Rogers shows serious defensive skills behind plate

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Tigers and Phillies played to a scoreless draw on Tuesday night in just 1 hour, 58 minutes. It was a classic pitching duel as Spring Training pitching duels go, but it included some stellar defense, including from behind home plate.

While starter Jack Flaherty needed just 69 pitches to throw five scoreless innings with seven strikeouts, two of his first three outs came on highlight throws from catcher Jake Rogers, who can add Flaherty to his list of admirers along with the pitchers he has caught up the farm system.

“Hey man, he handled the inning for me,” Flaherty said. “He’s a stud back there and he works really hard. It’s been fun working with him.”

Flaherty was ready to field Phillies leadoff hitter Johan Rojas’ swinging bunt down the third-base line, but Rogers called him off. He fielded it, whirled and fired to first for the out.

“Jack tried to call me off early,” Rogers said, “but I knew I could get around it easier than him trying to stop. … I pride myself on being a little athletic.”

Whit Merrifield followed with a bloop single, but after Flaherty struck out Alec Bohm, the right-hander’s curveball in the dirt to former Tiger Nick Castellanos sent Merrifield breaking for second. Rogers pounced on it and sidearmed a fastball to the bag, where No. 2 prospect Colt Keith was waiting to apply the tag.

“I just tried to stay low to make it quicker,” Rogers said. “On any ball, the lower you are, the quicker it is to get the ball out.”

It’s the kind of skill Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning and Alex Faedo have seen from Rogers since they were teammates at Double-A Erie, and manager A.J. Hinch has seen since 2021.

“Jake demonstrated a little bit of everything,” Hinch said. “I thought his pitch-calling in the first inning was really good. He’s a plus defender. He can control a lot of things back there and he makes a huge impact on our staff.”

To vault or not to vault

Tigers top prospect Max Clark put his baserunning acumen on display in Saturday’s Spring Breakout game when he stole second base easily on Phillies pitching prospect Michael Mercado. But Clark also hinted at an organizational shift when talking about it.

“I was trying to work on some vaulting, which is they’re having us work on in the org,” Clark said after the game. “As I’ve been training in the offseason and Spring Training, I was able to bring it to the game, and I’m loving it. It’s definitely the way I want to steal bags from now on. Just kind of going out there and having my floor set, ready to go and getting a good jump.”

Vaulting involves getting a distinct head start before breaking towards the bag, sometimes by shuffling, sometimes by bounding. The Yankees drew some attention for it the last couple years, first in their farm system, then in the Majors.

“It used to be something we did at second base all the time,” Hinch said, “and now the league has brought it over to first base. It’s kind of a tool in the tool chest.”

The Tigers are using it on a case-by-case basis in the farm system. Ryan Kreidler used a version of it when he swiped second base on Friday against Atlanta, shuffling twice before breaking into a sprint for the bag. He tried it at times in 2023, when he stole 12 bases in 16 attempts across the system, because he felt he needed an extra half a step stealing second.

“It’s a combination of feeling the game out and feeling the pitching out,” said Kreidler, “if I can get a read off of tempo or timing or pace, or the [pitch] clock.”

Hot corner still up for grabs

Though the Tigers addressed third base last month by signing free agent Gio Urshela, Hinch made it clear on Tuesday that they’re still figuring out their best options. Urshela has started eight games at third, including against the Phillies.

But Matt Vierling, who started at DH on Tuesday ahead of his road trip to Fort Myers, Fla., for a Wednesday afternoon game against the Twins, will play three of his next four games at third.

“We’re trying to gauge how I’m going to use the team and where these guys are going to play,” Hinch said. “It’s still very competitive who’s going to get the reps at third base.”