The look on Casey Mize's face struck fear in A.J. Hinch. Mize had just played catch a day after pitching five solid innings against the Royals and felt pain in his right elbow. He found Hinch in the clubhouse last Friday afternoon in Kansas City, understandably fearing the worst.
"It was scary," Hinch said Tuesday on MLB Network Radio. "He comes in and the look on his face was something that you don’t love to see on any player. Then we get a battery of tests and we’re all waiting for it."
Fortunately for Mize and the Tigers, the initial diagnosis "is that we caught it pretty early in the process," said Hinch. Mize still landed on the 10-day injured list, but the feeling is that he averted disaster: no major damage to his elbow, no need for surgery.
"He does have a medial sprain and now we just have to work through the timing and the rehab and strengthening, get the inflammation out of there," said Hinch. "But so far, the doctors are telling us that we’ve avoided any sort of catastrophic occurrence, which is good. Anytime a pitcher comes in with an elbow sprain, it immediately turns everybody’s attention toward the massive reaction.
"I know he felt better the next day. Maybe it was part diagnosis, part inflammation starting to subside. But he’s a huge part of our future and we’re obviously going to delicately walk through this and see, is it one start, is it two starts? It’s just a matter of what the doctors tell us what he looks like."
Hinch said later on Tuesday that Mize, who logged a career-high 150 1/3 innings last season, will be shut down until the symptoms fade to the point where he can begin throwing again. The timeline for that isn't yet known.
"We’re going to have to treat the symptoms. And while he still has symptoms, we're going to have him shut down," said Hinch. "I think when he can start throwing again will be the big key, and I don’t know when that is right now."
The schedule does work in Mize's favor. With the Tigers getting back-to-back off-days thanks to a rain-out Sunday in Kansas City and another one coming next Monday, Mize could return as soon as next Tuesday in Minnesota, having missed only one start. That's the optimistic view. For now, the Tigers are just relieved he isn't facing a long-term absence.
Hinch also shared a positive update on Matt Manning, who left his start last Saturday with right shoulder discomfort a day after Mize went on the IL. Manning reported shoulder tightness to pithing coach Chris Fetter after his velocity dipped in the second inning and "we immediately removed him from the game without any further conversation, just the way the last 48 hours had gone," said Hinch.
"The initial diagnosis with him is positive, as positive as it could be," Hinch said. "Structurally, we think he’s just fine. There is some inflammation, there is some tendinitis, some soreness, so we’re not sure how his start’s going to be at the end of this week. That's something we’re going to evaluate over the next 72 hours or so."
Again, because of the off-days, the Tigers can push their rotation back a day or two to where they don't have to make a decision on Manning until Saturday or Sunday.
"It’s a cautionary tale of how getting into the season is really difficult with the short spring," said Hinch. "Two guys we’re relying heavily on this year and the years moving forward are a little banged up, but both diagnoses so far have been good."
The Tigers are also hoping for the return of Javier Baez this weekend after a lingering right thumb injury he originally suffered in the team's celebration on Opening Day sent him to the 10-day IL last week. Detroit has called up Willi Castro in Baez's absence.
"We want to make sure we do this right the first time and it’s something that doesn’t linger the entire season," Hinch said. "Sounds like it's progressing, but slow and steady rather than fast. It kind of left us no option but to put him on the IL (retroactive to April 13). Hopefully seven days will be good for him and then we’ll be back to normal.
"It's frustrating to lose him. He was doing quite well, had a couple (game-winning) hits for us and his energy is just infectious on the field, so we need him back healthy."