LAKELAND, Fla. -- What had been one of the best at-bats in Riley Greene’s case to show he’s ready for the Majors might well end up delaying his arrival in Detroit. The Tigers' top outfield prospect left Friday’s game against the Yankees with an apparent right foot injury after tripling and scoring against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Greene, MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 overall prospect, sustained the injury fouling a ball off his foot, according to the Tigers. The team announced that Greene underwent X-rays on his foot after exiting the game. Results were not available at game's end.
Greene was seen hobbling down the right-field line towards the Tigers’ clubhouse with a member of the Tigers’ athletic training staff at the end of the third inning.
Minutes earlier, Greene had legged out a triple on a 404-foot drive to the center-field fence leading off the bottom of the third inning. The Tigers’ No. 2 prospect had fouled off two pitches -- a Cole curveball and a 96 mph fastball -- to stay alive with a 1-2 count before centering a changeup. Not only did Greene not show any particular reaction after fouling off either pitch, he still ran at seemingly full speed as his drive flew over center fielder Joey Gallo and reached the fence.
Greene waited on third base as Spencer Torkelson and Tucker Barnhart drew walks to load the bases. Cole nearly escaped the threat, striking out Akil Baddoo and retiring Victor Reyes on a pop-up to short, but a hard-hit ground ball from Javier Báez down the third-base line sent runners in motion.
Greene took off from third as Yankees third baseman DJ LeMahieu made a diving stop and threw to second. The throw was off-line as Greene scored.
Greene has been one of the top storylines of Tigers camp as he tries to earn a starting job in center field for Opening Day. The 21-year-old is batting 9-for-21 (.429) in Grapefruit League play with three doubles, two triples, two home runs and four RBIs.
While the Tigers have been guarded in their assessments of Greene making the roster, he has clearly been in the plans, receiving the bulk of the starts in center field this Spring Training with Baddoo and Robbie Grossman in the corners. If Greene doesn’t make the Opening Day roster, the Tigers will have to regroup and figure out their outfield mix.
Reyes, who has made a strong case to return as an extra outfielder, has shown he can hold down center field. Former first-round Draft pick Derek Hill is the best defensive outfielder in the organization by some estimations, despite some metrics that disagree, but Hill is currently sidelined by hamstring issues. The Tigers optioned Daz Cameron to Triple-A Toledo earlier this week.