Detroit Tigers: 4 position battles to watch throughout spring training

Spring training games start Saturday for the Detroit Tigers. Beginning that day, around 60 players will begin battling for 26 roster spots. Fortunately for them, there's no shortage of battles to participate in depending on what position they play.

Many spots on this roster are basically already filled. But others are very much up in the air. Players will have the next month or so to make their case to A.J. Hinch and Scott Harris as to why they deserve a spot on the Opening Day roster in 2024.

Looking over the roster and the spots available, there's actually more roster battles than I originally thought. Specifically on the position player side of things, there are more spots up for grabs than I realized.

So without further ado, here are four roster battles to watch throughout spring training.

Starting rotation spots

Three spots in the starting rotation are locked up, so long as they stay healthy — Tarik Skubal, Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty. The other two — potentially three — are all up for grabs.

The primary three candidates to look at are Reese Olson, Matt Manning, and Casey Mize. Manning seems like a good bet to make the team just because he has the experience. We would love to see Olson make it because he looked so strong down the stretch last season.

Then there's Mize, who hasn't pitched in a major league game in almost two years. How he looks this spring is going to be fascinating to watch. There is a chance he ends up in Triple-A to start the year to get some work in, but again, it all depends on how he looks in spring.

Other candidates include Sawyer Gipson-Long, as well as outside chances for prospects Wilmer Flores and Keider Montero. Both Jackson Jobe and Ty Madden have already been told that they won't make the team. All of these guys will surely get plenty of innings this spring, though Flores seems likely to be a reliever long term.

It's going to be interesting to see how the rotation pans out, and whether they stick with a five-man rotation or bump it up to six.

Bullpen spots

In the bullpen, five spots are likely locked up — Jason Foley, Alex Lange, Shelby Miller, Andrew Chafin, and Tyler Holton. That leaves two, maybe three spots left to be filled.

For right-handers, the most likely candidates are Beau Brieske, Brendan White, Miguel Diaz, and Alex Faedo. You can throw Trey Wingenter into that mix as well. Brieske seems like a good bet considering he got a lot of time in the bullpen last year. He's also still quite young.

Brendan White has the stuff to be a lights out reliever, but hasn't been able to put it all together yet. He still lacks the command to be effective.

Miguel Diaz added a slider to his repertoire late last season, and the results were outstanding. In 14 innings, he allowed just one run. The walks went down as well. It was a small sample, but it was a promising one.

Faedo only pitched six innings as a reliever last season, but he struck out seven and didn't allow a run. Many people have long throught that his stuff would play better in the bullpen, and his numbers after the first time through the batting order help back up that claim.

For lefties, it's Joey Wentz, and that's pretty much it. And he could very well make it, especially if they stick with the five-man rotation. He'll be working exclusively as a reliever this spring. I don't know about anyone else, but I would love to see a Michael Fulmer-style redemption arc, where he completely reinvents himself out of the bullpen. That would be something to see.

Third base

The obvious one. Matt Vierling and Andy Ibanez will be duking it out for the third base job this spring. Oh joy.

Jace Jung will likely see some time there as well. He won't make the team out of camp, but it'll be very important for him to at least look serviceable defensively.

For Vierling, we're not too worried about him defensively. He was serviceable in the small sample he had at the hot corner last season. It's the bat that has had us concerned. Supposedly he's made an adjustment ($$$) to his swing mechanics, so we'll see if he can pull the ball in the air more.

Ibanez has been pretty consistent in his two years in the big leagues. He's going to make a lot of contact and put the ball in play. He doesn't have a very good arm, so second base has always seemed like a better fit for him, but they have Colt Keith slotted in there. Ibanez/Keith could be something to watch for the long term as far as seeing those two swap positions.

Since the Tigers didn't add a third baseman for the second straight offseason, this is what we have to work with. Who knows? Maybe one of them will surprise us.