DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers clearly needed help at shortstop all season long, but hesitated to rush one o their two minor-league prospects to fill the gap.

Until now.

According to the Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) Twitter account, the Tigers have promoted Eugenio Suarez from Triple-A Toledo.

The Tigers have not yet announced the promotion, nor the corresponding move. [UPDATED: The Tigers recalled the contract of Suarez from Toledo, and designated Danny Worth for assignment.]

Suarez started the season at Double-A Erie, but was promoted to the team’s top farm club on May 21.

Suarez hit .284 in 42 games at Double-A Erie (.347 on-base percentage, .503 slugging percentage, .850 OPS) with 14 doubles and six home runs. He hit .302 (.404 OBP, .535 SLG, .939 OPS) with two home runs and four doubles in 12 games at Toledo.

DETROIT — Ty Cobb would be jealous.

Danny Worth has something that the Georgia Peach does not.

Two strikeouts.

“I think a lot of the pitchers in the dugout were jealous. He struck out two in one inning,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said after the shortstop Worth pitched the ninth inning of Thursday’s game.

“His strikeout-to-innings ratio is pretty good.”

According to research on Baseball-Reference.com, Worth became the ninth different Detroit Tigers position player to enter a game as a relief pitcher. One of them was Ty Cobb, who appeared for two innings each in the second game of doubleheaders on consecutive days in Sept. 1918.

Teammate Bobby Veach, the left fielder, was also called upon for two innings in that second twinbill nightcap in 1918.

Infielder Ben Dyer appeared in two games a month apart earlier in that season.

Cobb came back to throw one inning in the nightcap of a doubleheader late in the 1925 season, earning a save.

None of those guys struck anyone out, though.

Nor did Shane Halter, when he infamously played all nine positions on the last day of the 2000 season. Nor did Don Kelly when he closed out the game against the Mets in June, 2011, the last time a Tigers position player took the mound.

The only two Tigers position players that Baseball-Reference lists as having struck out batters in relief appearances had more extensive pitching experience.

Mark Koenig — normally a reserve infielder, like Worth — started one game in 1930, then made three relief appearances in 1931, striking out one each time.

The last Tigers position player to throw a full inning of relief was “Wonderful” Willie Smith in 1963. Although he’d go on to play nearly 700 games in the field at either left field or first base for four other teams, he was primarily a pitcher for the Tigers, having appeared as a pitcher in 101 of his 431 career minor league games, starting 80.

He started two games for the Tigers in 1963, and relieved in nine other games, compiling 21 2/3 innings in his rookie season.

Obligatorily, Smith had the most success as a reliever, striking out four in five innings on Sept. 18, 1963, when he had to take over for starter Phil Regan in the first inning, then striking out two in two innings a week later.

Even if you classify Smith as a “position player” (he did not appear at any other position other than pitcher for the Tigers in 1963), Worth is still in pretty select company.

If not, he might possibly be the most effective fielder-turned-pitcher in franchise history.

No matter the solution the Detroit Tigers have tried at shortstop this season, they’ve never acted like they were permanently married to it.

They traded a pair of players to acquire Andrew Romine and Alex Gonzalez, releasing the latter after just nine games. Danny Worth has gotten a shot — but not an endorsement.

And now — the same day that free-agent Stephen Drew re-signed with the Boston Red Sox — the next two who might get a chance to fill that gap for the Tigers might both be at Triple-A Toledo.

Eugenio Suarez was promoted after Tuesday’s game, going from Double-A Erie to the Mud Hens, where he’ll pair with Hernan Perez.

Manager Brad Ausmus told reporters he was “very satisfied” with the play of his current shortstops, despite the fact that the position had produced a combined batting average of .189, a slugging percentage of .220 and an OPS of .470.

Suarez went 3-for-5 in the Seawolves’ 7-6 loss Tuesday, driving in three runs, and hitting his 14th double. In 42 games, he hit .284, slugged .503 and posted an .850 OPS. Dixon Machado was sent to Erie in the corresponding move.

Worth got the nod over either Suarez or Perez when Gonzalez was released, primarily because the Tigers didn’t want to force either of them into a platoon situation.

“Hopefully this combination will help us, and we can continue to analyze our situation. We’ve got, again, two young guys that we’re just not quite ready to bring up and ready to let them play, but they’re playing very, very well for us,” Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said at the time.

“It gives them an opportunity to continue to play on day-in, day-out basis, which we think will benefit our organization in the long run.”

The long run may not be that far off, at this point.

The Tigers knew they were going to need all the right-handed hitters they could put together for the American League Championship Series, where they'll be facing the lefty-heavy rotation of the Texas Rangers.

But they won't have Delmon Young, who clubbed three home runs in the AL Division Series against the Yankees. Young left the deciding Game 5 against the Yankees with a strained oblique injury in his side on Thursday. He was checked out by doctors on Friday, but later told reporters that he was having trouble throwing.

The Tigers left Young off the ALCS roster to start, replacing him with Danny Worth, apparently the best option "plan(s) B" that manager Jim Leyland and staff discussed in a Friday meeting.

Should rest improve Young's injury situation, the Tigers could add him to the roster later as an injury replacement. The conundrum the Tigers were in, however, was that if they carried him on the ALCS roster, and needed to replace him midway through, he'd be ineligible to play the rest of the way through the playoffs. By leaving him off, they can add him to the roster again later, should they advance to the World Series.

When Tigers pitcher Phil Coke puts on a Toledo Mud Hens uniform on Friday, and trots to the mound in Scranton, Pa., for a rehab start against the New York Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, it will seem like almost any other day at the office.

He’ll have a familiar coworker in the Hens lineup with him, after all.

Magglio Ordonez, who has been on the disabled list since May 13 with weakness in his surgically-repaired ankle, will begin his rehab stint with Toledo the same day, the Tigers announced Wednesday.

Even though Tigers manager Jim Leyland has tried to stay out of the discussion, leaving it between Ordonez and the training staff — “I just stay out of that stuff. ... Whenever they tell me Magglio’s ready, he’s ready,” he said — there’s no question that he’s been encouraged by watching Ordonez take batting practice on the field at Comerica Park the last few days.
“He felt fine the last couple of days, felt really good. And drove the ball pretty good. Just wait and see,” Leyland said after one session.

“He feels great, but is a couple of days swinging going to change how he feels? I wouldn’t think so, but I don’t know,” the manager noted after another.

Struggling off and on with his ankle in the cold weather early this season, Ordonez was hitting just .171 in 26 games before notifying the Tigers’ medical staff that he wanted to shut it down.
He was re-examined by Dr. Phillip Kwong, the surgeon who repaired his broken ankle last August, in Los Angeles three weeks ago, but has been rehabbing in Detroit since then.

Coke, who has been on the DL with a bruised bone in his foot, is scheduled to return to the Tigers’ active roster after his lone rehab start. Once he comes back, the Tigers will send left-handed starter Andy Oliver back to Toledo.

Ordonez’s return could make for a more interesting roster decision. Do the Tigers demote Andy Dirks, who’s hit .281 since taking Ordonez’s spot on the roster? Or Casper Wells (.228)? Or infielder Danny Worth, who may be less needed, once Ordonez’s presence in the outfield rotation pushes Ryan Raburn into the second base role full time?

Just wait and see on that, too, I guess.

The Tigers made their final three cuts Saturday morning to get down to the 25-man roster for the regular season.

To get there, the Tigers optioned reserve infielder Danny Worth to Toledo, and assigned two of this spring's biggest surprises, outfielder Andy Dirks and lefty pitcher Adam Wilk, to the minor league camp. All three had impressive springs, making Leyland's decision that much harder.

"You are breaking hearts. We've broken a couple and we'll break a couple more," said Leyland about having to make the final roster moves, which were the most scrutinized of the spring.

Barring any last-minute moves, the moves mean that Brennan Boesch and Casper Wells will both make the team as reserve outfielders, and Ramon Santiago will be the extra infielder. Utility man Don Kelly can play both infield and outfield, as well.

The final two bullpen slots went to 23-year-old Venezuelan right-hander Brayan Villareal, who ranked second-best in the Tigers' minor league system with 136 strikeouts between single and double-A a year ago, and veteran right-hander Enrique Gonzalez, a non-roster invitee who split time between Toledo and Detroit a year ago.

A little over two weeks ago, Leyland had praised his corps of young lefty relievers — including Wilk, last year's minor league pitcher of the year in the organization, rookie Charlie Furbush, veteran Fu-Te Ni and youngsters Daniel Schlereth and Duane Below — saying that it was conceivable that all of them could stick with the parent club. In the final evaluation, however, it will only be Schlereth who heads north with the Tigers. He and veteran Brad Thomas will be the bullpen's two southpaws to start the season.

The Tigers' minor league player of the year last season, Dirks hit .333 with four doubles, three triples and a homer this spring, further complicating what was already a logjam of outfielders competing for just one or two slots. But his spring couldn't match what Boesch and Wells had done in the regular season for the Tigers a year ago. The Tigers' second-best defensive outfielder, Wells can play all three outfield positions, while both he and Boesch can provide pinch-hit pop off the bench.

A career .251 hitter in the minors in the four seasons since the Tigers selected him in the second round of the 2007 draft, Worth's bat finally caught up to his glove this spring, as he too hit .333, with six doubles. Leyland has said that he's a major league-ready defender, but Santiago is a veteran of nine major league seasons, seven of them with the Tigers.

The Tigers cut five more players — including the heir apparent at second base, Scott Sizemore — from the major league camp on Tuesday, clearing a bit of room out of a few of the logjams at the positions of competition.

The Tigers optioned Sizemore, reliever Robbie Weinhardt and outfielder Clete Thomas to Triple-A Toledo, and sent reliever Fu-Te Ni and catcher Max St. Pierre to minor league camp.

With Sizemore's demotion, the second base job belongs to Will Rhymes now, a fact manager Jim Leyland confirmed Tuesday. But even the light-hitting Danny Worth (.323) outhit Sizemore (.243) this spring, leaving last year's Opening Day starter at second base on the outside looking in. A shortstop by trade, Worth's biggest drawback to date has been his ineffectiveness with the stick but, as that has come on this spring, he's gotten more and more praise from Leyland. If he makes the trip north as the reserve infielder in place of Ramon Santiago — who's been mentioned in trade rumors — it won't be much of a surprise.

Thomas, who missed most of the 2010 season with a knee injury, was the odd man out in the battle for the fourth outfielder spot, a competition that's now down to just three. Brennan Boesch, last year's rookie sensation, Casper Wells, who Leyland has called the Tigers' second-best defensive outfielder, and Andy Dirks, the surprise of this year's spring training, are battling it out for the last spot behind the starters, Austin Jackson, Magglio Ordonez and Ryan Raburn. Utility man Don Kelly, who can also play the outfield, has already been given a roster spot.

Weinhardt had two moderately successful stints with the big club last season, and was a favorite for one of the four or five bullpen spots behind fixtures: Jose Valverde in the closer's role, and free-agent acquisition Joaquin Benoit in the set-up role. It depends whether the Tigers carry 11 or 12 pitchers on the roster to start the season, but Ryan Perry and lefties Brad Thomas and Daniel Schlereth seem the most likely to be given spots. That may leave the last one or two spots down to a competition between young lefty Adam Wilk and right-handers Brayan Villareal and Enrique Gonzalez.