Third baseman Gio Urshela has been placed on the Tigers’ 10-day injured list, the team announced. Urshela is dealing with a right hamstring strain that forced him out of yesterday’s 5-4 win over the Twins in the second inning. Infielder Buddy Kennedy was called up from Triple-A Toledo to take Urshela’s spot on the active roster.
Urshela looked to be in discomfort after trying to run out a grounder, and he was replaced at third base by Matt Vierling in the bottom of the second. Vierling and Zach McKinstry could simply handle third base duties in a platoon until Urshela is healthy, though with Andy Ibanez also on the 10-day IL, Detroit’s infield depth is now further thinned out by the loss of Urshela for at least the next 10 days. Kennedy also figures to get into the mix, and his first in-game appearance will mark his Tigers debut after being claimed off waivers from the Diamondbacks in February.
Speaking with Evan Petzold of the Detroit News and other reporters, Urshela revealed that he has a Grade 1 strain, or the lowest level of strain. As such, the infielder is hopeful that he won’t miss much time beyond the 10-day minimum, though Urshela figures he’ll be sidelined for perhaps two weeks.
The hamstring strain is another unfortunate injury setback for Urshela, who missed most of the 2023 season recovering from a pelvic fracture. Urshela hit .299/.329/.374 over 228 plate appearances for the Angels but didn’t play again after June 15 due to his recovery.
Looking to rebuild his value, Urshela signed a one-year, $1.5MM free agent deal with the Tigers over the offseason, and has quickly stepped in as Detroit’s regular third baseman. While Vierling, McKinstry, and Ibanez has gotten some work at the hot corner, Urshela has started 14 of 20 games and also hit .298/.310/.333 over 58 PA. A .362 BABIP has greatly aided that production, as Urshela has continued to shown the same lack of power that plagued him in 2023. Urshela’s walk rate is also only 1.7%, which would easily be the worst of his career if continued over the full season.
Despite these concerns, Urshela has actually been one of the more respectable hitters on a Detroit team that has struggled to generate offense. Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, and Mark Canha are all hitting well, but pretty much the rest of the lineup has ranged from average to mediocre, as the Tigers have been carried by their pitching to their solid 11-9 start.
I hope Kennedy gets in a few games before Ibanez comes back, as he looked good in S.T.
I don’t know Kennedy but does he have options? I actually feel for the 27th guy on the roster who comes up due to a minor injury or because the team needs a fresh arm and then gets immediately DFAed. As a compromise in the next CBA, maybe add in for the players that once called up, they get a guaranteed 30 days MLB time/pay.
Clarification: they might get the time credited and MLB pay for 30 days but a team can DFA a player at any time is what I meant.
Yes, Buddy Kennedy has an option left.
Coltbust needs to step it up
I am disappointed for Ryan Kriedler. This would have been a great opportunity for him.
He’s hurt.
Seems like the Tigers are dodging the bullet on the pitching front but their bad luck has transferred over to the infield (Ibanez, Urshela, Kreidler, Leonard). Kennedy has looked good in AAA. Perez is an infielder by trade too. Shows they have good depth this year.
Knock on wood, other than Gipson-Long, the injuries are to utility infielder of which the team has many.
Curious when they’ll make that bold move with Jung…
Urshela Lack of power isn’t a problem
You don’t want Urshela to try to hit HRs.
Just be a line drive machine, be clutch and play good defense. Stay healthy play 125 games. That’s his best game.
Obsession with power just leads to too many strikeouts and potential PED use.
Urshela is an average 3B overall. Good average, good defense, no power… much better than anything the Tigers had last year. He was a big improvement. But it was a 1 year Band-Aid fix. That’s what Harris does… he uses Band-Aids to fill out the roster… 1 year deals on aging veterans looking to have a decent season and get a contract for the next year.
Should have gotten Chapman for 3B. You would have your 3B for the next 5 years. Oh, the fans were crying that it would block Keith… well, Keith never really worked out for 3B did he? Or he would block Jace Jung… who is struggling to hit .240 in AAA.
They said they weren’t going after bigger contracts because of Miggy… What’s the excuse now?
Chapman was no solution. Good defense but his bat is questionable. Band aid solutions for one year are better than pulling an Avila and signing Chapman to another bloated contract they would regret. 1.5 mil for Urshela was a sweet deal.
Is Jung suddenly bad after less than 100 at bats at AAA? He was doing fine until he had a cold week recently. If we use your logic Keith is a failure too. Guess they should just cut them both.
Jung isn’t suddenly bad… he’s what he always was… a mediocre player with no position. The roster is full of those.
Most teams will take a “mediocre” player who is a top 100 prospect, who hit 28 HR’s last year & had made only 6 errors in 3 years.
I guess if you are looking for a Joey Gallo with less power…
Andre Lipcius is hitting .312/ .364/ .639 in AAA… for the Dodgers. Harris gave him away. I guess Harris didn’t know injuries happen.
Lipcius wasn’t any better than the other options they have at AAA. They have lost two infielders on the MLB roster and two infield starters on the Toledo roster and they still have Kennedy to plug into a backup role (and could use Perez as well) and he looks as good as Lipcius did when he was with Detroit. McKinistry and Vierling can share the starting reps at 3B and Ibanez should be back soon. Plus Jung is there if they absolutely need a stopgap. The Tigers have lots of depth so Lipcius was expendable.
Perez is brutal on the infield. He belongs in LF only if he can keep getting on base which I think he can. Lipcius was a solid defender all around the infield and he had a marginal bat. Very similar to Ursula.
Mckinstry and Ibanez are AAAA bench players. Vierling is slightly better in my opinion.
It’s time the Tigers start getting major league talent. They have a roster of AAAA guys.
Most of the AAAA guys are gone. Ibanez, Vierling and McKinistry are definitely all backups and so is Urshela. Keith needs to pick it up or he’ll start losing at bats to Ibanez. Next year 3B is either Jung or a FA signing like Bregman.
I’m more concerned about the catchers and CF right now. Meadows is hitting half of what Baez is…hopefully he figures it out. Maybe Perez and Leonard (once he’s back from injury) will start to get more at bats in CF if Meadows can’t get it together. Rogers is hitting less than Meadows.
I don’t see that hot starts from KC and Cle lasting. On the pitching front the only one hurting the Tigers is Maeda. If they are in the running at the all solar break then maybe they make a move for a bat, depending on who is actually available.
Wenceel looked brutal in RF last couple days too. But he hasn’t played outfield very long. He looks like a great athlete. It’s up to the the Tigers where they choose to develop him. It’s not gonna be at a middle infield spot.
Tigers/Scott Harris made a huge mistake lowballing RHSP Spencer Turbull in arbitration coming off surgery and injuires.
It ruined the relationship between Turnbull and his agent and the Tigers Front Office.
Remember, Turnbull previously pitched a no hitter for the Tigers. When healthy, Turnbull had the best “stuff” of any of the Tigers starters at the time even their widely heralded young starters Manning, Mise, Skubal etc..
The Phillies and Dave Dombrowski swooped in and took a 2 million for 1 year flyer on Turnbull coming off injury and rehab.
We can see Turnbull’s talent as a “top of the rotation starter” when he is healthy.
The Tigers loss is the Phillies gain.
Scott Harris has retained most of the top young players and prospects drafted and traded for by the Tigers previous front office headed by Al Avila.
Letting Turnbull get away may be a huge mistake that could come back to bite the Tigers on their backsides.
The relationship was damaged beyond repair WAY before they “lowballed” him, which btw is an absolute lie….
He signed for about 50K more than Tigers had initially offered, and for a year
He didn’t want to be here. We didn’t want him here. End of story.
And if you didn’t notice, Starting pitching is NOT the issue with the team. In fact, even if Turnbull was still hers, he’d slot in as their #7 starter, behind Manning at AAA.
OH, ALSO….
Spencer Turnbull is 31 YEARS OLD
He’s not a prospect or even young pitcher. He’s now reached his pinnacle: Journeyman #6 starter.
He’s only starting for Philly because they’ve lost 3 fifths of their rotation, and he’s being limited to no more than 2x through batting order while walking 3 per 9
Maeda is 36 and they spent $12 mil on him. Turnbull would have been a better option. Maeda doesn’t pitch 150 innings a year. Barely 100 most years. Another Matthew Boyd.
I echo what Diabetic Rockstar said. Turnbull was more headache than he was worth and the Tigers have great starting pitching (minus Maeda right now) without him.
To be honest, The Tigers didn’t need Maeda, Flaherty or Turnbull… They have plenty of pitching depth in house and could have saved a bunch of money. If they were getting a starter, they should have spent on Montgomery and traded a couple arms for a young bat.
100% agree. I was happy they took a flier on Flaherty though. He has actually pitched really well. Still would have liked them to take a run at Montgomery and get a young bat like you say though. That would have added to the core. Maybe they can pry away a bat like Arozarena, Gorman or even Arraez at the deadline if they are close and those teams are out of the running.
They should have THIS off-season.
Now Sawyer down, Meadows batting….like a champ. Who are you going to trade now? Miami.has no need for one year contracts – another objection – letting guys showcase on the MLB level with NO rewards for the team, because Chris is too darn economical. Comical.
There was absolutely NO reason to sign Keith other than fan distraction
That’s the way Chris & Co. operate? Schmooz the the gullible.
Steve Miller all night long.
They have one of the top minor league systems in baseball. I’m pretty sure they can scrounge together a couple players other teams might be interested in.
I think Jobe may get a chance to be called up this year. He has really developed into a potential starter.
Skubal, Jobe, Mize, Manning, Olson could be a very solid inexpensive rotation in 2025.
If only a few hitters could develop.
No reason to.
I was hoping Gage Workman could be an option at 3B. He is still striking out a ton. Whatever happened to the Tigers cyber tech training hitting coaches?
Player Development still stinks
Workman hasn’t even been considered in the Top 10 of infield prospects since his draft year, when there was only 5 rounds and therefore limited picks added to the pool.
He’s never shown an ability to be anything more than a AA/AAA version of early-career Matt Chapman. Lots of K’s, streaky power and an elite glove.
Unfortunately infielders that can’t hit and strike out a ton are not in short supply in the organization
I agree, Workman has not improved at all. He has great defense, great speed and decent power… You would think the team could get him to cut down on the k’s and get the ball in play.
I thought Workman would be a solid starter when they drafted him. Too bad the strikeouts keep killing him.
Zero improvement on his K’s… there has to be someone out there that can reach him. He has so much talent… 30 steals… excellent defense all over the field… some power. He’s a lefty hitter now, he was a switch hitter. I hoped that would help, but nothing.
I guess it is improving… the past 3 years it’s gone from 40% to 38% to 32% this year. If he can get it around 25%, then there may be hope. He’s only 24… this is where his development should really be seen.
The great players are in the bigs at 20 and 21 years of age. The good players around 24 to 26. The older guys usually find a bench role and hang around a couple seasons and fade out. Workman is still young enough to get a shot.
The Tigers troubles started when they DIDN’T HIRE THE SUPERFIFE!
Holy Toledo!
YOU coulda’ had a V-8!
And I could be getting sh!tfaced right now and eating sushi with the owners of the Buffaloes!
Not to mention the good ol’ country songs we could be singing!