Tigers’ 2024 first-round pick suffers worrying shoulder injury in Single-A

Bryce Rainer, the Tigers' first pick in the 2024 draft, has been living up to expectations so far in Single-A. In 35 games, he's hitting .288 with a .831 OPS, five homers, and 22 RBI and leads the Lakeland Flying Tigers by most metrics. He's ranked No. 3 in the Tigers' pipeline this season, and No. 47 in all of baseball.

However, he may be on the verge of missing an extended period of time after sustaining a shoulder injury during a pickoff attempt on Tuesday night. Rainer had gotten to first on a fielder's choice, and Daytona Tortugas starter Zachary Murray spun and threw to check the decently speedy runner. Rainer dove back in and immediately seemed to be in a good deal of pain. He stayed on the ground for some time as trainers attended to him and was holding his arm as he was escorted off the field.

Per Lynn Henning of the Detroit News, he was immediately taken offsite to a clinic, and manager Rene Rivera provided a somber update after the Flying Tigers' 4-3 walkoff win.

"It doesn't look good," he said. "We'll hope for the best. But we all saw it. Honestly, I was thinking the entire game about it. Seeing his face and the pain — we'll just have to see what happens. But, unfortunately, he's a big miss (absence). He's a really great player. It's a tough pill to swallow."

Tigers' first-round draft pick Bryce Rainer taken to a hospital after sustaining shoulder injury in Single-A

The Flying Tigers have yet to provide an official update on Rainer's status.

Henning noted that the injury seemed similar to the one that Colt Keith sustained in High-A in 2022, which forced him to miss three months and head to the Arizona Fall League to make up some of the time after his recovery.

Rainer, another product of the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, was expected to go much earlier in the 2024 draft than the 11th overall pick, but the Tigers took advantage and scooped him for a $5.8 million signing bonus. He's been living up to expectations so far, but if this shoulder injury proves to require an extended amount of time away from the field, it could hurt his timeline to the majors.

Rivera added, "Hopefully, it's no big thing and he can come back. We'll see tomorrow how bad it is." Fingers are crossed for a positive update.