The Detroit Tigers made a rather unexpected decision ahead of their Opening Day matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers when they added Ryan Kreidler to their 26-man roster and optioned Justyn-Henry Malloy to Triple-A Toledo.
The move was a surprising one – so much so that an equally surprising roster move at the minor league level may have gotten lost in the shuffle.
The Tigers made another notable addition to their seasoning-opening roster in Toledo this spring, promoting infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee to Triple-A for the first time in his young career.
The Tigers' No. 8 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, Lee was part of the return in the 2023 trade deadline deal that sent Michael Lorenzen to the Philadelphia Phillies. The 22-year-old is one of Detroit's most exciting hitting prospects, with a career .287 batting average across 952 minor league at-bats.
Tigers fans may object to organization fast-tracking Hao-Yu Lee, who struggled in spring training
Lee slashed .298/.363/.488 with 12 home runs and 56 RBI in 87 games last season for Double-A Erie. That earned him an invite to Major League spring training this year, though he was never expected to make the Tigers' big league roster. In fact, he has never played above Double-A (only 87 games at Eerie), making his assignment to Triple-A to begin the season somewhat surprising.
However, Lee flashed the glove at both second and third base in Tigers camp this spring and began to turn some heads in what was looking like an early push to earn a spot on the 40-man roster. Admittedly, the Tigers' situation at third base had a lot to do with it; Matt Vierling is starting the season on the injured list, and Jace Jung failed to break camp with the big league squad.
Ultimately, however, Lee struggled mightily at the plate in spring training. He slashed .143/.226/.250 and struck out 12 times in 28 Grapefruit League at-bats. Clearly, he still has some more developing to do; and the Tigers will have to hope that they didn't do him a disservice by letting him start the year in Triple-A.
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