LAKELAND, Fla. — Javier Báez, the Detroit Tigers‘ star shortstop, says he is fine.
The first grounder in Wednesday’s workout struck his right index finger, and the Tigers sent assistant athletic trainer Matt Rankin onto the field to evaluate the situation.
Báez appeared to be in pain.
“It hit me right on the nail,” Báez said.
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Rankin met up with Báez behind second base while manager A.J. Hinch hit grounders to infielders. They stood in the shallowest part of center field and examined his finger. Third base coach Gary Jones, initially stationed near home plate, walked down the third-base line and into the outfield to check on his player.
After a few minutes, Báez received the green light to continue practicing.
Báez, who landed on the injured list last season with a sore right thumb, jumped back into the mix and fielded grounders at shortstop, rejoining Ryan Kreidler. He examined his finger, both looking and touching, between the next few balls.
The Tigers worked on forceouts and double plays during infield drills. Jonathan Schoop and Tyler Nevin played third base, while Nick Maton and César Hernández handled second base. Spencer Torkelson held down first base.
Nevin, acquired in a New Year’s Eve trade from the Baltimore Orioles, received praise from several of his teammates for a backhanded grab on a grounder down the third-base line.
He made a clean throw to second.
“Ohhh,” Schoop said.
“Nice!” Kreidler chimed in.
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A few plays later, Nevin sent the fans into a frenzy as he darted toward the third-base line and backhanded a grounder. The play took him deep into foul territory. As everything unfolded, most of the spectators started cheering for him.
Once again, Nevin fired a rocket to second.
“We’re going to get him into games,” Hinch said of Nevin, who has played third, first, right field and left in the past two seasons. “We can grade him out on paper, and we’ve got video, but he’s got some work to do in the games before I really have an opinion.”
During the pitchers’ fielding practice, Nevin exchanged his third baseman’s glove for a first baseman’s glove and partnered with Torkelson.
Hinch has so many options.
On Monday and Tuesday, Maton and Hernández were the featured position players at third base, and Schoop played his natural position at second base. Don’t forget about Andy Ibáñez, either. He has experience at third, second, first and left.
Hernández, a switch-hitter, is expected to play in the outfield at some point.
“Anybody in these versatile roles is going to have to expand their comfort out there,” Hinch said. “He’s plenty comfortable. We told him early in camp he’s going to focus on the infield. As things evolve, and he becomes more comfortable being on this team, we’ll probably put him in the outfield later in camp.”
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After completing his infield work, Báez returned to the bench and told his teammates what happened on the first grounder. He then took a full round of live batting practice against left-handed pitchers Tyler Alexander and Matthew Boyd.
His right finger didn’t appear to bother him while swinging the bat.
He was swinging hard.
Foley impresses
Right-hander Jason Foley and outfielder Riley Greene were talking trash on the field during a live at-bat, especially after Foley threw a pitch that made Greene hop out of the way, and the banter carried into the Tigers’ clubhouse
“I threw a back-foot slider,” Foley said, “and it was probably a little more in than I probably would have wanted, and we were just joking around.”
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Greene wasn’t ticked.
He was impressed.
In the clubhouse, Greene walked to Foley’s locker and gave him feedback.
“Bro, you looked good!” Greene said.
Foley, who has been working on improving his slider to complement his nasty sinker, appeared in 60⅓ innings for the Tigers last season, recording 43 strikeouts with just 11 walks.
“It felt pretty good to finally face some hitters and get some feedback, especially from him because he’s a great hitter,” Foley said.
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Hinch watched Foley throw in Wednesday’s practice and was also impressed. He praised the Tigers’ player development system — as well as Foley himself — for how the right-hander has improved over the years.
“When I first saw him two years ago, to where he is today, a lot of hands has been on him and a lot of people (have played a role) in his development,” Hinch said. “He’s done an incredible job of making some adjustments, and we’ve said all along that we see a ton of upside in him, and he can get a lot of style hitters out. He’s starting to realize that and demonstrate that.”
Kerry Carpenter gets last laugh
Kerry Carpenter, a left-handed hitter who is fighting for a spot in the outfield, faced right-hander Beau Brieske in a live at-bat during Wednesday’s workout.
He whiffed at one of the first pitches.
“Woo!” he said, giving Brieske his due.
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But Carpenter had the last laugh, crushing a home run to right field. He went into the dugout and got some fist bumps from his teammates.
“That feels good after yesterday,” Carpenter said, breaking into a smile.
A big swing
Four younger players took batting practice off a coach before live at-bats: Colt Keith, Andre Lipcius, Justyn-Henry Malloy and Parker Meadows.
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Keith, the youngest player in camp, hammered a ball to right-center. The ball hit the sidewalk — beyond the stairs leading to the outfield — and bounced in front of the door to the weight room at the facility.
The 21-year-old stared and watched it fly.
He has pulled the ball a lot.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Contact Jeff Seidel at jseidel@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @seideljeff.