The Tigers announced Wednesday that second baseman Gleyber Torres is headed back to the 10-day injured list. He’s once again dealing with a left oblique strain — the same injury that kept him out of action from May 4 through June 2. Right-hander Casey Mize has been reinstated from the injured list in a corresponding move. He’ll start today’s game for Detroit.
Torres’ injury (or re-injury) is a tough blow for a Tigers team that’s finally been clicking of late — in no small part due to the play of its second baseman. Torres was healthy for 11 games between IL stints and batted .341/.413/.585 with two homers and four doubles in 46 plate appearances during that stretch. He’s been a prominent factor in the Tigers’ 8-5 record so far this month — already more games than they won in an unfathomably bad month of May that saw them flop with a 6-22 record.
Overall, Torres has taken 190 plate appearances in 2026 and logged a hearty .280/.395/.395 batting line (126 wRC+) with nearly as many walks (15.3%) as strikeouts (17.4%). He’s played a fine second base as well, drawing a positive mark from Defensive Runs Saved (6), while Statcast’s Outs Above Average credits him as a scratch defender.
The Tigers haven’t yet put a timetable on Torres’ expected absence. Every injury is different, but Torres’ roughly monthlong absence from his last oblique strain is pretty well in line with precedent for Grade 1 oblique strains. If this aggravation has produced a more significant strain, he could be out longer. Manager A.J. Hinch will presumably have more details when he meets with the Tigers beat today.
With Torres down again, the Tigers will go back to a combination of Zach McKinstry and Hao-Yu Lee at second base. Colt Keith can join that mix as well, though he’s yet to log an inning at the position this season. Detroit has used him exclusively at the infield corners and at designated hitter.
Though they’re losing an important member of the lineup, the Tigers are also getting a key member of the pitching staff back. There had been talk of Mize returning Sunday, but that game was rained out and no transaction was made. They went with a bullpen game Monday, kept Framber Valdez on regular rest for Tuesday, and will now hand the ball over to Mize on Wednesday.
Mize, 29, has been excellent in nine starts this season. He’s tossed 47 2/3 innings and registered a shiny 2.27 ERA with a career-best 26.5% strikeout rate and a 6.5% walk rate that’s an exact match with his career mark. Mize, the No. 1 overall draft pick back in 2018, had a pedestrian return from Tommy John surgery in 2024 but now carries a 3.48 ERA 23.2% strikeout rate, 5.9% walk rate and 38% ground-ball rate in 196 2/3 innings dating back to Opening Day 2025.
The Tigers will plug Mize back into the rotation alongside ace Tarik Skubal (who just returned Saturday from his own IL stint), Valdez and young righty Troy Melton. Detroit placed Jack Flaherty on the injured list over the weekend and has opted to move righty Keider Montero to the bullpen for at least the time being. Justin Verlander is expected back this weekend and will claim the remaining rotation spot.
Both Torres and Mize are free agents at season’s end. As such, they’re both at least theoretical trade candidates for a Tigers club that has fallen well shy of expectations. That calamitous May performance has Detroit nine games back in the American League Central, but the lackluster performance of the American League as a whole means they’re still only six games out in the Wild Card chase — despite being 13 games under .500.
If the trade deadline were a week out, the Tigers would be surefire sellers. Instead, they’ve got seven weeks to try to put that May catastrophe behind them and build on their recently improved play. It’ll take a stretch reminiscent of their Cinderella finish in 2024 to catapult them back into the playoff picture in such a short period, but they’ll very likely take the next six or so weeks to try to do just that before considering the sell route.
