Detroit Tigers lineup vs. Kansas City Royals: Riley Greene back starting in center field

Detroit Tigers (42-52) at Kansas City Royals (28-68)

When: 8:10 p.m. Wednesday.

Where: Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

TV: Bally Sports Detroit.

Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1 in Detroit; Tigers radio affiliates).

Probable pitchers: Tigers LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (5-5, 2.70 ERA) vs. Royals LHP Ryan Yarbrough (2-4, 5.29).

• Box score

Tigers lineup:

LF Matt Vierling
CF Riley Greene
1B Spencer Torkelson
RF Kerry Carpenter
C Jake Rogers
SS Javier Báez
DH Miguel Cabrera
2B Andy Ibáñez
3B Zack Short

TUESDAY’S LOSS: Tork homers twice, Detroit Tigers get 4 runs in 9th, still fall 11-10 to K.C. Royals

Game notes: The 2019 MLB draft’s first round continues to impress, as Josh Jung (No. 8) and Corbin Carroll (No. 16) are the favorite to win Rookie of the Year this season and Carroll, Adley Rutschman (No. 1) and George Kirby (No. 20) joined Alek Manoah (No. 11) as already having eanred All-Star nods. And then there are the picks by K.C. and Detroit — Bobby Witt Jr. at No. 2 and Riley Greene at No. 5.

Witt has had the more statistically impressive 1½ seasons, racking up 20 homers, 31 doubles and 30 steals last season en route to a fourth-place finish in Rookie of the Year voting and 16 homers and 27 steals this season. The 23-year-old entered Tuesday on a near-30-homer, 45-steal pace. Just five players in MLB history — Bobby Bonds (32 HR, 45 SB in 1969), Eric Davis (37, 50 in 1987), Barry Bonds (33, 52 in 1990), Alex Rodriguez (42, 46 in 1998) and Mike Trout (30, 49 in 2012) — have reached those marks in the same season (though Ronald Acuña Jr., at 23 and 43 respectively, seems likely to join them this season). Witt has 83 strikeouts and just 21 walks this season, which goes a long way toward explaining his lack of an All-Star nod this season.

(Witt also leads the American League in triples, with six, after tying for the AL lead last season — with Shohei Ohtani — with six. Witt could become the first Royal since Willie Wilson in 1987-88 to lead the AL in triples in back-to-back seasons. How long ago was that? The famously small-market Royals were just 13th out of 26 teams in payroll, with their $11.6 million tally coming in at 61.1% of the leading New York Yankees’ $18.9 million. This season, the Royals rank 24th of 30 teams, but their $92.4 million is just 27.9% of the No. 1 New York … Mets‘ total, $330.6 million.)

Greene, of course, has yet to play a full season, missing two months of 2022 with a broken foot and 34 games in 2023 with a stress reaction in his left tibia. But when he’s been healthy? Greene’s OPS of .807 entering Tuesday ranked second among all players 22 or younger with at least 50 games this season, behind only Carroll’s .894. (The goal of keeping him healthy, by the way, is why he didn’t start Tuesday’s game in K.C., though he got to the plate late.)

Greene also has a chance to join an elite club of Tigers, thanks to his sharp batting eye; he’s reaching base at a .365 clip. Assuming he reaches 100 games this season, he’ll be the first Tiger (with that many games played) with at least a .360 OBP since Justin Upton (.362) in 2017 and the first Tiger 22 or younger to do it since Alan Trammell in 1980. In all, just five Tigers 22 or younger since World War II have played in 100 games and reached base at least 36% of the time: Trammell (.376 in ’80), Lou Whitaker (.395 in 1979, .361 in 1978), Al Kaline (.383 in 1956, .421 in 1955), Johnny Growth (.407 in 1949) and Vic Wertz (.376 in 1947).

After tonight’s game, it’s a quick turnaround for the Tigers and Royals, as they wrap up their series at 2:10 p.m. with 2023 All-Star Michael Lorenzen taking the mound for Detroit. It’s then a quick jaunt home for the Tigers as they open a seven-game homestand against half the teams in California — three vs. the Padres, one vs. the Giants and three vs. the Angels — on Friday night against San Diego. The Royals, meanwhile, head to the Bronx for three games against the Yankees.

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