Kansas City, Missouri. — News was encouraging about Colt Keith, the Tigers’ rookie second baseman who slammed his right shoulder into the dirt while diving for a ground ball on Tuesday night.
X-rays were negative and he is not expected to remain on the injured list.
“It could have been a lot worse,” said manager AJ Hinch. “The initial diagnosis will be assessed on a day-to-day basis and if that’s the best we can say, that’s great.”
Before the game, Keith played catch out to 90 feet with Billy Boyer, the Tigers’ infield coach, and it didn’t look very pleasant.
“I’m feeling better than I thought I would,” said Keith, who missed a lot of time in 2022 because of a labrum injury. “It’s a little stiff and a little sore. We’re taking it slow.”
“But I’m confident that I’ll be able to be back in the next few days. We’ll see how it goes.”
It helps to have a day off on Thursday. Keith was not in the squad on Wednesday but Hinch did not rule out the possibility of him being available as a substitute.
“He’ll hit during the game (in the batting cage) and we’ll see if he’s available tonight,” Hinch said. “Having tomorrow off is good timing for us. We’ll just make decisions day by day.”
Keith said the shoulder hasn’t affected his swing. In fact, he said his swing feels good. It’s possible he’ll be used as a designated hitter this weekend in Baltimore.
“Hopefully the news we received today means we have avoided something bad,” Hinch said.
Zach McKinstry, who started at second base on Wednesday, and Andy Ibáñez would take over the second base duties in Keith’s absence.
Grab it, tear it
Pitching Coach Chris Fetter is after Casey Mize to start hot. Since returning from his hamstring injury, he has tended to take his starts more slowly.
Message received.
In the first inning of his start on Tuesday, he threw four-seamers at 97 and 98 mph. He ended up throwing 40 four-seamers, hitting 98.6 mph and hitting 96.8 mph, 1.3 mph more than his season average.
The same goes for the two-seamer. He threw 11 of them, peaked at 97.5 and was 96, 0.08 mph above his norm.
“We talked about him hitting his best in the first inning and not leaving anything for the final stretch of the game,” Hinch said. “He had high-end velocity from the start and when the velocity comes, the pitch comes and the slider is better.”
Mize has been working on increasing the speed of his slider and splitter between starts, and the results on Tuesday were stunning. He hit 90.7 mph with both throws, was 88.4 with the slider and 89 with the split.
That’s a jump of almost 3 miles per hour on both fields.
“Like I said, the better I recover from the injury, the more important it is,” Mize said. “My brain is starting to realize that my body is doing well. It depends on how often I compete.”
The extra speed increased the bite on both the slider and the splitter, although it did change the shape slightly. He threw the splitter at 204 RPM with more spin but a little less vertical movement.
With the slider it was tighter and there was less horizontal movement.
“The movement has changed a little bit, but not so drastically that there’s a different pitch,” Mize said. “Most of the data shows that more speed leads to more success. I’ll give up a little form if that leads to more speed.”
The next step in Mize’s development is efficiency and consistency. His control was not sharp (four walks) and he ended up needing 89 pitches to get through 4.1 innings.
“It feels like the ball is coming out well, but the execution is off,” he said. “The more I work on it, the better my speed, body awareness and execution will hopefully get.”
To achieve this, he will have two more starts available.
Dingler loops
The Tigers have a rookie record of 12-9 Dillon Dingler started behind the plate. Obviously, that part of his game has adapted well to the big league level.
The other side, however, was torture.
“At the end of the day, it’s just about controlling the nerves,” said Dingler, who is in a 1-for-31 broadcast with 13 strikeouts. “I think it’s obvious that I’m struggling a little bit at the plate. I’m trying not to make a big deal out of it. I’m trying to keep my confidence and keep everything as it is.”
It’s clear, especially recently, that the game has gotten faster for him at the plate. He lacks four-seam (.120) and two-seam fastballs (.133) and sees a variety of spins (sliders, sweepers, curves and cutters).
His hunting rate is 38% and his hit rate is 29%.
“Honestly, I’m just trying to move forward and give a competitive team a chance to beat,” he said. “Whether that means taking a step back and not trying too hard or whatever, I’m just taking it one day at a time.”
“I’m hitting some balls hard and have made some pretty good swings. I just have to wait for them to fall.”
This phase was certainly frustrating for Dingler. But it was not discouraging. It spurred him on rather than depressed him.
“It’s very motivating,” he said. “This is the level I want to be at for a while, and (hitting) is a very important part of being here. But at the end of the day, if I contribute to any part of a team’s win, whether it’s as a playmaker behind the plate or as a solid defender for our team, I’m very happy with that.
“Everyone has been there for me and I’m very grateful for that. I just need to have a good week, a week and a half, and make it to the playoffs.”
We see what you did, Dillon.
Catcher Nido signed
Regardless of Dingler’s problems, the Tigers signed an experienced catcher on Tuesday Thomas Nido to a minor league contract. He is expected to come to Toledo to replace catcher Anthony Bemboomwho is injured.
Nido, 30, was released by the Cubs on Aug. 30. He played parts of eight seasons with the Mets before signing with the Cubs in June. He was an above-average defensive catcher (plus 21 catcher runs) with a positive catch-stealing and blocking rate over the course of his career.
He hasn’t hit much throughout his career – .210 average and .554 OPS.
@cmccosky
