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."