It appears that the Tigers are going to have another player making their major league debut at this early stage of the season.
Although the team has not announced the move yet, sources are reporting that the team will call up catcher Grayson Greiner at some point today. One would likely imagine that due to Miguel Cabrera‘s lingering hamstring injury, we will probably see Greiner play the back up role behind starting catcher James McCann.
With Greiner playing back up to McCann, the assumption would be that John Hicks would take regular reps at first base in Miggy’s absence.
Source confirming #Tigers have called up Grayson Greiner.
Possibility first reported by @jwagnerblade.
— Emily Waldon (@EmilyCWaldon) May 4, 2018
Since Cabrera has not officially been placed on the disabled list yet, the Greiner promotion fills Detroit’s roster. If Cabrera is placed on the disabled list, the team would have yet another opening on the big league roster. This is because Detroit optioned reliever Chad Bell after Thursday’s game.
Greiner has spent the entirety of this season with the Toledo Mud Hens to this point, having racked up a .259 average in 58 at bats. He has one home run to go with seven RBIs, but has struck out 20 times in those 58 at bats.
This has been Greiner’s first long-term stint in AAA, having never played more than five games in a single season at that level. In 98 games with AA Erie last season, he batted .241 with 14 home runs and 42 RBIs.
Greiner will join Ryan Carpenter, Victor Reyes, and Mike Gerber as fellow rookies who made their big league debuts already on the young season.
A native of Columbia, South Carolina, Greiner was selected by the Tigers in the third round of the 2014 MLB Draft out of the University of South Carolina.
It is expected that the team will make an official announcement on the move at some point before this evening’s 8:15pm start in Kansas City.
