Ryan Kreidler has played three innings of center field across three big-league seasons, and will likely start there for the Tigers on Opening Day against the Dodgers. Amid a rash of injuries this spring, Detroit decided Kreidler was its best option in center out of the gate.
A shortstop by trade, Kreidler made the Opening Day roster after the Tigers lost Parker Meadows for at least the first two months of the season, and Matt Vierling and Wenceel Perez for at least the first month. Scott Harris and A.J. Hinch believe that Kreidler's elite defensive traits in the infield will translate to the outfield, where defense is paramount for the Tigers behind what looks like a very strong pitching staff -- "especially in Comerica Park," said Harris.
"The more we talked about our roster, the more we realized we need to keep prioritizing outfield defense," Harris said. "We need to keep protecting our pitching, and we need to keep prioritizing versatility in-game. Ryan Kreidler helps us do that. He’s going to play a lot of center field for us. We think that Kreidler in center will continue to make one of our strengths, a strength. He’s going to protect our pitching and help us build around what I believe to be the strength and the backbone of our team, which is pitching."
Kreidler played a little bit in center the past two seasons in Triple-A, logging 178 innings at the position across 20 games. He also started there for the Tigers in their penultimate exhibition game. To Hinch, "one of the strengths" of Detroit's roster -- on top of the pitching staff -- "is that we can configure things in a lot of different ways."
"We're willing to do it and we're willing to try it. We know it's new for some guys, but we also have found that when we gave Ryan Kreidler a runway here, he looks pretty good out there. He makes a lot of really good plays. He's a smart player. He can throw, he gets off the ball like a shortstop, because he's a shortstop. We're going to keep evaluating along the way and making the best decisions to get as many outs as we can as fast as we can."
If one shortstop can play center field, why not two? Javier Baez will also factor into the equation of covering for Meadows, Vierling and Perez, though not nearly as much as Kreidler. Baez got the start in center in the Tigers' final exhibition game and Hinch was not deterred by what he saw. He hasn't played a single inning in center in his MLB career, but "he can make the plays," said Hinch.
"He's an athlete first, and he's learning a little bit more of the details with (outfield) coach George Lombard. "We'll find out where that goes. Does he have a start in there? Maybe. Does he come in during a game? Maybe? What we're comfortable with is the unknown of exactly how the innings are going to be divvied up. You're going to see a little bit of everything, and that includes Riley Greene."
The Tigers prefer to play Greene mostly in left to protect his legs and keep their best hitter healthy over the course of the season. He has a track record of injuries in center, where his defense doesn't grade out nearly as high as it does in left. He was worth 14 defensive runs saved in left field last year, compared to minus-7 defensive runs saved in center in 2023.
Still, the Tigers will deploy Greene in center when they feel like they have to, perhaps against difficult right-handed pitching matchups for Kreidler -- a .140 hitters in the majors -- or as a result of late-game maneuvering by Hinch. The same goes for recently-signed veteran Manuel Margot. The Tigers prefer to deploy his right-handed bat in the corners.
As for why they didn't make another external addition ahead of Opening Day, "we’ve been really focused on internal solutions," Harris said.
"We found Ryan Kreidler to be the best solution we could find. Anything on the trade front has not been all that fruitful right now because there are a lot of executives around the game in our shoes dealing with a host of injury issues themselves, and this isn’t typically a time of year where you can find a lot of external solutions. We found one in Manny Margot, but the last 48 hours we’ve been more focused on internal options and how to adjust our strategy to win games until we get healthy," said Harris.
That strategy boils down to leveraging a deep and talented pitching staff and assembling the best possible outfield defense behind it -- especially with the infield defense looking shaky at best. The Tigers have a first baseman who's never played the position in Colt Keith, a below-average second baseman in Gleyber Torres, a platoon at shortstop in Baez and rookie Trey Sweeney and a platoon at third in Zach McKinstry and Andy Ibañez.
"Outfield defense isn't as easy to measure or appreciate on a per-game basis as offensive stats," said Harris. "It's not on the scoreboard eery time a player comes to the plate, but it's very valuable. We won a lot of games down the stretch last year because we had a dominant pitching staff and an outfield defense that protected that pitching staff. It's our strategy to win games and it has to continue to be our strategy, even in light of the injuries that we've faced. That's why we put Ryan Kreidler on the team."
Harris added that "the most important thing" to remember about Meadows, Vierling and Perez is that "these guys are going to be back and they’re going to help us" this season.
"So we’re looking at this as a short-term challenge for us," he said. "We are getting a handful of adversity a little earlier than I expected us to, but as A.J. said, the mentality down here hasn’t changed. We have talented players, we have a really talented pitching staff and we just gotta find ways to win games out of the gate so that when our payers come back healthy, we treat it as a boost to a team that’s already on a roll."