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We are just days away from Tarik Skubal taking the mound for the season opener against the Dodgers.

Detroit has had a productive spring training. They are both pitching and hitting very well. Spencer Torkelson and Casey Mize, specifically, have played like first overall picks for the first time in a long time. They are two key pieces to the Tigers’ puzzle as they look to take another step forward and win the American League Central this season.

Every start to the season has it’s challenges, and for the Tigers, it’s their outfield depth being tested. We know Matt Vierling will not be available on opening day, but the latest update on Parker Meadows was not a position one. Meadows injured a nerve in his throwing shoulder during the Tigers’ first spring training game. He has not played since.

“There’s no damage to the nerve, which is encouraging, but not all appointments come with great news. It’s also not firing at the level that we need to advance.”

“It’s just time, I don’t really know what that means after — when or if he gets cleared to do full activities, but obviously, we’re hoping sometime between now and then, there’s significant improvement and we’re ready to hit the ground running, literally.”

From Tigers Manager A.J Hinch

Meadows won’t be able to throw for at least a month, but can continue light baseball activities. The Tigers will no doubt miss his glove in centerfield.

They already had options to replace Meadows in center, but now they have given an infielder a tryout in centerfield as Hinch is looking at every possible option in the outfield for the regular season.

Baez spends time in CF. What does it mean for the team?

The 7th spot in the lineup belonged to Javy Baez on Saturday, and he was the Tigers’ starting centerfielder. It wasn’t Javy’s first rodeo in the outfield. He’s played there before, most recently with the Cubs in 2020. I would expect a rather easy transition for Baez.

We wouldn’t likely have seen this move if Meadows hadn’t suffered his injury. With that said, Baez doesn’t move into the role as everyday centerfielder. Defensively, he is a really good shortstop. He will likely get a handful of opportunities in the outfield this season, especially with Meadows and Vierling out of the lineup.

This means that we may see Baez and Trey Sweeney in the lineup together more often than we expected. Sweeney, a former first-round draft pick of the Yankees, was acquired by Detroit in the trade that sent Flaherty to the Dodgers at the deadline last season. When he got called up, he and Baez shared time playing shortstop. It wasn’t thought that shortstop belonged to just Sweeney, as Baez suffered a season-ending injury that required hip surgery this off-season.

Sweeney offered a little bit more at the plate last season than Baez once he got the shortstop position full-time, and even though Baez is very good at the position, they didn’t lose much defensively with Sweeney. He played really well defensively at short, and his play against Baltimore played a huge role in the Tigers clinching the playoffs.

Baez isn’t alone as far as an infielder spending some time in the outfield. Torkelson has spent some time in right field this spring and could see some playing time out there in the regular season with Colt Keith moving to first-base.

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