LAKELAND, Fla. — Riley Greene’s quest to be in center field on Opening Day at Comerica Park hit a tough-luck ending. The Tigers’ No. 2 prospect suffered a fractured right foot Friday when he fouled off a pitch from Gerrit Cole.
The fracture is not expected to require surgery, manager A.J. Hinch said on Saturday morning. No timetable has been released, but Hinch said he’ll be re-evaluated in a few weeks.
“I think a timeline at this point would be unnecessary,” Hinch said. “Right now, it’s nonsurgical — which is a good sign. So there’s a chance it could be on one [shorter] timeline, and there’s certainly always the dreaded longer [timeline] than that. Clearly, [he is] not going to be available to start the season.”
Ironically, the injury was a byproduct of one of Greene’s better at-bats of a torrid Spring Training against last year’s AL Cy Young runner-up. Greene, MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 prospect, had fouled off back-to-back pitches from Cole to stay alive in a 1-2 count — first a buckling Cole curveball, then a 97 mph fastball. The latter pitch was the foul ball that hit off his foot.
Greene had very little reaction, stayed in the box and centered Cole’s next pitch, a changeup, for a 404-foot drive to the center-field fence. Greene was seemingly running at full speed, though one evaluator in attendance said his stride seemed to change around second base.
The young outfielder waited on third base as Spencer Torkelson and Tucker Barnhart drew walks to load the bases. Cole nearly escaped the threat, striking out Akil Baddoo and retiring Victor Reyes on a pop-up to short, but a hard-hit ground ball from Javier Báez down the third-base line sent runners in motion.
Greene took off from third as Yankees third baseman DJ LeMahieu made a diving stop and threw to second. The throw was off-line as Greene scored.
After the inning ended, Greene hobbled from the Tigers dugout down the right-field line to the clubhouse with a member of the team’s athletic training staff. The tests were initially precautionary, Hinch said, but showed the more serious injury.
“The films initially came back with a fracture,” Hinch said. “We had it evaluated by Dr. Robert Anderson, who’s an expert foot doctor, and he confirmed the diagnosis.”
Greene’s injury throws the Tigers’ outfield mix into flux. Though Hinch hadn’t anointed him to Detroit’s Opening Day roster, all signs were pointing in that eventual decision and Greene starting in center field on Opening Day. The 21-year-old batted 9-for-21 (.429) in Grapefruit League play with three doubles, two triples, two home runs and four RBIs.
“Obviously, he was having a great spring,” Hinch said. “He was trending all in the right direction. He’s super-energetic, great kid, great attitude. He’s taking this news as [positively] as he can, and obviously we’ll welcome him back as soon as he’s back healthy again. Truly disappointed for him and our organization. We hadn’t informed anybody of anything on how it was all going to go down, but clearly he was playing well and trending in the right direction. It’s disappointing for him specifically because of the work he put in to make a good impression.”
Normally, Derek Hill would be in position to fill the opening in center field. However, Hill has been sidelined since suffering a right hamstring strain on Wednesday. The injury is categorized as low-grade, but Hinch said he won’t be ready for Opening Day.
“If we had a little bit more time, we would be more optimistic that we would get him out there,” Hinch said. “But we’re not going to press it just to leave on Wednesday. He will stay back [in Lakeland] and get a little bit of work in before we can get a rehab assignment.
Hill should be able to return sometime in April, Hinch said.
That leaves Victor Reyes as the expected starter in center alongside Baddoo and right fielder Robbie Grossman. The reserve outfield spots are more complicated and are likely to involve players who play the outfield among other positions, rather than pure outfielders.
“Internally, we’re looking at [catcher/outfielder Eric] Haase and [utility player] Willi [Castro] as being a little bit more geared towards the outfield,” Hinch said.
Outfielder Daz Cameron, who was optioned to Triple-A Toledo earlier this week, will not be recalled, Hinch said.