Detroit Tigers Slugger Reportedly Avoids IL Stint After Scary Hamstring Issue

The Detroit Tigers have, for the most part, done a nice job of weathering the injury bug in the early portion of the regular season.

With a 13-9 record headed into the week, which places them among the best in the American League, the Tigers have handled everything that has been thrown at them.

Entering the year with both star center fielder Parker Meadows and critical utility man Matt Vierling on the injured list, Detroit also lost new second baseman Gleyber Torres to a stint on the IL before he returned last weekend.

The latest blow, however, looked for a moment like it could be be the most significant the Tigers have dealt with yet.

On Sunday afternoon, slugging outfielder Kerry Carpenter was taken out of the game in the ninth inning with what was reported to be a hamstring issue.

When it was revealed on Monday morning that Jace Jung was in Detroit, the immediate thought was that Carpenter was going to be placed on the injured list.

Instead, Jung was promoted and struggling utility man Ryan Kreidler was optioned.

Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic went on to report that while Carpenter is out of the lineup on Monday night, the plan for now is that he won't have a stint on the injured list.

The Tigers know how important their young slugger is to this team -- and how prone to missing time he has been -- so they are being smart about how they are approaching this injury.

"I think we're going to go day by day with him and see what he feels like ... The tests were a good sign that it's mild. It still means something is there. We have to be smart about it. It's why he's not in the lineup today," manager A.J. Hinch said, per Stavenhagen.

Instead, Jung will start at third base and Javier Báez will get his first start in center field.

Carpenter has been one of Detroit's best offensive players so far this year slashing .315/.338/.562 with five home runs and 11 RBI despite the fact that he doesn't even find himself in the starting lineup every day.

Struggling with left-handed pitching throughout his career, Carpenter will often enter the game after the starter is removed if a southpaw is taking the hill for the opposition.

This year, however, he has done a nice job so far against lefties in 21 at-bats, still slashing .238/.227/.524 with two home runs and three RBI.

Having Carpenter out for any sort of extended period was going to be a major blow to the offense, though it would not have been uncommon.

Last season, he dealt with a back issue throughout the year which limited the masher to just 87 games.

In those contests, however, and continuing into the playoffs, Carpenter had the best season of his career and inspired hope he that could take the next step into stardom this year.

Appearing to be well on the way to that, losing at least the next couple of weeks would have been a setback both he and the Tigers did not want to deal with.

Whether Carpenter misses multiple games seems to be unknown at this point, but by all accounts, he is going to be just fine.

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