Detroit — On Thursday, the day Major League rosters expand to 28 players, the Tigers will welcome No. 7-ranked prospect Ryan Kreidler to the big leagues and welcome back first baseman Spencer Torkelson.
Also, veteran right-handed starting pitcher Michael Pineda will be activated off the injured list.
Manager AJ Hinch said Kreidler, who will play second base, third base and shortstop, could make his debut on Thursday off the bench but his first start will be Friday.
Torkelson, the first overall pick in the draft in 2020 who began the season as the Tigers’ everyday first baseman, was optioned back to Triple-A Toledo at the All-Star break.
“There is a curiosity on how they will respond to the challenge, but we’re not just playing out the schedule,” Hinch said. “We’ve got to put an environment around them to challenge them and communicate to them that they have to do something to make our team moving forward.
“There are jobs to be won here and there is experience to be gained. It’s important for us, important for the organization and important for the player to lay it all out there.”
That doesn’t mean, Hinch said, that they have to set the league on fire right out of the gate. It’s more about adapting and learning what it will take for them to be successful at the highest level.
“Players need to be successful at this level, not just compete,” Hinch said. “We can get anybody to compete. We need to find the guys who can learn the fastest and grow the fastest and be contributors at this level.”
Kreidler, 24, would have already made his debut had a hand injury not set him back earlier in the season and he’s had trouble stringing healthy weeks together until this month. He was hitting .218 with a .781 OPS before going 0-for-5 at Rochester Wednesday.
But in the seven games before that, he was hitting .320 with a .469 on-base and an OPS of .989.
“He’s healthy, which is good,” Hinch said. “Be careful not to get caught up in the batting average. He does so much more on a team than just batting average. The reports we’ve got from everybody in Toledo was this was the best position he’s been in offensively.
“But his spark is going to be his overall package as a baseball player. He does everything pretty well.”
Torkelson was hitting .197 and striking out 25.5% of the time after 83 games with the Tigers before he was sent down. It’s been a grind for him but he’s shown signs of late of getting back on track. In his last 12 games with Toledo he was hitting .326 with a .488 slugging percentage (only one homer) and a .941 OPS.
“He’s got to continue to make adjustments,” Hinch said. “Certainly against left-handed pitching he has no problem. Against right-handed pitching he’s still had some swing-and-miss and some issues out over the plate. But it has to be finalized up here at the Major League level. He started here, he’s part of what we’re doing and he’s part of our future.
“We want to see if the adjustments he’s done can continue in the big leagues.”
The Tigers have worked to get him more athletic at the plate, get him away from his more programmed groove swing and liberate his hands so he can attack pitches in all areas of the plate.
“We know he’s not a finished product yet,” Hinch said. “But the work he’s put in has been substantial and the gains he’s getting have been OK. We still hope there’s more in there to develop.”
The trick for Hinch now is finding playing time for everybody. Torkelson was the everyday first baseman before he was sent out. Hinch didn’t commit to playing him every day in September.
“He will play the majority of days but we’re going to have some shared time around the entire lineup,” he said. “We want to give our young players time to get acclimated here and to make adjustments here. But I’m not going to bury the veteran players.
“I’m not sure I can commit right now to an everyday anything — other than Javier Báez at shortstop and Riley Greene is center field. Victor Reyes has earned a lot of playing time. So has Willi Castro. But we don’t want all of these guys up here collecting service time and meal money and not playing.”
The Tigers will have to make one roster move to accommodate all three additions. That move is expected to be made after the game Wednesday.
Pineda is scheduled to start on Saturday against the Royals, restoring the Tigers to a five-man rotation.
Transitional coaches
The Tigers are also bringing up two coaches from Toledo for the month of September.
Alfredo Amezaga, who was teammates with Miguel Cabrera in Miami in 2006 and 2007, will coach first base for the Tigers, moving Gary Jones to the bench.
“Jonesy will run the defensive positioning from the bench,” Hinch said. “We’ve seen Jonesy struggle with his ankle and knee (after taking a line drive earlier in the season). We’re going to lift that burden and give Amezaga a chance to bring his energy and expertise to first base.”
Also coming up is Toledo’s hitting coach Adam Melhuse, who has been directly working with Kreidler and Torkelson, as well as recently called-up rookie Kerry Carpenter.
“He’s been connected to those guys and we want that transition and that development of those guys to continue,” Hinch said. “We’re trying to create a development process at the big league level where they’re going to thrive.”
Melhuse will be doing his work in the batting cages and behind the scenes. Only one coach can be added to the bench in September.
Around the horn
Jonathan Schoop (ankle) went through a battery of agility drills before the game Wednesday and is anxious to get back on the field. But it’s going to be a minute. “We’re hopeful this weekend we can get him out (on a rehab assignment) to an affiliate, or maybe a couple of affiliates, over the next five or six days,” Hinch said. “I don’t see him joining us in Los Angeles (Sept. 5-7). It’s going to be more extended than that.”
… Victor Reyes had his hitting streak snapped at 12 games Tuesday night. It was one shy of his career best.
Mariners at Tigers
► First pitch: 1:10 p.m. Thursday, Comerica Park, Detroit
► TV/radio: Bally Sports Detroit, 97.1.
Scouting report
► RHP Logan Gilbert (10-5, 3.49), Mariners: Similar to George Kirby, who beat the Tigers on Tuesday, Gilbert is another lanky righty (6-6) who comes at hitters with all arms and legs — and a full-extension 96-mph heater. He has reverse splits, too. Righties do most of the damage against him (13 of the 17 homers he’s allowed, .797 OPS). That’s because his changeup (.121, 33% whiff), curve (.107) and slider (.167) more than neutralize lefties.
► LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (3-3, 3.60), Tigers: He’s won both of his starts since returning off the restricted list, allowing one run in 11 innings. And he’s not truly built up to full strength yet. He four-seam fastball has been sitting at 91, where earlier it was 92-93. But he’s been able to spot it well and work his cutter and sinker off it effectively. His changeup was a good pitch for him against the Rangers and their right-handed heavy lineup. The M’s can stack righties, too.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky