Kreidler embracing 'new experience' in center field

This story was excerpted from Jason Beck’s Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

LOS ANGELES -- Ryan Kreidler was one of the fans in the right-field seats at Dodger Stadium when he was a student-athlete at UCLA, not that many years ago.

“We did the all-you-can-eat section in right field,” Kreidler recalled. “It was like 30 or 40 bucks per ticket, and you'd eat as many hot dogs and popcorn and whatever as you want. For us, it was like, dinner. We'd leave in the sixth and beat traffic. But you'd get blasted by the sun the whole time. That was the trade-off.”

Heaven knows if a college-aged Kreidler could’ve imagined standing in center field at Dodger Stadium on Opening Day. Heck, even a few years ago, that seemed crazy.

Kreidler was a shortstop prospect when he made his Major League debut with the Tigers as a September callup in 2022. While he played all around the infield, mixing in at short with Javier Báez, the Tigers approached him with the idea of taking fly balls in center field during batting practice, just to get a look at another position.

“It was presented to me as an opportunity to get more at-bats,” Kreidler said. “Being a young player, that's all you really want is at-bats and an opportunity, so I was pumped to even be thought of in that regard. It means they think I'm versatile. And around the league right now, you see all these rosters and it's four infielders and five utility guys. So I take pride in that.”

Kreidler got a mere late-game opportunity in center that season, but the seed was planted.

“We actually had a good talk about this,” manager A.J. Hinch said Thursday, “because if he hadn’t done it, not only would we have had different decisions to make, but he would’ve missed out on an opportunity. From a defensive standpoint, we always thought it would be something that would be valuable to him, without knowing exactly how it was going to play out.”

Nobody might have imagined Kreidler becoming a regular center fielder. But once a nerve issue in his right arm sidelined Parker Meadows in the first game of Spring Training, then a right rotator cuff muscle strain sidelined Matt Vierling a day later, the Tigers had innings to fill in center field. Wenceel Pérez couldn’t fill them all at that stage of camp, so Kreidler -- limited at shortstop by the Trey Sweeney-Báez combination, and at third base by Jace Jung’s audition -- got a shot.

“I've played [center] in the Minor Leagues sporadically, haven't really played it too much in the big leagues,” Kreidler said, “but obviously this spring I got a lot of work out there.”

Said Hinch: “The reps opened up this spring, and then his play in the spring is what made it so comfortable for him to be able to be out there a lot, because it was all he was doing in Spring Training given where the reps were.

“I think he has a natural feel for it. He does have an incredible pre-pitch [plan], which he should because he’s a shortstop. And he’s learned some of the tempo and speed parts of the position that you can only get during the game when you’re chasing a ball in right-center. You’re taught to hurry in the infield, and you need to slow down in the outfield when it comes to different fundamentals.”

Kreidler rewarded that vote of confidence on Thursday with a sliding catch at the wall in right-center to take an extra-base hit away from Tommy Edman, covering 103 feet in pursuit according to Statcast before hitting the warning track and avoiding right fielder Manuel Margot for the grab. It might have saved a run for Tarik Skubal, given Will Smith’s ensuing single.

It was a reminder why the Tigers, who talked about leveraging pitching and defense in the wake of all their outfield injuries, brought Kreidler back to the club for the Opening Day roster after optioning him to Triple-A Toledo last week before Pérez’s injury. And why the Tigers feel comfortable putting him in center field for at least the next few weeks until some of their injured outfielders return, rather than looking for someone else on the waiver wire or trade market.

“This will be a new experience for him,” Hinch said, “but I think we can all agree that we’re completely comfortable with him with a glove on his hand, at a number of positions.”