It was this past Friday that Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch teased that the return of Kerry Carpenter was imminent. Carpenter has been sidelined since the end of June with a hamstring injury, and Hinch told reporters when the weekend started that the 27-year-old outfielder is close to being ready for a comeback.
“He’s doing well,” Hinch said. “It’s funny what baseball does to you when you have time off, whether it’s calibrating [your] body, mind, eyes. Just getting back into the swing of things is important for him.”
While the initial plan may have been for Carpenter to spend the entire weekend on a rehab assignment, the plans changed.