NEW YORK -- With 20 of the 27 players on the Tigers' active roster under the age of 30, the club has been able to evaluate a lot of the young talent contributing to the early stages of the rebuild.
One of the rookies who has impressed manager Ron Gardenhire is 25-year-old catcher Grayson Greiner. Greiner has been called up to the big leagues three times this year, most recently on Aug. 8.
In his first 21 Major League games, Greiner has hit .221/.313/.294, with five doubles and seven RBIs. He hit .266 with four home runs and 23 RBIs in 46 contests for Triple-A Toledo.
"He puts together good at-bats," Gardenhire said. "Big, strong kid. It's an adjustment when you're not playing every day, too -- coming off the bench and then sitting for two or three days and then getting in there [after] playing every day down there -- so he's actually doing pretty good."
Greiner picked up his fifth extra-base hit in Saturday's loss to the Yankees, a double off Masahiro Tanaka.
"He handled himself good yesterday against a tough pitcher, laid off some tough pitches," Gardenhire said. "Yeah, he's doing just fine."
Through any rebuilding season, there will be a lot of lessons for rookies. Although Greiner has shown some patience at the plate, with 10 walks this season, Gardenhire said he still needs to settle in behind the plate.
"I like him back there," Gardenhire said. "He can, just like all catchers, probably do a little better at pitch-framing. Sometimes he gets himself set up a little bit, and the ball kind of takes his glove with him. Overall, he's handled it really good.
"You've got a few pitchers here that are kind of set in their ways, so when you match him up against one of the veteran guys, he gets a little bobble head out there. I think one of the things I want him to do is be more forceful in those situations. Just go out and talk to them [and say], 'Hey, what do you want to do here? I'm going to put them down, you're going to shake all day, we'll be here all day.' Because they go over a game plan, it shouldn't happen like that. He'll become more forceful and more comfortable with it."
Stumpf's limp not a concern
Reliever Daniel Stumpf showed somewhat of a limp after hustling to cover first base on a ground ball to Jim Adduci on Saturday, but Gardenhire said Stumpf is OK and had been battling some pain since his previous outing.
"He didn't say anything," Gardenhire said. "I think he might have had a bone bruise at the bottom of his heel. That was one of the last times he pitched. Or he twisted his ankle a little bit the last time he pitched. He stepped in a hole or something. But he's OK."