FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers claimed infielder Buddy Kennedy, who has played in 40 games across parts of two seasons in his MLB career, off waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals.
Kennedy, 25, primary plays second base.
Infielder Andre Lipcius, who made his MLB debut last season, was designated for assignment Thursday to create room for Kennedy on the 40-man roster. Lipcius had to be scratched from Thursday’s lineup against the Boston Red Sox in Fort Myers, Florida.
“The timing of that was really different,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said Friday morning, “just because our game was about to start, and the message got sent down to me to send Lip in (to talk to general manager Jeff Greenberg), and that we had claimed Buddy Kennedy.”
Kennedy has been claimed off waivers three times since September 2023. The Oakland Athletics claimed him off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks in early September, then the St. Louis Cardinals claimed him off waivers from the Athletics in late October.
Now, Kennedy has joined the Tigers as a waiver claim — scooped up by president of baseball operations Scott Harris — after getting designated for assignment by the Cardinals.
“He’s a nice player,” Hinch said. “He can move around the field a little bit. He’s got a track record of playing good defense and controlling the zone, hitting lefties. There are a lot of things to like about Buddy, and now there’s some uncertainty with Lip.”
Kennedy, a right-handed hitter, hit .308 with five home runs, 76 walks (16.4% walk rate) and 81 strikeouts (17.5% strikeout rate) across 101 games for Triple-A Reno and Triple-A Las Vegas last season, posting a .432 on-base percentage
