The Tigers' top two prospects, and perhaps their future shortstop, are on the doorstep of Detroit.
The club promoted Spencer Torkelson, Riley Greene and Ryan Kreidler from Double-A Erie to Triple-A Toledo on Sunday, a change of course after GM Al Avila said last month that Torkelson and Greene would likely stay in Erie for the rest of this season.
Credit to Torkelson and Greene for forcing the Tigers' hand. Since Avila made that comment July 21, Torkelson is hitting .308 with a 1.022 OPS while Greene is hitting .362 with a 1.115 OPS. Green has been on flat-out fire in the month of August, hitting .397 with six homers and a 1.255 OPS.
Kreidler, Detroit's No. 19 prospect per MLB Pipeline, has the defensive chops to be a big-league shortstop. He's also coming around with the bat, hitting .302 with a .945 OPS over the past month. He has 15 homers on the year.
"He’s performed very well with the bat recently and we think it’s going to keep going through the rest of the season," Tigers VP of Player Development Dave Littlefield said earlier this summer. "We’re very high on Kreidler. He’s a big–bodied shortstop who's very athletic."
Of course, the Tigers are highest on Torkelson and Greene, the two offensive pillars of their rebuild. The duo will likely finish out the season with Toledo, which has 40 games remaining in a chase for the playoffs, putting both in position to make the jump to Detroit next spring.
Related
