Mud Hens announce 2026 season-opening roster

(Toledo, OH) – The Detroit Tigers and Toledo Mud Hens have announced the season-opening roster for the 2026 season set to start Friday, March 27, 2026, at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, PA.

Twenty-six pitchers are set to start the season: Phil Bickford, Dugan Darnell, Scott Effross, Woo-Suk Go, Sean Guenther, Brenan Hanifee, Preston Howey, Jack Little, Lael Lockhart, Ty Madden, Tyler Mattison, Jake Miller, Keider Montero, Tim Naughton, Tyler Owens, Konnor Pilkington, Colin Poche, Tanner Rainey, Joe Ruzicka, Bryan Sammons, Matt Seelinger, Burch Smith, Drew Sommers, Ricky Vanasco, Cole Waites, and Troy Watson. Ten of them, being Bickford, Darnell, Effross, Howey, Miller, Naughton, Owens, Poche, Ruzicka and Watson, will all begin the season on the Injured List.

Fourteen position players start the year in Toledo, beginning with two catchers on the Opening Day roster: Tomás Nido and Eduardo Valencia. Six infielders are listed as Max Anderson, Max Burt, Trei Cruz, Jace Jung, Hao-Yu Lee, and Gage Workman will cover the dirt. Six outfielders are named with Max Clark, Danandres Colon, Corey Julks, Ben Malgeri, Wenceel Pérez, and Cal Stevenson roaming the grass. Lee and Colon will begin the season on the Injured List.

The roster contains 23 players who have adorned the Mud Hens uniform previously (fifteen pitchers, eight fielders), and 17 who will be new to the confines of Fifth Third Field (eleven pitchers, six fielders).

Toledo will host ten members of the Tigers’ 40-Man Roster: Hanifee, Madden, Miller, Montero, Sommers, Valencia, Jung, Lee, Cruz and Perez.

The Mud Hens roster will open with seven of the top 30 Tigers prospects (MLB.com), being Clark (2), Anderson (5), Lee (6), Miller (16), Madden (20), Valencia (25) and Cruz (26). Clark also appears in MLB.com’s Top-100 prospects list, coming in at the #10 prospect in all of MiLB.