The Detroit Tigers to some good news on Friday; Gleyber Torres is back with the team after a stint on the injured list.
Per the team’s official social media account, they optioned outfielder Brewer Hicklen to Triple-A Toledo to make room on the roster for the slugging second baseman.
The return of Torres is huge for this lineup.
While the offense has performed much better as of late, it never hurts to have another power threat in the middle of the order, especially since he had gone 5-for-11 in his three games prior to being placed on the IL.
There’s no doubt the Tigers are better off having Torres healthy and available. However, his return doesn’t come without challenges.
During the time he was on the shelf, Spencer Torkelson continued to prove his comeback might be real with disciplined at-bats and his vaunted home run potential on full display. And Justyn-Henry Malloy has been solid since his call-up, slashing .231/.400/.308 with four RBI entering play on Saturday.
A.J. Hinch has some hard decisions to make when it comes to the lineup going forward.
Torres is going to play the majority of the time, there’s no question about that. He wasn’t handed a $15 million commitment for him to be a platoon player or sit on the bench.
But with the re-emergence of Torkelson and the struggles of Colt Keith, it’s not clear how the skipper is going to attack things when right-handed pitchers are on the mound.
“We will figure it out day by day. I don’t really need to commit any further than I have to,” Hinch said, per Chris McCosky of The Detroit News.
It should be noted that Torres is on the bench for Saturday’s contest.
Keith is manning second base and Torkelson is at first with Trey Sweeney covering shortstop and Javier Baez at third.
That falls in line with how Hinch has operated going back to last year, with a mix and match mindset that gets as many high-performing or matchup-friendly players into the game as possible.
What comes out of the return by Torres will be interesting to monitor.
While it’s a plus to have him back on the field, what the trickle down effect is for the rest of the roster isn’t quite known.
