Bryan Holaday called up by Tigers, according to report

Alex Avila's and Gerald Laird's pain is Bryan Holaday's gain, it appears. With both of Detroit's primary two catchers suffering from nagging injuries, the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens catcher will have his contract purchased by the Tigers, maybe as soon as this morning, says Toledo Blade writer John Wagner.

The Tigers are calling up C Bryan Holaday from Toledo. Holaday is expected to be in uniform for Detroit Wednesday when they take on Cleveland. I don't know this as a fact, but I assume from reports out of Detroit tonight that Holaday will take the place of Alex Avila on the Tigers' roster.

Unfortunately, someone else isn't going to have a very nice morning, either. Holaday is not on the Tigers' 40-man roster, so a corresponding move must be made to free up space. No indication what that move might be, and no one is left to move to he 60-day disabled list. The Tigers currently have 22 pitchers and 18 position players on the roster.

Avila seems like the best bet to his the 15-day disabled list. He left Tuesday's game against the Indians after five innings. The Tigers say Avila re-aggravated the right hamstring. An MRI was planned to learn more information. However, Laird isn't exactly in tip-top shape either. He has battled nagging leg injuries as well, dating back to the end of spring training where first he injured his knee in a collission with Don Kelly and then he appeared to have lef-hamstring tightness. You might remember that one from when he came up lame and slammed his helmet into the ground before retrieving it only to slam it into the dugout. He lucked out at the time and did not require a DL stint, and actually played quite well when asked to by Tigers manager Jim Leyland. But going from first to third during Tuesday's game, he really looked quite hobbled as well. Laird had been coming off of two days rest for his right hamstring as well.

More and more we see why Omir Santos got the call to Detroit.

Unfortunately, several Tigers have the sorts of injuries that don't just heal up over two weeks time. Add in Doug Fister's and Austin Jackson's struggles -- Fister returned to the DL with the same rib pain he suffered from earlier in the season, while Jackson hasn't since mid-May after an abdominal strain -- and you've got quite a bit to worry about.

Combining the injury bug with ineffectiveness, you get a bleak picture about the team's first third of the season. Wagner noted on Twitter that nine of the Tigers' 25 men on the active roster began their seasons in Toledo.

Wagner has a quick scouting report on Holaday, who was a sixth-round pick out of Texas Christrian in 2010 and who quickly wowed some prospect watchers with some nice numbers to begin his pro career with Advanced-A Lakeland before falling off.

Defensively, Holaday is solid behind the plate, but he also is still learning the position. He has six errors and has allowed three passed balls. He shines when it comes to throwing out would-be basestealers -- he has thrown out 15 of 39 potential basestealers this season. Those 15 caught stealing is fifth-most among International League catchers, as is the 38.5 percent success rate.

Holaday is coming off a five-game hitting streak that just ended after a pinch-hit strikeout.

Holaday is hitting .248 with .313 OBP and .314 slugging after 36 games for the Mud Hens. With Double-A Erie in 2011, he hit .242 with .304 OBP and .361 slugging.