout is next Monday.
The Tigers begin Grapefruit League play at 1:05 p.m. Feb. 24 against the New York Yankees at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland. Opening Day is slated for 4:10 p.m. March 28 against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.
Here are seven story lines to follow as the Tigers open 2024 spring training:
Who's in the rotation?
The Tigers have at least six starting pitchers entering spring training: left-hander Tarik Skubal and right-handers Kenta Maeda, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize, Matt Manning and Reese Olson. If all six remain healthy, all six could end up on the Opening Day roster.
But the Tigers plan to employ a five-man rotation, meaning that the sixth isn't in their plans.
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Still, the Tigers can utilize six starters in the big leagues — if all of them stay healthy through spring training — by piggybacking Mize with Olson, or another starter, at the beginning of the season.
Mize, 26, is returning from elbow surgery and back surgery. He hasn't pitched in a competitive game since May 12, 2022, with a brief outing in Triple-A Toledo as part of a failed rehab assignment; he hasn't pitched for the Tigers since April 14, 2022.
Olson, 24, threw a combined 140⅓ innings with the Tigers and Toledo last season. He posted a 3.99 ERA with 33 walks and 103 strikeouts across 103⅔ innings in the big leagues, including a 1.51 ERA across his final 35⅔ innings.
Báez reports early
Former All-Star shortstop Javier Báez reported in Lakeland on Sunday, seven days before his mandatory report date. Additionally, Báez has a hitting lesson scheduled for Monday with Richard Schenck — the personal coach for Kerry Carpenter and 2022 American League MVP Aaron Judge — in Tampa as part of his preparation for spring training.
He has been tweaking his swing mechanics throughout the offseason. The Tigers sent coaches, as well as a trainer, to Puerto Rico to work with Báez on exercises, both hitting and fielding. The 31-year-old's timing on fastballs last season was abysmal, as he hit .177 against four-seamers and .195 against four-seamers in the strike zone.
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Báez, owed $98 million over the next four seasons, hit .230 with 26 home runs and a .634 OPS across 280 games in his first two seasons with the Tigers, including just nine homers in 2023.
The Tigers desperately need a bounce-back season from Báez in 2024. That would mean improving his performance on offense. He should take steps forward if he crushes fastballs like he did earlier in his career.
Vierling's swing
Don't forget Matt Vierling hit the best home run of his life on Sept. 14, 2023, against the Cincinnati Reds. It was a 448-foot grand slam pulled to left field against a 94.3 mph fastball.
The 27-year-old is expected to start the season as the primary third baseman, but to be an everyday player into the future, either as an infielder or an outfielder, he needs to hit for power to the pull side. He spent all of last season refining his swing mechanics, specifically the load of his swing, and at the end of the season, he was intentional about trying to create damage to left.
Vierling has just 18 home runs across 964 plate appearances in his three-year MLB career, including 10 homers in 530 plate appearances in 2023. He needs to build upon the flashes of power he showed in September if he wants regular playing time beyond the first half of 2024.
Who's the DH?
Future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera isn't on the Tigers' roster entering spring training for the first time since 2007. The designated hitter role, which Cabrera has occupied since 2019, is finally available.
Manager A.J. Hinch, who loves lineup flexibility, will rotate a multitude of players in the designated hitter spot, including Carpenter, Riley Greene, Mark Canha, Justyn-Henry Malloy, Spencer Torkelson and Colt Keith.
Carpenter, 26, could get the most DH at-bats this season, though he has improved his defense in right field over the past two seasons. He hit .278 with 20 home runs in 118 games in 2023, missing time with a shoulder injury suffered while playing right.
Riley Greene's body
Not only did Riley Greene need to rehab from Tommy John surgery on his non-throwing elbow this offseason, but the Tigers asked him to transform his body.
Here's what president of baseball operations Scott Harris said in early December at the winter meetings: "We got to make sure that he comes to camp in really, really good shape. We have to add some strength to his frame that will insulate him against future injury, and we also got to find ways to take load off his body."
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The 23-year-old is the Tigers' best hitter when he is healthy, but staying healthy has been the issue. His career high for games played in a single season is 124, in Double-A and Triple-A in 2021.
Greene has suffered three injuries in the past two seasons: a right foot fracture in 2021, and then a left fibula stress reaction and a right elbow sprain last season. The right-side injuries required surgery.
This year's closer, and so much more
The Tigers need a reliever to pitch with the lead in the ninth inning.
There are several candidates on the roster, including left-hander Andrew Chafin and right-handers Alex Lange, Jason Foley and Shelby Miller. Lange, 28, picked up 26 saves in 32 opportunities as the Tigers' closer last season, but he posted a 5.18 ERA with a miserable 17.6% walk rate in his final 43 appearances.
It wouldn't be surprising if Miller, whom the Tigers signed to a one-year, $3.25 million contract, emerges as the closer because of his platoon-neutral fastball-splitter combination. The 33-year-old logged a 1.71 ERA with 19 walks and 42 strikeouts across 42 innings in 36 games last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, including one save in one opportunity.
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The closer role is the first of two bullpen situations to monitor in spring training.
The Tigers already have six starters for their big-league rotation. The Tigers have several pitchers who could serve as swingmen in the bullpen — such as left-hander Joey Wentz and right-handers Beau Brieske, Alex Faedo, Sawyer Gipson-Long and Mason Englert — and they prepared for spring training as starters. But not all of them will be starters when the season begins. They could be used in the Mud Hens' rotation or the Tigers' bullpen.
Wentz is an obvious candidate for the Tigers' bullpen because he does not have any minor-league options remaining; Faedo, however, appears to be a candidate for the Mud Hens' rotation because he received a fourth and final minor-league option.
Prospects to watch
Top prospect Jackson Jobe, the Tigers' top pick in 2021 out of high school, looks like the real deal on the mound. The 21-year-old right-hander is the No. 25 prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline, despite having just one start above High-A. Still, Jobe could pitch for the Tigers toward the end of 2024 if he dominates Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo, just as his sharp work for High-Am West Michigan earned him an appearance with Erie at the end of 2023. For now, he is getting his first taste of big-league spring training.
Other prospects who aren't on the 40-man roster but are candidates to join the Tigers in 2024: outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy, third baseman Jace Jung, right-hander Ty Madden and outfielder Justice Bigbie. Of that group, only Malloy is firmly in the mix to make the Opening Day roster.
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Colt Keith, another top prospect, was added to the 40-man roster when he signed a long-term contract extension this offseason. He is expected to be the Opening Day second baseman.
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 spring training: Six starters for the rotation
