Tigers place Casey Mize and Javier Báez on IL; De Jesus, Jung called up

“Hao-Yu Lee has played there in the past,” Hinch said. “It’s not an ideal situation right now.”

McKinstry, who has been taking live batting practice in Lakeland, could start a rehab assignment as early as this weekend. He will likely start that assignment with the Low-A Lakeland team.

“We shouldn’t fast-forward him; we have to do a full recovery for him,” Hinch said. “He is going into his game progression in the next few days and we’ll watch him and listen to him and see how he’s moving. But we need to separate that from the need right now.”

Hinch said McKinstry, at a minimum, will need to play three or more rehab games.

“I don’t know what this means for the next series or the series after that," Hinch said. "But we need to pay attention to Z-Mac and his rehab. We can’t fast-forward it just to make us feel better on paper but not functionally better if he can’t do all the things we need him to do.”

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Mize will continue to throw while he takes treatment on the groin. Hinch said the hope is that it will require no more than the minimum 15 days.

"But coming down the (mound), a lower body injury, he wasn't going to make his start in four days," Hinch said. "That made it impossible to carry him."

As for replacing him in the rotation, the Tigers aren't likely to call up a starter from Toledo.

Mize’s next scheduled start would be Sunday. It’s possible the Tigers could deploy a bullpen start against the Rangers. They have off days on Thursday (May 7) and the following Monday (May 11) where they might be able to get by without a fifth starter.

Jung, who had a productive spring and was carrying a .358 on-base average and .721 OPS at Toledo, was in the lineup Wednesday as the designated hitter.

“My main goal this spring was just to make the team,” Jung said. “It didn’t work out, but that’s OK. I did everything I possibly could to make it and that’s the only thing I can put on myself, just knowing I did everything humanly possible.”

Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com

@cmccosky

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers place Casey Mize, Javier Báez on injured list