LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers optioned four players to Triple-A Toledo: Right-handed relievers Rony García and Brendan White, outfielder Parker Meadows and infielder Andre Lipcius.
Meadows, Lipcius and White, all recent additions to the 40-man roster, significantly boosted their stock within the organization in spring training but won’t make the Opening Day roster.
“When you come to camp as a first-year 40-man player, you can do a lot of things,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, who met with the players Tuesday morning. “You can move your timeline up, you can move your timeline back. I told all of them, they did nothing but help themselves.
“I developed a lot of a trust in their work. I gave them all something to think about and do to make themselves better, but I thought they showed well and handled themselves great. I can easily see all of them contributing at some point.”
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Left-hander Zach Logue, expected to pitch in several roles for Toledo, has been reassigned to minor-league camp. The five roster moves leave the Tigers with 49 players remaining in MLB spring training.
The Tigers need to cut 23 more players.
“Things sharpen up a little,” Hinch said. “That (clubhouse) gets a little bit depleted. The extra lockers are gone, and more lockers are open. The toughest decisions are ahead, and we need to appropriately focus on where we’re at.”
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In spring training, Meadows has a .300 batting average with four home runs, three walks and 11 strikeouts in 33 plate appearances. The left-handed hitter would benefit from improving against left-handed pitchers and non-fastballs.
Lipcius, meanwhile, is hitting .273 with three homers, zero walks and three strikeouts in 33 plate appearances. The natural third baseman, also a second baseman, would benefit from improving his defense at first…