Detroit Tigers: Constructing the Opening Day Lineup for 2021

Batting Ninth-Jake Rogers

This last selection is predicated on several factors including his comments in the Freep today from manager AJ Hinch.

• “I think he can shut down a running game,” Hinch said. “He can do some things athletically behind the plate that you can’t teach. We need to bring his whole game together, whether it’s the name-calling to mixing in the attraction of being an offensive player.”
• “It’s a blessing and a curse to play for an ex-catcher when you’re a catcher,” Hinch said. “One part is we got a lot of expertise and a lot of feel for that position. The bad news is we have a lot of expertise and a lot of feel for that position.”

Like Jones, Rogers tweaked his swing to get more offensive production. His leg kick is gone and the admitted rushing by Aliva in 2019 may have hindered his progress.

Now, you can certainly indicate a lot of how a team feels on a prospect based on their actions of not bring him up when Austin Romine was injured but we have no idea what was going on down in Toledo. But we do know Rogers has the defensive skill set to be on a major league ballclub.

Conclusion/Disclaimer

These choices were based if Detroit decides not to spend a lot of money on bats, rather as they indicated today, to add starters to the rotation, which makes perfect sense. If they decide not to sign Cron or a first baseman, I would be fine with Isaac Paredes starting the season at 3rd and Candelario at 1st. Jeimer has said he will play anywhere Detroit will put him.

As far as Rule 5 pick Akil Baddoo goes, I expect him to be on the bench and the Tigers may choose their spots on where they should play him.

Either way, this is the first version of the Detroit Tigers Opening Day lineup 1.0. Comment below and let us know what you think your starting nine should be.