Detroit Tigers: Projecting the 2020 opening day lineup
By Tyler Kotila
The Detroit Tigers begin their season on March 26th against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. As recently discussed, it is going to be another down year, but take a look at the Tigers possible Opening Day lineup.
With Spring Training right around the corner, the Detroit Tigers are on the brink of another terrible season. The Cleveland Indians host the Tigers to start the season, meaning the Tigers will open up the year against right-handed pitchers Shane Bieber or Mike Clevinger.
Looking ahead, the Tigers made some offseason additions that will save their team from being horrific, but they still will struggle to win fifty total games.
Heading into the game on March 26th against the Tribe, here’s what the Tigers lineup will look like…
- Victor Reyes, RF
- Niko Goodrum, SS
- Miguel Cabrera, DH
- CJ Cron, 1B
- Jonathan Schoop, 2B
- Christin Stewart, LF
- Dawel Lugo, 3B
- Austin Romine, C
- JaCoby Jones, CF
The Tigers will most likely see three right-handed pitchers in the opening series. Bieber and Clevinger will headline the first two games with Carlos Carrasco being the third starter. If the Indians decide to save one of their arms, it could be Aaron Civale or Zach Plesac during game three. The Indians will most likely take three games, but thinking positively, the Tigers may steal a game based on their offseason additions.
Looking further into the projected lineup shows a couple of different things when it comes to positional battles that fans can watch during Spring Training. The third base positional battle is going to be between Lugo, Jeimer Candelario, and Harold Castro.
Lugo should win the job throughout the spring just being that he is younger and has more opportunity to show growth in his third season with the big league club. Candelario has been a bust, his hitting has just fallen off, and he is not the same hitter he was raved to become. Castro is going to be a utility player that helps platoon at multiple positions when players need off days.
With Romine being signed this offseason, the catching platoon just bumped Jake Rogers back to the Triple-A level. Romine will most likely be platooning with Grayson Greiner for the catching role for the 2020 season.
Rogers will eventually see a call-up, and adding Romine provides insurance for an injury. The Tigers paid $4.15 million for Romine, so there’s no way he will not be starting even with Greiner looking to get his hitting to a consistent state.