The Tigers placed outfielder Manuel Margot on the 10-day injured list due to left knee inflammation and recalled fellow outfielder Brewer Hicklen from Triple-A, per a club announcement.
Margot has gone 6-for-19 (all singles) to begin his Tigers tenure. He joins Parker Meadows, Matt Vierling and Wenceel Perez on the injured list for a Detroit club that has seen too many injuries in its outfield corps. The team didn’t provide an immediate timetable for Margot’s return. Notably, the left knee is not the same knee that Margot injured back in 2022, when he missed about half the year with a strained patellar tendon in his right knee.
The 29-year-old Hicklen was acquired from the Brewers on March 28 in exchange for cash. He’s hitless in a tiny sample of nine big league plate appearances but has appeared in parts of four Triple-A seasons, slashing .244/.352/.476 in 1366 plate appearances at the top minor league level. Hicklen will join Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and utilitymen Zach McKinstry, Ryan Kreidler and Andy Ibanez as outfield options for skipper A.J. Hinch.
The Tigers added in a separate announcement this morning that Vierling, who’s been out all season with a strained rotator cuff, is beginning a throwing program today. There’s still no firm timeline for his return, though Hinch noted to reporters that a motivated Vierling was out on the field playing begin throwing in 30-degree weather this morning — both a testament to his eagerness to return and the improved state of his shoulder (link via The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen).
In other Tigers injury news, the team scratched catcher Jake Rogers today due to tightness in his left oblique. As MLive’s Evan Woodbery points out, this means that reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal will be caught by a different catcher for the first time since 2023. Backup Dillon Dingler is getting the start today, snapping a streak of 37 consecutive Skubal starts caught by Rogers.
There’s no indication from the Tigers whether Rogers will require an MRI or a trip to the injured list. Veteran Tomas Nido is on hand in Triple-A Toledo as an experienced option to pair with the 26-year-old Dingler if Rogers is forced to miss any time.
Rogers, 30 next week, is out to a .222/.364/.333 start in his first six games of the season. He’s a premium defender behind the dish and has been looking to rebound from a down year at the plate in 2024, when he batted just .197/.255/.352. As recently as 2023, Rogers popped 21 homers in a season while batting .221/.286/.444.
LF Justyn-Henry Malloy is also in the OF mix.
Agreed, he’s been an everyday starter since getting called up. Even batting leadoff
I guess, like me, the writer doesn’t see him as a legitimate choice for playing time in the OF. His best defensive position is DH
It’s good Skubal gets to throw to Dillen. The Tigers are playing real good. They seem to rise above the adversity now a days. GO TIGERS !!!
Interesting that Hicklen got the call over Ben Gamel, Jahmai Jones and Bligh Madris.
None of them are on the 40 man, Hicklen already was
Gotcha. Makes sense now, but surprised he was on the 40-man over the others.
Why have Hicklen on the 40 man over other much better options? Hmmm..
I was hoping Jahmai Jones would be on the opening day lineup. Maybe I missed something but he hit and defended well the few games I saw him play.
There is always someone on every team has someone that pops in the early going
There’s something to it when we non scout fans even notice something special about his swing.
I was surprised it wasn’t Jones too.
Think they had to add him when they traded for him, though it’s fair to wonder if he was worthy of that 40 man spot over others, including ones you mention.
Hicken was on the 40 man roster because when he was dfa by the Brewers he was traded for by Detroit before he was put on waivers. Thus, he had to go on Detroits 40 man roster.
They should sign Jankowski for CF after Chicago released him. Dingler looked good today. He hit his 3rd jack and caught Skubal’s shutout.
Vierling is back in a week or so, that’s your RH platoon w Riley. I’d take Baez in CF over Kreidler at this point. I don’t think I’ve ever hated a player for no real reason more than him since my Shane Halter rage.
I thought that they should’ve signed Travis *before* the White Sox grabbed him. Hope Scott and Jeff are more nimble this time…
Dingler may just grab this starting catcher spot and not give it back to Rogers.
The Tigers outfield situation is not ideal… and when Torres returns from his injury, the team is going to have to find a position for both Torkelson and Keith, and based on what they’ve said about Keith playing 1B, I think it’s going to have to be Torkleson moving to RF (although I think 3B could be a fit for him, even though he’d probably be bit of a butcher, which would allow Baez to move to CF, and Kreidler to go back to Toledo). Anyways, will be interesting to see how they handle this situation. As to Vierling, it certainly would be nice to get him back, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Rotator cuffs are tricky, I would bet surgery is in his future and he misses the whole season.
Tork will not ever go over to 3B again. I hardly think he’ll see much, if any time in RF. I’m betting Tork gets to stick at 1st. Keith is the odd man out when Torres comes back. While Keith is getting on base, he’s not hitting for any power. Torres is definitely the better hitter, but from the R side. Colt is LH’d. Tork, of course is RH’d and so is Malloy, who is showing his value.
I could see Baez seeing more time in CF. Kreidler is good for bunting only.
Carp, Greene and ??? make up the OF until Vierling gets healthy, which I agree with you, is not assured.
When Torres comes back, it will be between Kreidler and this new kid, Hicklen (though he’s hardly a kid). Hicklen has only had 9 ABs in the majors. I think he faces Fried tomorrow. I bet he gets a hit. I’m resigned to the fact that Kreidler just aint going to hit ML pitching.
And for those who think the Tigers should have protected Gage Workman? He hasn’t played much and has no hits with the Cubbies.
Really underscores the question of why a team built upon a foundation of defensive versatility signed a player who refuses to play any position other than one he isn’t very good at.
Say what you want about Javy, lord knows he’s deserved a lot of the angst he’s gotten, but he will play any position on that field you need him to if it helps the team in the process. Comparing the two I’m not sure I’d rather have 9 Torres over 9 Baez to be honest–I mean, give me the “willing to do what it takes” guy over the “me-first” guy 99x out of a 100
They should call up Tomas Nido from Triple-A. He’s a vet with a glove that could keep Skubal sharp.
They already have!
@WestVillageTiger
Since when?