Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch winked in Wednesday's pregame press conference.

A question about the return of right-hander Casey Mize — who is scheduled to start Friday — sparked the rare gesture from Hinch. The Tigers can't officially activate Mize until Friday, which is when he becomes eligible to return from the 60-day injured list, so until then, Hinch won't formally announce the plan.

"We're anticipating that happening," Hinch said. "I don't know how to wink at you guys anymore. We're waiting because we have to wait. There's no way for us to activate him any sooner than Friday, and Friday, we don't have a starter listed."

That's when Hinch winked.

Everyone laughed.

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Mize, the 2018 No. 1 overall pick, is starting Friday against the Boston Red Sox at Comerica Park, just in time to help the Tigers — above .500 this late into the season for the first time since 2016 — push for the postseason. The 27-year-old has been sidelined for the last two months with a left hamstring strain.

Left-hander Tarik Skubal will start Saturday's game.

"I'm hoping to help a team that's been winning continue to win," Mize said. "I think that's the most important thing. It's a fun group right now, and I look forward to helping out there."

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In 2024, Mize posted a 4.23 ERA with 21 walks and 58 strikeouts across 78⅔ innings in 16 starts before the injury. He hasn't pitched for the Tigers since June 30.

Mize also shared his personal goals for the final month of the season, likely five or six starts.

"Just finishing strong and finishing the season healthy would be a super positive note," Mize said, "building up my innings limit, or my innings count, this year just to feel good about going into next year and not really having much of a limit or helping whatever limit there might be."

A four-start rehab assignment led to Mize's on-time return. He allowed four runs on 10 hits and four walks with 17 strikeouts across 13⅔ innings with Triple-A Toledo, registering a 2.63 ERA. In his fourth start, Mize covered 4⅔ innings on 78 pitches.

He should be ready to pitch at least six innings in Friday's start against the Red Sox.

"I felt pretty good throughout all the rehab outings," Mize said. "I felt like I could have done more in each one, so I feel like we're in a good spot, where we're build up enough where I feel like I could do more. I feel like we accomplished what we needed to."

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While rehabbing, Mize worked closely with pitching coach Doug Bochtler, pitching coach Ollie Kadey and manager Tim Federowicz. A side quest for Mize's rehab assignment was to improve his slider, which he needs to miss bats for strikeouts.

His slider generated a 33.3% whiff rate in his four rehab starts, a big improvement from an 18.9% whiff rate on his slider in his previous 16 starts with the Tigers.

"Some mindset things with that," Mize said, "and a slight grip adjustment there, as well. The pitch is not moving much differently, but it's coming out of my hand a little bit different. I think it's going to mirror some of the other stuff a touch better. I hope that translates to this level like it did there, but we'll see."

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Injured Wenceel Pérez has switch-hitting situation

Outfielder Wenceel Pérez (left oblique strain) has been swinging in the batting cage, doing running drills on the field and participating in light defense activity.

Pérez, a switch-hitter, gives the Tigers an interesting dilemma because his left-handed swing is further ahead of his right-handed swing in the recovery process. Remember, Pérez injured his left oblique while swinging from the right side of the plate.

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The Tigers will consider sending Pérez on a rehab assignment, possibly as soon as next week, but if that's the case, he would only be allowed to swing from the left side.

"We actually feel like we're rehabbing two players," Hinch said. "The left-handed swing is ahead of the right-handed swing in both volume and intensity. The question is going to be, 'Do we send him out before we're comfortable with him hitting right-handed, or do we wait and see if he's going to be a complete player before we send him out?' We'll talk about that soon."

Pérez will participate in a live batting practice session over the weekend, only swinging left-handed. His symptoms, along with the handedness situation, will ultimately determine when he plays rehab games in the minor leagues.

Scheduled off day

Center fielder Parker Meadows didn't start Wednesday against the Los Angeles Angels, even though the 24-year-old is hitting .333 with 14 of 29 hits for extra bases in his past 22 games.

It was a scheduled off day.

The Tigers will continue to give off days to Meadows (right hamstring strain), Riley Greene (right hamstring strain) and Kerry Carpenter (lumbar spine stress fracture), especially leading up to Tuesday's off day, because the trio recently returned from injuries.

"Part of the plan when we got all these guys healthy was this 14-game stretch, trying to get to the off day," Hinch said. "We scheduled out this week a little bit. Tomorrow, I'm going to be pretty heavy left-handed against their starter, so knowing what we want against each people for the next couple of days, I'm trying to sneak in an off day for the guys, especially those who have recovered from some injuries."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers ready to get Casey Mize back from injured list Friday