Just when it seemed like Kerry Bonds had made his return to the Detroit Tigers. After a rough few weeks, Kerry Carpenter had busted out in a big way at the plate of late: His solo homer early in Sunday's game against the Minnesota Twins was his third in the last six days, and he went on to add an RBI triple in the bottom of the fifth.
But unfortunately, that last hit came at a potentially steep cost. While hustling to third base, Carpenter appeared to tweak something in his leg, and he was quickly removed from the game.
Kerry Carpenter looked like he tweaked his hamstring again rounding second. He hobbled into third with an RBI triple. Looked like he lobbied to stay in, but Hinch is taking him out of the game. He's homered and tripled tonight.
— Chris McCosky (@cmccosky) June 30, 2025
Detroit has yet to offer any sort of official update on Carpenter's condition, and obviously it's much too soon to start speculating about how much time (if any) he might miss. He was lobbying with manager AJ Hinch pretty forcefully about staying in the game, so maybe this looked worse than it actually was.
But at this point, you could forgive Tigers fans for fearing the worst. After all, we've been here before with Carpenter, whose ability at the plate is eclipsed only by his inability to stay on the field. And that should have Detroit on red-alert with weeks to go until the MLB trade deadline.
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Kerry Carpenter's injury history makes him hard to trust
Carpenter has established himself as one of the more underappreciated hitters in the sport over the last few years. He's a .270/.324/.502 lifetime hitter who posted a scalding .932 OPS last season, and while the Tigers certainly help those numbers by shielding him against most left-handed pitching, there aren't a ton of hitters who can do that sort of damage even in a platoon role. He's a force in the middle of this lineup, and he was one of the primary engines behind the team's run to within one game of the ALCS last season.
But for as exciting as he is as a player, he's also yet to play more than 118 games in a single season, missing extended time in 2023 and 2024 with back and shoulder injuries. Just when it seems like Carpenter is set to establish himself as an All-Star, he goes away for a while.
Carpenter is still just 27, and this is his fourth big-league season; it's too early to slap him with the injury-prone tag. But if Sunday's injury is another stint on the IL, then it might be time to starting having some uncomfortable conversations, especially with the deadline looming.
Tigers can't afford not to add a bat at the trade deadline
Offense wouldn't seem to be much of a need for these Tigers ahead of the deadline. Detroit is fifth in OPS on the season, and has the second-best OPS in the league for the month of June. But that production belies just how fragile this lineup really is: While Spencer Torkelson and Javier Baez have been revelations this season and Riley Greene is one of the hottest hitters on the planet, it's still a little tough to trust this group's depth when the lights are brighest in the postseason.
Which makes Carpenter one of the most important players on the roster. When he's healthy and rolling, he gives Hinch one more premium bat to lengthen his lineup, and the Tigers can feel much better about their offensive ecosystem. But if he can't stay healthy, that calculus changes: Carpenter needs to prove that he can be trusted to be on the field in October, and if he can't, then Scott Harris needs to be even more aggressive securing upgrades in July that will protect them from another injury scare.