DETROIT – Baseball season is on deck, and Detroit Tigers fans are hoping this is finally the year they get back in playoff contention.
It hasn’t been a flashy offseason in Detroit, but Scott Harris, Jeff Greenberg, and A.J. Hinch have made a handful of moves to improve the roster: trading for Mark Canha, signing Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty, and extending Colt Keith.
Over the past week, I’ve posted predictions for the Opening Day lineup, starting rotation, and bullpen. Here are those breakdowns:
Now, I’ll put my entire projected 26-man roster prediction in one place. Remember, this is the pre-spring training edition -- I’ll have a new list after we see how everyone performs over the next six weeks.
Starting nine
- Catcher: Jake Rogers.
- First base: Spencer Torkelson.
- Second base: Colt Keith.
- Third base: Matt Vierling.
- Shortstop: Javier Baez.
- Left field: Mark Canha.
- Center field: Parker Meadows.
- Right field: Riley Greene.
- Designated hitter: Kerry Carpenter.
Starting rotation
- Tarik Skubal.
- Kenta Maeda.
- Jack Flaherty.
- Matt Manning.
- Casey Mize (with a piggyback starter).
Bullpen
- Alex Lange.
- Jason Foley.
- Tyler Holton.
- Andrew Chafin.
- Shelby Miller.
- Beau Burrows.
- Reese Olson (piggybacking with Mize).
- Will Vest.
Bench
- Backup catcher Carson Kelly.
- Outfielder Akil Baddoo.
- Super utility Andy Ibanez.
- Super utility Zach McKinstry.
