Gamecock great Grayson Greiner earns 1st major league call-up

Grayson Greiner is headed to the majors.

Greiner will be joining the Detroit Tigers on Friday when they play at Kansas City, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. The former Blythewood and South Carolina standout was pulled from his start with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens on Thursday.

Greiner will likely take Miguel Cabrera’s spot on the roster. Cabrera left Thursday’s game with a hamstring injury. The Tigers said they will announce a roster move Friday.

With Greiner's call-up, that will make eight former Gamecocks currently playing in the majors.

Greiner is one of Detroit’s top prospects and was on the Tigers’ 40-man roster during spring training. The 6-foot-6, 220-pound catcher was hitting .258 with a home run and seven RBIs this season for Toledo. Last season, he hit .237 with 14 homers and 44 RBIs at Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo.

Greiner was a third-round pick by the Tigers in the 2014 MLB Draft. In his final year at South Carolina, he hit .311 with eight homers and 50 RBI.

Greiner’s career .994 fielding percentage is the best percentage by a Gamecock catcher in school history. Greiner was a second-team All-America selection by Baseball America and Perfect Game and was named the 2013-14 USC Co-Male Student-Athlete of the Year alongside Gamecock two-sport standout Bruce Ellington.

Greiner also was a semifinalist for the Johnny Bench Award given to the top catcher in college baseball and a member of the SEC All-Defensive Team.

This story was originally published May 3, 2018 at 10:09 PM with the headline "Gamecock great Grayson Greiner earns 1st major league call-up."