Lakeland, Fla. — Riley Greene, as he did in 76 games last season, hit at the top of manager AJ Hinch’s lineup Sunday. And, as he has in all 93 games he’s played in the big leagues, he started in center field.
But, as Hinch said Sunday morning, that won’t always be the case this spring.
“We will flirt with a few different things,” Hinch said. “The best version of Riley is going to stay in the top third of the lineup somewhere. Matchup-dependent, we could mess with that a little bit.”
This is what spring training is for. Hinch has a crop of new hitters — Matt Vierling, Nick Maton, Cesar Hernandez and Jonathan Davis among them — to study and learn. He’s not sure where exactly Austin Meadows will best fit. Which version of Akil Baddoo, Kerry Carpenter, Ryan Kreidler and others will show up this season.
“I’ve got to get to know a few new hitters and how to optimize moves the other manager is going to make,” he said.
Same goes for the defensive alignment. He needs to see how the defense looks with Vierling in center or Davis or even prospect Parker Meadows.
“Riley is going to be in the multi-positional group, as well,” Hinch said. “He’s going to play one of the corners, if not both of the corners, this spring. Just to give us a little bit of optionality. He knows it and he’s on board.”
Moving him into a corner spot occasionally affords Hinch the opportunity to keep Greene’s bat in the lineup while taking a look at other outfield configurations.
“I would say our best lineup has him within the top three (in the batting order),” Hinch said. “And I have no idea what that will look like in the outfield. We might still come back to Riley being center field only. We’re going to take a look at it and see.”
Think of it as strategy more than a problem.
When the Tigers play at Fenway Park, for example, what combination of outfielders best covers the vast space in right-center vs. the shorter space with the Green Monster in left? Would Greene work best in right with Vierling in center?
Best to use the spring games as a test track.
The same thing will occur on the infield. Second baseman Jonathan Schoop will get some starts at third base because Hinch needs to find out what combinations of players work best at second and short.
You can’t know which configurations will work the best until you try them all out.
chris.mmccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky