NEW YORK -- With August in the rearview mirror, Major League active rosters have officially expanded from 25 players to 40, and the Tigers made their first two moves prior to Saturday's contest at Yankee Stadium.
As expected, lefty Daniel Norris was reinstated from the 60-day disabled list to start Saturday after undergoing groin surgery at the beginning of May, filling the last spot on Detroit's 40-man roster. The Tigers also recalled right-hander Sandy Baez from Double-A Erie.
Baez made his first and only big league appearance June 4 in the first game of a doubleheader against the Yankees. He tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out four batters and walking three.
"Baez came up to pitch for us earlier. Norris is going to be fun to see. I'm excited to watch him pitch," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Right now, watching Norris pitch is a good one, and we know what Baez did last time when he came up and it was against the Yankees."
The 24-year-old righty pitched in 33 games for the SeaWolves, making 15 starts. Baez was 1-9 in the 2018 season with a 5.64 ERA. He recorded 86 strikeouts and walked 46 batters over 103 2/3 innings.
The Tigers are expected to call up a few more pitchers and an outfielder, but Gardenhire said the team will not call up any players from Triple-A Toledo until the Mud Hens' season comes to a close. Entering Saturday, Toledo was a half-game behind the first-place Columbus Clippers in the International League West standings.
"You don't want the disappointment," Gardenhire said. "What happens is not so much the guys coming up here, they're all great. But the guys who think they might have a shot, the disappointment, you don't want that. They're trying to do something good down there. So it never bodes well when you do something like that."
Gardenhire said if his club were in a pennant race, the big league needs would then outweigh the Minors. However, because the potential postseason run is occurring in Triple-A rather than for the Tigers, he wants the prospects' focus to be on their current team.
"If they're not in a pennant race, I get it, but these guys? You got to leave them alone," Gardenhire said. "You start announcing and half of them go in the tank because, 'Hey, I thought I'd be called up.' Right now they're focused on this. It's easier just to wait, believe me. I've been on both sides of it."
The regular season for the Mud Hens ends Monday. The rest of the September callups' arrival to the Major League club will then depend on what happens beyond the start of next week.
"They have a legit chance," Gardenhire said. "Good for them. They've battled through us taking all of their players, they've started bullpen days. Because of the injuries we've had, we've really screwed with that team. [Toledo manager Doug Mientkiewicz] and them have done a heck of a job. They've done a really good job because we took a lot of players right in the middle of it. I mean, we've taken their starter the day of and them going bullpen days. That's a good run by those guys."