Riley Greene knows exactly what he wants.
“I mean, of course, that’s something I want,” Greene said Monday when asked about making the Detroit Tigers‘ 2022 Opening Day roster.
The 21-year-old spoke while playing a round of golf in the Orlando metropolitan area, not far from where he played high school baseball at Hagerty High School in Oviedo — roughly 80 miles from the Tigers’ spring training facility in Lakeland.
In three months, Greene will report to camp in Lakeland. He would love to earn a spot in the outfield, possibly in center field, when the Tigers clash with the Seattle Mariners on March 31 at T-Mobile Park to begin the new season. This outcome makes so much sense that it feels expected, but Greene doesn’t subscribe to that way of thinking.
“It’s a thing where you just go out there and work as hard as you can,” Greene said. “Whatever happens, happens. I don’t make the decisions. I don’t do any of that stuff. I’m just going to control what I can do, and that’s working hard every day and playing my best.”
2022 ROSTER PREDICTION 1.0: Big name could fill shortstop void, but what about starting pitching?
PLAYER GRADES: Evaluating each Tiger as team aims for winning record, playoffs in 2022
The Tigers drafted Greene, straight out of Hagerty, as the No. 5 overall pick in 2019. They signed him to a $6.18 million bonus with dreams of him becoming an All-Star-caliber player.
Greene’s MLB debut, along with the anticipated arrival of fellow top prospect Spencer Torkelson, is right around the corner. The Tigers finished 77-85 in 2021, good for third place in the American League Central and the franchise’s best record since 2016.
Manager AJ Hinch already has ex-prospects Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning in the big leagues, so the Tork & Greene tandem is officially on deck. Now toss in new catcher Tucker Barnhart and a few free-agent additions, and the Tigers could become postseason contenders in 2022.
“This season was really good for the Tigers,” Greene said. “They played very well, in my opinion. It’s exciting seeing the team win and being able to go up there and help them win.
“Maybe one day.”
FIRST MOVE: By trading for Tucker Barnhart, Tigers are ‘trying to build a winning team’
WHAT TO KNOW: What will Tigers get from Tucker Barnhart? Just ask Reds’ Tyler Stephenson
After the Tigers drafted Greene in 2019, he competed in 57 games for three affiliates in his first season as a professional. He hit .271 with five home runs, 28 RBIs, 22 walks and 63 strikeouts, climbing to Low-A West Michigan — which became High-A West Michigan in 2021 — to conclude his year.
The COVID-19 pandemic nixed the minor leagues in 2020, so the Tigers were eager to see Greene through his first full season. They needed to know if their prized prospect would be ready to contribute in the big leagues in 2022.
Greene didn’t disappoint the Tigers’ brass. He hit .301 with 24 home runs and 84 RBIs across 124 games between Double-A Erie (84 games) and Triple-A Toledo (40 games) last season, as well as making his presence felt at the All-Star Futures Game in July at Coors Field.
“It was kind of like a tease,” Greene said about the Futures Game. “It’s like, ‘Gosh, I need to get up there as quick as possible.'”
This year, mental toughness was his biggest development.
“It was a big learning process,” Greene said. “This was my first full season, and there were a lot of ups and downs. For the downs, you just got to wear it, learn from it and work off of it. The biggest thing for me was when I failed how I would come back from it. Baseball is a game of failure. It’s going to happen.”
For Erie, Greene had a .298 batting average and .905 on-base-plus-slugging percentage through 84 games. The Tigers promoted him to Toledo on Aug. 16 with Torkelson, a first baseman, and rising prospect Ryan Kreidler, a shortstop.
Greene said his maturity, in all aspects, skyrocketed.
“If you’re mentally strong in baseball, you can do whatever,” Greene said. “Having confidence every time you step up to the plate is huge. That was the thing that helped me out the most, staying calm, breathing. You’re always going to get that next at-bat the next day. It’s just making sure that you don’t dwell on the past.”
Greene continued raking for the Mud Hens, posting a .308 batting average and .953 OPS in 40 games. He missed the Arizona Fall League because of a concussion sustained in his last game in Toledo, but his absence shouldn’t hinder his chances of making the Opening Day roster.
“I had to adjust to what the pitchers were doing and how they were pitching me with sequences,” Greene said. “In Double-A, they were kind of just throwing. In Triple-A, they were setting you up for different pitches and pitching like a big leaguer would pitch.”
THE ODDS: Will Justin Verlander return to Tigers in 2022? Here’s what we know
WHAT WENT WRONG: Willi Castro’s ‘frustrating’ 2021 doomed by approach, chase rate
In early October, not long after Greene’s Triple-A campaign concluded, Tigers general manager Al Avila claimed offseason upgrades at the outfield positions were “not an area of concern because you have Riley Greene coming.”
So what did Greene think about Avila’s comment?
“Having people behind you and pulling for you every day, it’s awesome,” Greene said. “It makes you feel good as a person because the people there for you want to see you succeed. That definitely makes you feel really good, but you can’t really just think about that. You got to go out there and try your hardest.”
[ As Tigers enter offseason eager to spend, here’s the current payroll ]
Greene wants to reach the big leagues — whenever the Tigers deem he is prepared — because his performance demands such a decision. And then he wants to stick around and help put his organization back on the map.
“I really try not to look ahead on things,” Greene said. “My high school coach used to tell me to stay in the moment. That day, just work as hard as you can and do what you can. When the next day comes, work as hard as you can.
“I try not to dwell on the future and do things like that. I just try to go out there and play as hard as I can every day.”
TWO-YEAR EXTENSION: Why job security matters to Jonathan Schoop: ‘Family is everything’
JEIMER’S JOURNEY: Will Jeimer Candelario become ‘the whole package’ for Tigers? He says so
What Greene is saying sounds a lot like what the Tigers were expecting from him when they drafted him.
Here’s what Avila said back in 2019: “We have better information on him than we’ve had on almost any player we’ve ever drafted. That’s how comfortable we are with him. As far as off the field, the makeup is off the charts. The guy is disciplined. The guy is committed. He’s determined to become of the best players in Major League Baseball.”
Now more than ever, Greene is ready to taste the big leagues.
The exact moment he shows up remains to be seen.
“I’m just going to go up there and try to win a World Series,” Greene said. “That’s what it comes down to. It just comes down to winning. That’s what teams want to do. I’m going to go up there and do whatever they ask me to do to help the team win.
“We got a really good coaching staff up there, and I’m very excited for what the future holds.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.