The Detroit Tigers are heading into a huge weekend series against the Kansas City Royals. While they have a 9.5 game lead, and this series won’t decide the AL Central, a series win would go a long way to expanding their lead.
With the Tigers looking to make such a statement in the Royals series, the team is making a trio of roster moves to reshuffle its bullpen.
According to Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press, the Tigers are calling up one reliever, optioning another, and lastly, designating for assignment a veteran infielder who’s struggled for Detroit this season.
Tigers Make Trio of Roster Moves
The three moves that the Tigers made ahead of their weekend series included selecting Drew Sommers from Triple-A Toledo, optioning Alex Lange to Triple-A to open a spot on the 26-man roster for Sommers, and designating Ryan Kreidler for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot for Sommers.
Kreidler’s departure isn’t very surprising considering how much he struggled with Detroit this season. In 38 at-bats, he hit just .105 with a .296 OPS. And yet, this wasn’t his worst season with Detroit.
#Tigers roster moves:
– Drew Sommers selected from Triple-A Toledo.
– Alex Lange optioned to Triple-A Toledo to open a spot for Sommers on the 26-man roster.
– Ryan Kreidler designated for assignment to open a spot for Sommers on the 40-man roster.— Evan Petzold (@EvanPetzold) August 22, 2025
From 2023 to 2025, Kreidler played in 63 games with 115 at-bats. In those opportunities, he hit .113 with a .323 OPS and a -7 OPS+. That last statistic meant he was 107 percent worse than the league-average hitter. The versatile fielder didn’t have much of a chance of remaining on the roster due to his poor offensive numbers.
Taking his place on the roster is Drew Sommers, a 25-year-old left-handed reliever who’s set to make his MLB debut with Detroit amid this roster move.
In 42 games in the minor leagues this season, he has a 2.53 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP across 57 innings pitched. The former 11th-round pick in 2022 of the Tampa Bay Rays is finally making his MLB debut, and will take the place of another reliever who just had his 2025 Tigers debut.
MORE: Tigers’ Chris Paddack ‘destroyed’ by Twins despite weak contact
Lange is being sent down to Triple-A after making his debut for the team in 2025 during the Houston Astros series. He went one inning, allowing two hits and one walk with one strikeout while closing out the 10-0 win over the Astros, which kicked off a sweep.
While Lange has multiple years of MLB experience, he had been on the injured list for the majority of the year, and finally returned to the mound in the middle of August before being optioned to make room for Sommers.
A.J. Hinch has expressed his desire to have a constant rotation in the bullpen, and this move further indicates that the team is going to get creative to shake up their bullpen for each series.
Sommers is in, Lange is at Triple-A, and Kreidler is a free agent after four years with the Tigers in the Majors.
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