Should Detroit Tigers be concerned about non-Tarik Skubal starters?
On “Days of Roar,” Nick Pollack, founder of “Pitcher List,” evaluates the Detroit Tigers’ starting rotation — aside from left-hander Tarik Skubal.
CLEVELAND — The Detroit Tigers will be without third baseman Colt Keith in the American League wild-card series against the Cleveland Guardians.
The 24-year-old remains injured with right rib cage inflammation.
Without Keith, the Tigers could start Zach McKinstry at third base against Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams in Game 1 of the series Tuesday, Sept. 30, at Progressive Field.
“Colt is going to be here, but he’s not going to be active,” manager A.J. Hinch said Monday afternoon. “He’s going to come and continue his rehab.”
It’s unclear if Keith will be ready to join the Tigers in the ALDS, if the Tigers advance out of the best-of-three wild-card round.
“We hope so,” Hinch said.
The ALDS begins Saturday.
“There’s a lot of time between now and then,” Hinch said, “but one of the reasons that we’re going to bring him here is to be a part of this group and get his work in and start to increase the volume and intensity of his work, and then we have to make a judgment call.”
To advance, the Tigers need to win two games in Cleveland, but Keith won’t be able to help them do so. The winner of the Tigers and Guardians will play against the Seattle Mariners in the best-of-five ALDS.
For now, Keith will support his teammates from the bench.
“Let’s just hope we have that judgment call to make, which is because we won the series,” Hinch said. “We want him around this team and ready to go.”
Keith hasn’t played for the Tigers since Sept. 18, when he suffered the injury on a swing and exited the game. As of this past Friday, he was playing catch and doing running drills, but he hadn’t been cleared to swing.
He hit .256 with 13 home runs, 48 walks and 102 strikeouts across 137 games in the 2025 season — the second year of his MLB career. He improved from a .689 OPS in 2024 to a .746 OPS in 2025.
Who is Game 2 starter?
Left-hander Tarik Skubal is starting Game 1 of the wild-card series. The Tigers haven’t finalized the Game 2 starter, but right-handers Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize are the candidates.
It has been an ongoing internal conversation.
“Both have strengths that could help us,” Hinch said. “We’re going to go over every scenario.”
Flaherty, 29, logged a 4.64 ERA with 59 walks and 188 strikeouts across 161 innings in 31 starts; Mize, 28, registered a 3.87 ERA with 36 walks and 139 strikeouts across 149 innings in 28 starts.
While Flaherty clashed with the Guardians in each of his past two starts, just like Skubal, Mize faced the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox since his last meeting with the Guardians.
“The good thing about the playoffs and the wild-card round and how fast it gets here is we certainly know them, and they know us,” Hinch said. “We obviously have had all of our pitchers pitch against these guys in the last 10 days, 12 days. We’ll sort it out and hopefully have something for you.”
Roster moves coming soon
The Tigers will play with 14 position players and 12 pitchers on their 26-man roster for the AL wild-card series.
The 14 position players are locked in: McKinstry, Dillon Dingler, Jake Rogers, Andy Ibáñez, Trey Sweeney, Spencer Torkelson, Gleyber Torres, Javier Báez, Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene, Jahmai Jones, Justyn-Henry Malloy, Parker Meadows and Wenceel Pérez.
“All the position players who were in Boston to end the year I would expect active,” Hinch said.
As for the pitchers, right-handed reliever Brenan Hanifee joined the Tigers and could be activated for the wild-card series, but left-handed relievers Bailey Horn and Drew Sommers weren’t in the clubhouse, so neither of them will be on the roster.
The Tigers have 10 pitchers locked in: Flaherty, Mize, Skubal, Kyle Finnegan, Tyler Holton, Brant Hurter, Tommy Kahnle, Troy Melton, Rafael Montero and Will Vest. That leaves two spots for these five pitchers: Hanifee, Keider Montero, Chris Paddack, Tanner Rainey, Paul Sewald.
Hanifee and Montero seem to be the most likely choices.
“There’s always the debate,” Hinch said. “There’s always the hard decisions at the end. Most likely, they’re pitching decisions. We’ll decide how many pitchers we’re going to use and how to configure it in order.”
Emergency catcher arrives
Catcher Tomás Nido joined the Tigers.
The 31-year-old is the third catcher on the depth chart behind Dingler and Rogers. He won’t be activated for the wild-card series unless there’s an injury.
Nido, a nine-year MLB veteran, hit .209 with five home runs, 11 walks and 46 strikeouts in 48 games for Triple-A Toledo in the 2025 season. He also played in 11 games for the Tigers.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him@EvanPetzold.
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