These injured Detroit Tigers are making significant progress toward full health
The Detroit Tigers have the latest on four injured players, and three of them — right-handed reliever Michael Fulmer, outfielder Daz Cameron and infielder Isaac Paredes — are making significant progress.
Fulmer reported to Minneapolis on Monday ahead of the three-game series opener with the Minnesota Twins, after pitching two games for Triple-A Toledo in a rehab assignment. He's recovering from a right cervical spine strain, which placed him on the injured list June 27.
Manager AJ Hinch said the Tigers are giving "serious consideration" to activating Fulmer in the next two days. Before Monday's game, the 28-year-old will pitch in front of pitching coach Chris Fetter, assistant pitching coach Juan Nieves and athletic trainer Doug Teter so the team can fully assess his health.
"I told him he's not going to be activated today," Hinch said Monday. "We'll take it day by day and see what we decide to do, whether we sent him back out to Toledo or whether he gets activated here."
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Fulmer pitched Thursday for the Mud Hens, giving up one hit and one walk in a scoreless eighth inning. He struck out one batter and threw eight of 17 pitches for strikes. He returned to the mound Sunday for the first inning, issuing just one walk in a scoreless frame. This time, Fulmer got one strikeout and fired four of nine pitches for strikes.
"The stuff has been really good," Hinch said. "His first two outings, kind of high-end velocity, some pretty good breaking balls. A little erratic with his command, but he's rebounding very well the next day. Even today, throwing off the mound after his nine-pitch outing yesterday, he wants to throw."
Along with Fulmer pitching, the Tigers are allowing Paredes to do "minimal work" on the field before facing the Twins. He'll do infield drills with third base coach Ramon Santiago in foul territory and could take regular ground balls.
Paredes, is out with a right hip strain. He went to the injured list July 22, retroactive to July 20.
"He may swing in the cage a little bit," Hinch said. "As we ramp him back up this week, it'll be very quick once we start the baseball activity for him to be up and running. We're going to take BP (batting practice) today, optional BP tomorrow. The day game, we won't do anything before the game before we get home. The on-field is very limited the next couple days anyway and fits the timeline of where Isaac is."
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The most encouraging update revolves around Cameron, who landed on the injured list July 7, retroactive to July 5, with a right toe sprain. He is doing "the most activity he's done" to this point in his recovery and swung the bat in the cages Monday morning.
"If all goes well, he'll have some outfield drills like a normal player today and still increase his intensity and volume," Hinch said. "They're trying to get him up and running by the time we go home. Can we entertain shipping him to Toledo and getting him some game time? That's still up in the air at this point. But we're trending in the right direction."
The Tigers want to see Cameron run the bases before leaving Minnesota.
"The hope is that he can increase intensity and volume and have no issues," Hinch said. "If he can answer those challenges, then games are next."
Goodrum dealing with 'rare' swelling
Utility player Niko Goodrum has been stuck on the injured list since July 17, retroactive to July 15, with a left calf contusion. He is still dealing with swelling in his calf, which the Tigers didn't expect to linger for as long as it has.
"Very rare and somewhat surprising, according to our medical team," Hinch said. "We're going to have him viewed in Minnesota again. It's not painful for him. It's only the high-end running that's making him a little apprehensive to run. You start messing with those calves, and he pulls that this time of year, we're starting to threaten the season.
"We're being very cautious with him because he still has swelling in his leg, and he's not asymptomatic, so we really can't ramp him back up until we get that blood and swelling out of there."
Grossman gets a break
Since returning from the All-Star break, outfielder Robbie Grossman has played all 10 games, hitting .229 (8-for-35) with three home runs, four RBIs, five walks and 10 strikeouts. He went 1-for-11 (.091) with two walks and five strikeouts in the past three games, which the Tigers dropped to the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
For the series opener with the Twins, Hinch gave him a day off for rest. He put Akil Baddoo in left field, Derek Hill in center field and Victor Reyes in right field.
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"There are going to be stretches where things are good," Hinch said. "There are going to be stretches where things aren't perfect. Robbie is doing fine, according to me. Even this month, as an example, the games before the All-Star break and games after are not related. We had four complete days off. Even the month of July stats are going to be a little bit all over the map.
"I think he's always grinding. He's always trying to find the right balance, the leg lift, the bat angle, and trying to be a powerful hitter but also trying to be a productive hitter and take his singles when he can. It's just hard to hit at this level, certainly hard to hit for six months straight."
Grossman has a .226 batting average, 15 home runs, 46 RBIs, 65 walks and 99 strikeouts across 96 games this season.
Third-round pick signs
The Tigers agreed to a deal Monday with Alabama right-hander Dylan Smith, the No. 74 overall pick in the 2021 draft. Smith was selected in the third round, after the organization grabbed prep right-hander Jackson Jobe at No. 3 overall, Texas righty Ty Madden at No. 32 in Competitive Balance Round A and prep infielder Izaac Pacheco at No. 39 in the second round.
Smith signed for $1,115,000, above the $844,200 slot value for the 74th pick, according to MLB.com's Jim Callis.
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Smith went 2-8 with a 3.84 ERA, 20 walks and 113 strikeouts over 98⅓ innings across 16 starts as a junior last season for the Crimson Tide. He is the first Alabama player the Tigers have selected since taking right-hander Spencer Turnbull in the second round of the 2014 draft.
The Tigers have signed their top 10 draft picks: Jobe ($6.9 million), Madden ($2.5 million), Pacheco ($2.75 million), Smith ($1.12 million), right-hander Tyler Mattison (Round 4, $400,000), right-hander Tanner Kohlhepp (Round 5, $400,000), outfielder Austin Murr (Round 6, $200,000), left-hander Brant Hurter (Round 7, $241,000), right-hander Jordan Marks (Round 8, $150,000), right-hander Garrett Burhenn (Round 9, $160,800) and outfielder Austin Schultz (Round 10, $148,900).
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Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers seeing significant progress from three injured players
