Tigers minor league injury update: Ryan Kreidler, Eddys Leonard, Sawyer Gipson-Long

During a week filled with serious injuries to starting pitchers — Shane Bieber and Eury Pérez's seasons are over as both will undergo Tommy John, Spencer Strider has a UCL injury that could lead to TJ, and Framber Valdez could be headed the same way after being placed on the IL with an elbow issue — the Detroit Tigers have made it out relatively unscathed, at least as of now (knock on wood).

At least, they've been unscathed at the major league level. Further down, it's a bit of a different story. On Tuesday, Ryan Kreidler and Eddys Leonard, spring training highlights who some fans wanted to get Opening Day nods, were moved to the IL in Triple-A.

Sawyer Gipson-Long, who was supposed to be a member of the 2024 bullpen, went down early in spring training with a groin strain. He was in the midst of a rehab assignment in Low-A when he reported forearm tightness to be evaluated further.

Multiple Detroit Tigers prospects, rehabbing players suffered injuries this week

Kreidler might be the most familiar name to Tigers fans; he's spent some amount of time in the majors over the past few seasons. He broke out in spring training, batting .306/.444/.472 while reminding fans that he's an elite defensive shortstop. Although there's no way the Tigers move Kreidler up to take Javier Báez's $140 million spot, he could've gone the way of multiple Tigers in retooling to get more of a shot at the big leagues, and might have gotten the call up that instead went to Wenceel Pérez this week in light of an injury for Andy Ibáñez. He was hit by a pitch last Thursday, leading to a fractured index finger that sent him to the IL.

Leonard also hit incredibly well during spring, with a .333/.389/.667 line, though he's been off to a much slower start in Triple-A to start the season. He suffered an oblique strain on Sunday and will report to the Tigers' spring training complex for treatment.

Gipson-Long was a late-season standout for the Tigers rotation, pitching 20 innings in September for a 2.70 ERA. Although the rotation, with its additions of Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty and the return of Casey Mize, Gipson-Long was probably going to get squeezed but be a welcome bullpen addition before he got hurt in spring training. Pitching injuries are always much more dangerous and likely to threaten a lot of missed time, but we can hope that he, along with Kreidler and Leonard, won't be out for long.