KANSAS CITY -- Victor Reyes is headed back to Triple-A Toledo ... eventually. But the way he has been playing, he might not be down there for long before coming back up to the Majors to stay.

In the coming days, JaCoby Jones will rejoin the Tigers from the 10-day injured list, where he has spent the last week and a half with a low back strain. It will likely not be on Sunday, when Jones first becomes eligible to return, because Detroit would like Jones to go on a rehab assignment with Toledo for a few days next week to see game-speed pitching and get his timing at the plate first.

“I don’t like it,” Jones said, “but there’s more pros than cons to it.”

When Jones returns, Reyes will head back to Toledo to complete his sixth up-and-down trip between the Majors and Triple-A this season -- an incredible total for a full season, let alone for just after the All-Star break. But his work in this latest stint, playing every day in center field, has opened some eyes on how far the former Rule 5 Draft pick has progressed -- and how he might fit in the Tigers' outfield down the stretch.

“I didn’t know how it was going to help him being in the big leagues all last year,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “You always wonder what’s going to happen now that he goes down and plays every day. This has been one of those cases that has worked out really good for our organization. It’s been a really good pickup for us.

“A lot of people ought to take credit for that, for picking a guy like this in the Rule 5 Draft and taking a chance. Most of the time, you do it with pitching. We did it with a position player, and this is going to work out pretty good for this organization.”

With a double, two singles and a walk from the leadoff spot, Reyes was the catalyst for Detroit’s offense in Friday’s 8-5 loss to the Royals. Most of them were long at-bats, including his single to lead off the game after fighting out of an 0-2 hole to run the count full against lefty Danny Duffy.

Though Reyes eventually struck out on three fastballs leading off the ninth inning against Royals closer Ian Kennedy, the difference in Reyes' at-bats is noticeable, even in a small sample size of plate appearances. He entered Saturday averaging 4.41 pitches per plate appearance this season, up from 3.71 in 2018. His chase rate has dropped from 44 percent last season to 27.3 percent this season, according to Statcast, while he’s attacking more fastballs and fewer breaking balls.

“He’s on the ball. He’s taking really aggressive swings through the ball,” Gardenhire said. “He’s not fighting off. He was defending last year, trying to stay in the at-bat, and this year, he’s on the ball. He’s taking really aggressive swings. He’s doing fine.”

The difference tracks with his work as an everyday outfielder in Toledo, where he’s batting .302 (76-for-252) with 16 doubles, nine home runs, 55 RBIs and a career-best .806 OPS in his first season of Triple-A ball.

“The best part about it is he went down there and continued to work really, really hard and improve his game,” Gardenhire said. “He’s gotten stronger from both sides of the plate. He’s a strong young man and he’s very confident.”

That work is a big reason why Reyes is ticketed to return to Toledo when Jones is ready to rejoin the team at some point next week. With Nicholas Castellanos and Christin Stewart occupying the corner outfield spots, there’s no regular role for Reyes -- at least for now.

“I like the kid an awful lot,” Gardenhire said of Reyes. “And I think as he grows and matures as a hitter, like he’s doing now, learning to have longer at-bats and foul pitches off, he’s doing the right stuff. Good for him, and good for us, too.”

Quick hits
• The Tigers are adjusting some of their outfield alignments to give better chances to left fielder Stewart, who ranks next-to-last in Outs Above Average at minus-8 despite a better ranking of negative-1 in Defensive Runs Saved.

“We’re constantly trying to make adjustments on how we play these shifts and everything,” Gardenhire said. “The shifts aren’t good for him, in my opinion.”

• Castellanos’ first-inning double on Friday gave him three consecutive 30-double seasons.

• Tarik Skubal, ranked as the Tigers' No. 17 prospect by MLB Pipeline, posted his second consecutive strong start at Double-A Erie, striking out 10 over five innings of one-run ball. The 22-year-old left-hander, a ninth-round pick in last year’s MLB Draft, has 21 strikeouts -- all swinging -- over 10 innings since his promotion to the SeaWolves from Class A Advanced Lakeland.