The Detroit Tigers will have to wait a little longer for Jake Rogers.
The 26-year-old catcher missed Monday’s series opener with the Texas Rangers and was sent to the 10-day injured list with right arm soreness. Medical tests revealed a pronator teres strain, which is a forearm injury near his elbow.
Manager AJ Hinch initially hoped he would miss just two or three weeks. The latest update, however, isn’t encouraging.
“Jake has seen a couple of doctors, or at least they’ve seen his films,” Hinch said Thursday. “The diagnosis has been that rest is the best we can do. It is going to be longer than two or three weeks. He’s not expected to do any baseball activities for probably the rest of this month and into August, which is then going to ramp him back up for hopefully a late-season return at some point. He will head to Lakeland. He will not stay with us.
“That transition to Lakeland solidifies the likelihood of him being shut down for the next two, three, four weeks, whatever it needs.”
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Through 38 games, Rogers is hitting .239 with five doubles, three triples, six home runs, 17 RBIs, 11 walks and 46 strikeouts. He has provided an upgrade defensively, helping guide the trio of young pitchers — Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning — through their rookie seasons and cutting down eight of 14 runners trying to steal bases against him.
He has just one error and three passed balls.
“It’s a tough loss,” Hinch said. “Jake had established himself as a big-leaguer and someone who can help us win. What he was doing being the plate, and the adjustments he’d made at the plate, he was starting to gain more and more confidence as an overall big leaguer. It’s disappointing for us and disappointing for him. He was obviously upset by it. It’s a bad break for everybody.
“It’s our reality, so we move forward with (Eric) Haase and (Grayson) Greiner and get Jake healthy.”
Isaac Paredes to injured list
The Tigers placed infielder Isaac Paredes on the 10-day injured list Thursday, retroactive to Tuesday. He is sidelined with a right hip strain but will travel with the team for the upcoming six-game road trip to Kansas City and Minnesota.
Before Wednesday’s game, Parades, 22, was scratched from the starting lineup after running around the infield in front of athletic trainer Doug Teter. He was removed from Monday’s series opener with hip soreness.
“The next rehab part of him was going to be a couple days without him doing a ton of activity before ramping him back up and doing baseball activities,” Hinch said. “We’re not going to play with a short roster for that many days. … If you’re in Kansas City, you’ll see him do some activities over the weekend: hit and field and all those things. But the running has bothered him enough to where he’s unable to play.”
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To fill Paredes’ spot, the Tigers recalled second baseman Willi Castro from the Mud Hens. He was optioned to Toledo July 16 after hitting .214 with 18 walks and 72 strikeouts in 74 games. (Last year, he hit .349 in 36 games.)
Castro has played five games in Triple-A. He has a .391 batting average (9-for-23) with two doubles, one home run, two RBIs, two strikeouts and two walks.
“We didn’t know exactly when he was coming back,” Hinch said. “We didn’t think it would be very long. Turns out to be even shorter than we could have expected with the injury. So he needs to continue what he was doing in Triple A. He was doing great, swings were good.
“He took the demotion the right way, and the opportunity came back for him to get back up here. He’ll be in there most days.”
Nothing new on Jose Urena
Right-hander Jose Urena went to the 10-day injured list July 17 with a right groin strain.
“I see him every day, but he’s just doing treatments,” Hinch said. “The plan is strengthening him, and the medical team will treat him in the training room. He’s not doing any activity. No throwing. He’s not able to do baseball activities. He is shut down, but he’s still with us.”
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Urena, 29, has a 6.19 ERA, 37 walks and 52 strikeouts over 80 innings in 17 starts this season.
Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.