Tigers 'not taking any chances' with Melton (right arm soreness)

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Troy Melton entered his first Major League camp this month having never pitched in a Grapefruit League game for the Tigers. The hard-throwing right-hander still has not pitched in a game this spring due to what manager A.J. Hinch called general arm soreness.

"Troy felt a little bit of soreness, which is very typical this time of year," Hinch said Wednesday morning. "So we're just not taking any chances. We're playing it pretty conservative and we're not going to have him pitch through any type of soreness.”

Melton spent most of the offseason poised to compete for a rotation spot after emerging as one of the Tigers’ key relievers and spot starters down the stretch last year. His potential role changed in the final days leading up to camp once Detroit signed veteran starters Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander, essentially filling their rotation. The Tigers still planned on stretching out Melton as a starter this spring in case an injury within the rotation forced them to tap into their pitching depth.

Melton was throwing in the early days of camp, but has not been on the pitching list for games since the Grapefruit League schedule began last Saturday. He was not on the Tigers’ most recent medical update released Tuesday.

“We'll get him checked,” Hinch said. “We're doing everything we can. We’ll have an update in the next medical report [Friday] now that he’s not on the list to pitch right now."

Mattison riding momentum

The Tigers' bullpen has had its share of hiccups in these early games of Grapefruit League play, but non-roster invitee Tyler Mattison hasn’t been among them. Detroit’s fourth-round Draft pick from 2021, who was dropped from the 40-man roster last fall and re-signed to a Minor League contract, has flashed the potential that coaches hoped to see as he begins his second year back from Tommy John surgery.

Through two outings, Mattison has struck out five of six batters, including all three Blue Jays he faced in Wednesday’s 4-4 tie at Joker Marchant Stadium. All three strikeouts came on fastballs, a pitch which drew whiffs on five of seven swings Blue Jays hitters took against it in 14 pitches.

It’s not a high-velocity fastball -- his 93.7 mph average on Wednesday was close to where he sat last season at Triple-A Toledo -- but his fastball sneaks up on hitters because of a high spin rate. He averaged 2,644 rpm with it on Wednesday, topping out at 2,738 on a strikeout of Blue Jays catcher C.J. Stubbs.

“We’ve always been intrigued by the stuff, by the swing-and-miss,” Hinch said. “He gets a bunch of punchouts when he gets to leverage [counts]. It’s about getting strike one. When he does, he can be really dynamic, and I think that’s one of the reasons he was on our 40[-man roster], and one of the reasons we’re glad to have him back.”

Liranzo lifts Tigers

Though the Tigers remain winless in the Grapefruit League, they would not have tied the Blue Jays without Thayron Liranzo’s three-run homer in the sixth inning, igniting an offense that had been held hitless for four innings and had largely struggled for the previous two days.

“That was a good swing, and an emotional swing for him,” Hinch said. “These guys want to impress so much.”

Framber, Jansen face hitters, including Clark

While Framber Valdez and Kenley Jansen continue to work toward their Tigers debut, they faced a trio of hitters on the backfields Wednesday in live batting practice. Among them was MLB Pipeline's No. 10 prospect Max Clark, who was locked in after a frustrating Tuesday against the Braves.

Clark hit a lefty-lefty opposite-field homer off Valdez, then laced a line drive off Jansen, whose competitive level ticked up. Jansen was at his 20-pitch limit, but called back Clark for one more at-bat. Jansen struck him out. It was nothing personal, just Jansen getting his game-level competitiveness going.