The Detroit Tigers selected Riley Greene with the 5th overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, and he's taking the next step in his career.
He's joining Detroit's Double-A affiliate Lake Erie SeaWolves, and he'll be in the lineup tonight as they begin their season in Reading, PA.
“In baseball, nothing is ever set until it actually happens,” Greene said. “I wasn't really thinking about it until the day that we all saw the rosters on the board.”
“It's going to be fun to watch him develop,” Erie manage Arnie Beyeler said Saturday. “I'm really excited to see him on a daily basis. He's played a lot of baseball, so we're trying to get him a lot of at-bats and just let him develop. It should be exciting for everybody to watch.”
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the minor-league season in 2020. However, he continued to work on his game at Detroit's alternate training site last summer, followed by appearing in the instructional league in Lakeland, FL.
“Being at the alt site definitely helped my game and my mental approach as a player,” Greene said. “I learned a lot there. My swing definitely got better. Mentally, I got better at baseball. I felt like that had a lot to do with me being able to be here (in Erie).”
For Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, the timeline of when the likes of Greene and Spencer Torkelson advance in their careers will be based on their performance.
“I learned that the makeup is real and the talent is real,” manager AJ Hinch said in late March about Greene and 2020 No. 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson, who is starting in West Michigan. “The timeline for when they can advance is going to be based on how they perform.”
– – Quotes via Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press Link – –
