Detroit Tigers: JaCoby Jones likely to be activated on Thursday

The Detroit Tigers are expected to activate JaCoby Jones on Thursday according to a report by John Wagner of the Toledo Blade.

The Detroit Tigers have been missing center fielder JaCoby Jones since he was hit in the face with a pitch against the Minnesota Twins on April 22. He’s been on rehab assignment with the Toledo Mud Hens since Friday but could rejoin the Tigers this week.

John Wagner of the Toledo Blade reports that Jones left today’s Mud Hens game in the eighth inning after recording two hits. Here’s Twitter report.

Jones was hitting .150/.244/.300 in the major leagues at the time of the indecent. He has four hits in 17 at-bats while on rehab assignment. The organization apparently deemed him fit to return to big club and wanted to get him out of the game while he was healthy and feeling good.

Tyler Collins has been manning center field most days in Jones’ absence and could continue to get the bulk of the load as long as he continues to hit.

The Tigers would have to make a roster move to open up a spot for Jones. The two most likely candidates to be removed from the active roster are Mikie Mahtook and Jim Adduci. Adduci is performing with the bat presently so Mahtook would be the favorite to receive the demotion. Both Mahtook and Adduci hit right handed and have played corner outfield in the major leagues this year.

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It remains possible that the Tigers could activate Jones from the disabled list and option him to the minor leagues but that wouldn’t make sense given his removal from the game this afternoon.