Flowers eyes downtime as learning experience

DETROIT -- Credit Tyler Flowers for being more determined than disappointed where losing his starting catching job to Josh Phegley is concerned.

"I'm not giving up, I know that," Flowers told MLB.com on Tuesday. "I know I'm definitely capable of being a very good catcher in this league. It's just a matter of finding some mechanics and something that will hold up really.

"You can't ask for more than an opportunity. It's just unfortunate I never really got a good feeling going [offensively]. And that's nobody's fault. It's just, that's how the game is sometimes. You go through stretches where you don't feel good. If you can't feel good, especially at this level, you get exploited a little bit more."

Flowers carried a .205 average over 210 at-bats and 66 games into Tuesday's contest, in which Phegley made his fourth start in five games. The two have worked well together dating back to Spring Training and that dynamic hasn't changed at the big league level.

With the way Phegley was ripping the ball for Triple-A Charlotte, Flowers stressed that Phegley earned the promotion and that it would be hard to keep a guy hitting that well down in the Minors for too long. Flowers looks at this reduction in playing time more as a chance to improve personally.

"My job is to worry about being as prepared as I can whenever I get in the lineup and help the team win. That's really all I'm focused on," Flowers said. "It's an opportunity to work on things and get extra work and extra critique from our staff during the available times to work on things.

"I'm just trying to take advantage of that and get better. The name of the game is getting better. I've got to get better."