LAKELAND, Fla. — At the end of last season, Detroit Tigers infielder Ryan Kreidler shared his main goal for the future.
“I want to hit better,” he said.
Kreidler returned to the Tigers for spring training 135 days later with a chance to secure a job on the Opening Day roster. The 25-year-old excels defensively at several positions, but his big-league offensive ceiling is the biggest unanswered question about his game.
“Playing bad is disappointing, but you want to help the team win,” Kreidler said. “I felt like there were times, even when I wasn’t swinging it very well, where I could help us win. That’s the mentality I’m going to take into this year.”
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Assuming Nick Maton — a left-handed hitter acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in the Gregory Soto trade — makes the team as a third baseman, the Tigers will need a right-handed hitter for the other part of the platoon at third base.
The primary options include Kreidler, César Hernández, Andy Ibáñez, Andre Lipcius, Tyler Nevin and Jermaine Palacios. If Kreidler hits, he will soak up playing time for the Tigers in 2023. If not, he could spend most of his season in Triple-A Toledo.
“I feel comfortable at third base,” Kreidler said. “I feel comfortable at shortstop. I feel comfortable at second base. And I’ll try to get comfortable in the outfield. I’ve been on Twitter. Whatever they want me to do is fine. Wherever they put me in practice, I’m good to go.”
But his offense will dictate whether or not he breaks camp with the Tigers. This offseason, he interacted with new hitting coaches Michael Brdar and Keith Beauregard while working out with Spencer Torkelson in Arizona.
Kreidler didn’t change his simple swing.
“I wouldn’t say I made a huge, drastic change,” said Kreidler, who tries to maximize his athleticism by avoiding unnecessary movements. “I have a lot of confidence in my swing, so I think going out and changing it would be a little premature.”
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In 2021, Kreidler hit .270 with 22 homers, 56 walks and 158 strikeouts in 129 games for Double-A Erie (88 games) and Triple-A Toledo (41 games). For the Mud Hens, he posted a .304 batting average and seven homers. A much-needed breakthrough season put him on the Tigers’ radar as a top prospect.
Those numbers looked different in 2022.
He played 54 games for Triple-A Toledo and hit .213 with eight homers, 36 walks and 72 strikeouts. Injuries delayed his MLB debut until September, and he hit .178 with one home run, six walks and 22 strikeouts in 26 games. Something else to monitor: He stole 17 bases in the minors but zero in the majors.
“Everybody gets a fresh start,” Kreidler said. “Feeling healthy is priority No. 1, so I’m definitely going to do my job to maintain that throughout the course of the season. You learn a lot when you get hurt. Preventative stuff, getting in the weight room, it’s draining, for sure, but you have to do those things. Not to say I didn’t last year, but I definitely learned how to take care of myself a little bit better.”
Kreidler suffered a fractured hand in May, then a groin strain in June and July. If it weren’t for those injuries, the Tigers would have promoted him earlier in the season.
Instead, Kreidler had to wait.
“It was hard, but it really doesn’t matter because nobody feels bad for you, and that’s fine,” Kreidler said. “It was difficult, but nobody’s there to pat you on the back at this level. You’re a pro, and you gotta run with those.”
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Ultimately, he never felt locked in.
“When I came back, there was definitely something mentally there,” Kreidler said. “With any injury, it’s difficult to just come back and say, ‘Oh, everything’s fine.’ But I don’t think that’s a cause for me not swinging it as well as I could. I think there’s a lot of reasons for that.”
Kreidler, the Tigers’ fourth-round draft pick in 2019, sounded confident about his ceiling as a hitter, almost like he truly identified and learned from his mistakes. It’s his first big-league spring training as a member of the 40-man roster, and his locker is next to those of Torkelson and Riley Greene. Both former first-round picks, barring an injury, will play for the Tigers on Opening Day.
Kreidler, now healthy again, hopes to join them.
He also hopes for a bounce-back 2023.
“I wouldn’t blame it on my health,” Kreidler said. “I would blame it on poor performance. It’s definitely on me. I’m willing to wear that on the chin and learn from it, and I think I have over the course of this offseason to attack those weaknesses. I feel more prepared coming into the season than ever.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.