The Tigers placed catcher Wilson Ramos on the 10-day injured list due to a lumbar spine strain. Ramos will be replaced on the active roster by southpaw Derek Holland, who is returning from an IL stint of his own due to a shoulder strain.
This is the second time this month that Ramos has been sidelined by the same injury. Ramos’ previous IL stint lasted the minimum ten days before he was activated on May 17, but clearly something wasn’t quite right, as he hit only .087 over 24 plate appearances after his return.
Ramos signed a one-year, $2MM free agent deal with the Tigers during the offseason, and got off to a very strong start in his first few weeks in Motown before cooling off at the plate. With the brutal stretch between his IL stints now severely weighing down his numbers, Ramos has a .200/.238/.392 slash line over 128 PA in 2021.
Ramos had mostly been serving as a designated hitter after his return from the injured list, and thus the Tigers have already had three catchers on the roster. Eric Haase and Jake Rogers will now officially be handling all the catching duties until Ramos is healthy.
Holland signed a minors deal with Detroit and ended up making the Opening Day roster, giving the veteran left-hander a 13th Major League season under his belt. Holland has struggled to a 13.00 ERA over nine innings, pitching mostly as a reliever.