LAKELAND, Fla. — AJ Hinch had the talk Sunday morning.
“I told them what I told you yesterday,” he said. “This isn’t a camp now, it’s a team.”
The Tigers leave for their final two exhibition games in San Francisco in a week. The spring roster has been trimmed of prospects and extra players. What’s left are those who are either on the opening-day roster or fighting to win one of the final roster spots.It’s down, in other words, to the nitty-gritty.
“It’s going to be a weird week on a lot of fronts,” Hinch said. “I want them to know I understand the difficulty of this week. As the roster shrinks, more questions come up than less. And I know they’re getting it from their family and friends and significant others.
“I am going to do my best to communicate with this group as we get closer — who’s going to San Francisco and who’s not. Who is on the team and who’s not.”
And most of the decisions, if not all of them, will come after those last two games in San Francisco.
“I’ve been the last cut before,” Hinch said. “So I have a lot of empathy for part of that group in there that doesn’t know whether or not they’re going to be in Los Angeles (to start the season).”
There are two rotation spots still open, with rookie Jackson Jobe, Casey Mize, Kenta Maeda and Keider Montero still very much in the fight. The presumption is there is one bullpen spot open with lefties Sean Guenther, Brant Hurter and Andrew Chafin (non-roster) fighting for it.
That scenario could change if the club decides to keep one of the starters on the roster and move him to the bullpen.
On the position-player side, barring injury, 10 of the 13 spots appear locked up: catchers Jake Rogers and Dillon Dingler, infielders Gleyber Torres, Colt Keith, Javier Báez, Zach McKinstry and Andy Ibanez and outfielders Riley Greene, Wenceel Perez and Kerry Carpenter.
In the competition for the other three spots are Spencer Torkelson, Trey Sweeney, Ryan Kreidler, Jace Jung, Justyn-Henry Malloy and Jahmai Jones (non-roster).
Of that group, only Jung (third base) and Sweeney (shortstop) are locked into one position. All the others are in the mix both on the dirt and on the grass.
Third base and center field, with the injuries to Matt Vierling and Parker Meadows, are completely up for grabs.
Hinch has been rotating Perez, Kreidler and Jones in center and is considering giving Báez some reps out there before the end of camp.
At third base? The only certainty is that it will be shared by multiple players.
“I don’t know and I’m OK with not knowing right now,” Hinch said when asked directly about the status at third base. “You are seeing the same group of guys that we always play there and we plan to sort it out as the season gets underway. The short answer is, we’ll see.
“The long answer is, we haven’t even named our team yet for me to know who I’m choosing from.”
Báez made his second start of the spring at third base Sunday. McKinstry, Ibanez and Kreidler all have mixed in at third. But the player who initially was tabbed to get a big chunk of the playing time at third, Jung, has had a rough camp offensively.
“He’s fighting with his timing,” Hinch said. “He can hit and he’s putting up real competitive at-bats. But the pitches he’s getting to hit, he’s fouling off. And the balls he’s putting in play aren’t being squared up. I think a lot of it is just spring training timing, but he’s been frustrated.
“He’s been caught in-between on both offspeed and fastballs, and that’s a very lonely place to be in the batter’s box.”
Jung, who played in 34 games with the Tigers at the end of last season, is 4 for 33 (.121) this spring with 10 strikeouts and four walks.
“You can see it starting to frustrate him, but he’s staying in the fight and doing what he can with his defense,” Hinch said. “He’s getting better at third base and for the most part his discipline at the plate has been pretty good. But it’s been a tough camp.”
If Jung doesn’t rally in the final week, and with Báez getting more reps at third, a scenario is emerging where Sweeney makes the team and platoons with Báez at shortstop — Sweeney bats left-handed and Báez right-handed — and Báez also can be in the timeshare at third base.
Torkelson has all but hit his way onto the opening-day roster as a backup first baseman and designated hitter. He’s also starting to take some reps in right field, which increases Hinch’s optionality off the bench.
Malloy, Kreidler and Jones, all right-handed hitters and all having productive camps, enter the week essentially fighting for the 26th spot on the roster.
“This week is filled with stress and tension for a lot of people,” Hinch said. “But for us, it’s good that we have a lot of options.”
And, as Hinch said, opening day isn’t the last deadline.
“That’s just the first choice,” Hinch said. “The competition continues.”
To that point, the Tigers last season called up Perez on April 8. Brieske was called up on May 13. The Tigers could make decisions based on matching up for their first batch of series (Dodgers, Mariners, White Sox, Yankees) and then make alterations after that — which is likely, especially if Meadows and Viering are ready to return.
“Players don’t want to hear that,” Hinch said. “They don’t want to hear, ‘We’re going to need you, you’re going to be here at some point.’ They want to be here or they’re not here. But like, I don’t know definitively that every player in this room right now is going to come to the big leagues, but they can.
“Everybody who is here you can see either making our team or coming up at some point.”
A roster projection
Rotation (5): Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Reese Olson, Jackson Jobe, Casey Mize
Bullpen (8): Tyler Holton, Beau Brieske, Will Vest, Tommy Kahnle, Jason Foley, John Brebbia, Brenan Hanifee, Kenta Maeda
Catcher (2): Jake Rogers, Dillon Dingler
Infield (5): Colt Keith, Gleyber Torres, Javier Báez, Trey Sweeney, Spencer Torkelson
Utility (2): Andy Ibanez, Zach McKinstry
Outfield (4): Riley Greene, Wenceel Perez, Kerry Carpenter, Justyn-Henry Malloy