The Tigers announced this evening they’ve optioned infielder Nick Maton to Triple-A Toledo. Tyler Nevin was recalled to take his spot on the active roster. There’ll be more moves tomorrow, as the club informed reporters that Matt Manning will return from the 60-day injured list to start Tuesday’s game in Texas (via Cody Stavenhagen of the Athletic).
Maton heads to the minors for the first time this year. The left-handed hitting infielder was one of three upper level players acquired from the Phillies for Gregory Soto and Kody Clemens over the winter. He’s had a tough first season in Detroit, struggling on both sides of the ball.
The 26-year-old infielder has tallied a career-high 239 plate appearances, ranking fourth on the team in playing time. He’s hitting only .163/.289/.287. Maton is drawing plenty of walks but has gone down on strikes in a quarter of his plate appearances and hasn’t made much of a power impact. He has just six home runs with a middling 33.1% hard contact percentage.
Defense has been a similar issue. Maton has rated between five and six runs below average by measure of Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast over 303 innings at third base. Those struggles peaked yesterday, when he committed a throwing error with two outs in the eighth inning to allow the Twins to tie the game and couldn’t handle an extra-inning grounder that turned into a game-winning single for Minnesota. Jonathan Schoop draws into the lineup tonight at the hot corner.
As for Manning, he’ll need to return to the 40-man roster tomorrow. He’ll be making his third start of the season. The former ninth overall draftee worked to a solid 3.43 ERA in 12 outings last year. His 2023 campaign was thrown off in mid-April when he was struck on the right foot by a comebacker.
The Tigers could soon welcome back another pair of starters. Tarik Skubal is already on a rehab stint as he works back from last summer’s flexor tendon surgery. He’ll be joined this week by Eduardo Rodriguez, as Detroit announced the veteran southpaw will take the ball for Toledo on Thursday. Rodriguez has been out for just under a month with a finger concern.
No human being alive can possibly know what was in Scott Harris’ head regarding his decision to keep Nick Maton on Detroit’s big league roster until now.
Going back to at least the Precambrian Era, it is quite possibly the #1 Mystery of All Time.
Please, don’t be an over dramatic dumb@$$! Not like the Tigers had a ton of options. Kreidler is still injured and Nevin hasn’t done that well at the MLB level this year. None of their MiLB signings in Toledo have lit up the scoreboard either and JHM and Colt Keith both have a lot to learn before they are ready for the majors.
Height of arrogance to think that any fan knows more than a manager or GM who should and who should not be brought up or sent down.
Maton had been one of the worst hitters in mlb this year. Harris should be giving other guys a chance. Lipcius, JHM, and or Colt Kieth couldn’t possibly be worse.
Why would they call up any of those guys, in the first half of a rebuild year? They will be up in September when they should be. By then, the people who will not be part of the big picture will hopefully be gone. Miggy, schoop, meadows, short, Cisnero, Lorenzen, etc
They could absolutely be worse, players struggle all the time. It’s not a rare event.
Why bat him in the middle of the order for so long then? The Maton thing has been strange handling for months…
Should have kept 2 time Tiger-of-the-Year Jaimer Candelario.
The candy man turned down the Tigers offer and I believe signed for a little less money with the Nationals.
Candy wasn’t a free agent. He refused a large pay cut when the Tigers refused to offer him arbitration. Tigers didn’t want to pay the same rate as a year before, so they released him and offered him a contract less than what he would have been offered in arbitration. He refused and went to the Nationals.
Harris had no plan B for 3B. Not very smart.
The Tigers have the biggest disappointment on their active roster. Torkelson had been a big bust. He needs to be sent down.
I’m this case I’ve got to agree with serge! Maton has done nothing in his career to earn the amount of leeway Harris has given him this season. He was an automatic out nearly every ab, and his fielding was no better. I was hoping Malloy got the chance here, but anyone was a better choice than Maton. His historical stats don’t make you wonder if he’s about to break out either, maybe he becomes a better player in Toledo but don’t depend on it
What do Keith and JHM still need to learn? Tigers org is holding them back.
Replacing him with Nevin is a lateral move as he is as bad a hitter as Maton.
Keeping him on the roster was probably out of necessity, especially when at one point they had 5 Outfielders on the IL forcing Infielders like McKinstry, Ibanez and even Nevin into the OF
They could have called up Parker Meadows, and let the IF’s stay in the infield.
While I agree Maton needed to go down, Phil Nevin has been worse. At least Maton had one of the better walk rates in the league as a plus. Nevin has not been good at all. They should have called up someone else.
On a good note I’m pretty excited that Manning is coming back, followed shortly by Skubal and Erod. Greene and Baddoo are on the mend too. That’s wicked news. Could be a good run in our future.
Al Avila didn’t exactly draft well over the past 7 years. Picking top 10 should net a mlb player but finding players later in the draft is required to build a team. Al Avila was horrible at it. Ironically, his best pick could be ROY next year.
There is a difference between drafting well and drafting cheap. Sometimes it’s not about getting the best player but getting the player that will sign for whatever is offered
Avila was horrible at trading, he wasn’t nearly as bad with draft picks.
Avila sunk this tram with his free agent signings. Jordan Zimmerman closed our last window and Baez is killing this current rebuild.
Tork, Greene, Manning, Mize, Skubal, Keith, Carpenter… Avila wasn’t terrible.
FYI, the Tigers don’t have anyone hitting well. A few kinda warm streaks here and there, but not even one legit hot streak from any of our Motorcity Bengals.
Maton got some at bats and a legit shot. Harris showed patience and now he’s giving someone else a chance. Simple rebuilding 101.
Boyd just came out of the game in the first inning cradling his left arm. Not looking good. Just in time for Manning’s return…
And Vest just left…
32 pitches, two injuries…
Still only the second inning.
And somehow the Tigers have a 4-1 lead.
Can you believe it? The Tigers suffer injuries to two pitchers in the first three innings, and still beat the Rangers 7-2.
Vest left with an injury the next inning. Wonderful 🙁
Maton hit some HRs.
I do not recall EVER, when I was younger…..the type of TV coverage on what happened the other night…especially to a rookie.
I was kinda surprised but not surprised they sent him down
..that extra kick in then head…but I did notice the cold shoulder Baez (of all people) gave him prior to that point, ealier,with Maton batting behind him. But they stuck with him this far….
Mookie Betts, sitting there, bumming out after striking out is one thing…..
And I do have to ask the question of T management; What does Scott Boras say?
Because it is literally his job to inform you.
Signed,
yours truly and
……still available.
Hinch s/b showcasing pitchers right now.
I could have been convinced keeping him in the lineup, but batting Fifth?!
Maton has been terrible, hopefully he can get it together in Toledo. Running him and Cabrera out there is just brutal.
Miggy has been shockingly decent the last couple of weeks. Schoop is the one they need to get rid of.
Miggy’s skills may have diminished, but he should still be appreciated as a great player who accomplished so much in his career that he will be a HOFer in 2028. Like Pujols, who knows when there will be another sure-fire first ballot HOFer? Maybe (definitely) Ohtani.
Trout and Kershaw say hello.
Right now, Ohtani is nowhere near the HOF. If I had to guess, he probably won’t make it (even if he has been spectacular the last two and a half years).
You really think Ohtani won’t make the Hall of Fame? Boy, every time I come to this site the comments get dumber and dumber. He is easily one of the top five players in the game, and the best two-way player since at least Ruth. And you think he probably won’t make the Hall? Oh my, goodness gracious! Lol.
IT’S A FOUR ALARM FIRE IN TEXAS TONIGHT ! Two innings, and on the third pitcher.. Airplanes will be flying Tiger pitchers for a few days. Well, that loafer Turnbull who didn’t know he was injured, until he was being sent down, is still out. It’s going to be wild for Detroit.
We get good news on 3 injured pitchers and promptly lose two more. Uggghh.
It took so long to put the line up out tonight, I thought maybe they would bring up Parker Meadows, but I guess Nevin gets another chance. WELCOME BACK IBANEZ………3 RUN JACK !
They’re going to see lots of LHP on this road trip. P Meadows does not hit LHP. Yet. Nevin’s splits against lefties not terrible.
FANTASTIC WIN, over one of the best teams this year. The Tiger’s a bunch of up an comers kicking some rear in Tay has tonight.
Can anyone detect what type of team the Tigers are trying to build?
Until the Tigers can purge the dead weight, they seem to be using the MLB level as a testing ground for the MiLB system. The 2023 season is purely a pre 2024 experiment.
In baseball, the worst team will beat the best team on any given day. AJ Hinch is a miracle worker.
San Franciso model. Draft some, sign some, trade for some, discover some (diamonds in the rough). No real superstars on the Giants, just a team of complimentary parts that go out and win. I’d take that if Harris can accomplish it here. Hinch is an awesome coach.
I really don’t believe the SFG model will work in DET. The 2021 SFG had a historically great pen (and historically unnoticed). Their model is being semi-copied by other teams now. SFG started with some fallen players with great upside still. There are no Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford types to have swan song seasons. Finally, players and their families want to live in the San Francisco Metro but not so much in Detroit Metro.
I’d take Maton back in Philly. I think some guys just play better in certain places and in situations. Maton was a great 2 game a week guy, pinch hitter. Same goes for Vierling.
Vierling is doing just fine as a regular.
I still have hope for Maton too. All those walks are a good sign. At worst, as I’ve said before, I see him as a Utility player on a good team. Hopefully he sorts things out. Vierling has been good so far, like ThonolansGhost said. Having him and Baddoo split time seemed to be working before.
I wouldn’t be too quick to close the book on Nick Maton. He was pretty decent in 2 short trials with the Phillies and was good in April. Clearly, pitchers figured out how weaknesses and adjusted – and Maton didn’t (successfully) adjust. But even with his terrible hitting since, his ability to draw walks (still!) suggests a level of plate judgment. The Tigers didn’t have much choice at third base and it’s not an defensible strategy on a team with so little hitting to see if he could make the adjustments in MLB at bats.
He still has a chance to develop into a bat-first asset.
It’s not just Nock Maton’s poor offense, he’s not much of a defender either. I don’t mind as much Spencer Torkelson not hitting because his defense is very good. That went for Derek Hill and Daz Cameron too.
Scott Harris gotta be like dam I let candy go now candy its leading NL in FwAr and better number then the whole Tigers everyday lineup smh !
Scott Harris will get along just fine without the Candy Man.
Good, clear writing, thanks!
Trade Hinch to the Mets or SD.
It is an opportunity.
Don’t pass by opportunities.
Hire the Superfife.
Don’t pass by opportunities.