TOLEDO >> They are so close to Detroit, but yet, they also seem so far.

When you walk in the dugout and on the field at Fifth Third Field, you see several recognizable faces, more than normal for a minor-league baseball team, in this case the Toledo Mud Hens, the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate. There’s Jason Foley, Detroit’s one-time closer with a 100-mph fastball. There’s Jace Jung, one of the Tigers’ top prospects, who got called up last season and was in the thick of things for the pennant chase.

Until Tuesday’s call-up to start the series finale in Milwaukee, there had also been Keider Montero, the second-best Tigers starting pitcher late in 2024, if only because the Tigers only had two starters, and one was Tarik Skubal.

Scott Harris, the Tigers’ president of baseball operations, has been building organizational depth since he was hired in September 2022, and the fruits of his labor have never been on display like they are these days in northwest Ohio. There are several players who, frankly, don’t want to be here, don’t think they should be here.

And, oh, by the way, that’s a good thing.

“Everybody here in pretty good,” said Jung, 24, a third baseman/second baseman who was the 12th pick in 2022 and got 97 plate appearances with Detroit last season, including the playoffs. “Most guys have got big-league service.

“Everyone’s kind of in the same boat.”

The Mud Hens have 19 players who have played for them this season who have major-league experience, and that includes a few callups already this season, among them outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy. Those 19 include guys who’ve had little more than a cup of coffee in The Show, to players like veteran relief pitcher Andrew Chafin, who has seen action in more than 600 major-league games.

More callups, certainly, are coming, though first-year Toledo manager Gabe Alvarez has been impressed with his players staying in the present, even though the present doesn’t have first-class travel and food spreads.

“From Day 1, they’ve been great, you know,” Alvarez said, citing the interactions between the likes of Foley, Chafin and outfielder Ben Gamel and the younger players who haven’t yet made it to the big leagues. “I think, you know, it’s a unique situation, where we have a combination of some young guys that are trying to get there … and some experienced players with major-league time that we’re trying to get back to Detroit.

“It’s a very good problem … I want to get them all up there to AJ (Hinch).”

Foley was probably the biggest surprise this spring, having averaged 66 appearances for the Tigers in the last three seasons. The right-hander saved 28 games for Detroit in 2024. But there were velocity concerns over the summer, and by season’s end, he wasn’t the go-to guy. He didn’t even pitch in the five games against Cleveland in the American League Division Series.

He’s off to a good start in Toledo, with a 0.00 ERA, nine strikeouts and one hit allowed in 6.2 innings.

“It’s pretty shocking,” Foley said of getting word from Hinch that he wouldn’t be starting the season with the Tigers, just before the Tigers started the season out west. “I obviously wasn’t thrilled about it. Yeah, I wasn’t thrilled. … I was pissed. I was frustrated, you know, all those emotions. … It stinks. I mean, I’ve been on the team for three years in a row. A lot of my good friends are on the team and I was a big part of it last year, and it sucks to be told that you’re not good enough to be on the team anymore.

“But you have two options. It’s either sit here and sulk or try to get better and address the things they wanted me to address and get called back up. So that’s what I’m trying to do.

“I’ve got all the faith in the world and confidence in the world that I’ll go back soon and be a big part of it again.”

For Foley, 29, there are mechanical tweaks he is working on, per the Tigers’ request. He didn’t get specific, but he’s in touch with the Tigers’ pitching coaches in Detroit.

For Jung, who figured to have the make the Tigers this spring after they didn’t sign Alex Bregman and especially after Matt Vierling got hurt. But the defense remains a work in progress (he’s splitting time between third and second at Toledo, as is prospect Hao-Yu Lee), and the bat went cold in Lakeland. He’s got a .989 OPS and three homers in 14 games at Toledo this season. He’s also got 13 walks, but 18 strikeouts, too.

“We’ve thrown a lot at him,” said Alvarez, who also managed Jung at Double-A Erie. “He wants to get better, and I think when you have that desire, that drive, you know, it usually leads to good things.”

Montero, 24, made 16 starts for the Tigers last season, but he lost out on a rotation spot this spring with the emergence of top prospect Jackson Jobe and the revival of former No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize. Montero has a 2.79 ERA and 11 strikeouts in his first two starts at Toledo, spanning 9.2 innings.

Matt Manning is another intriguing man in Toledo. The ninth overall pick in 2016, he’s pitched in 50 games for the Tigers the last four years, but as the organizational depth has gotten better, he’s fallen down the ladder. In three games (two starts) at Toledo, Manning, 27, has a 6.97 ERA, though his latest outing was solid, a three-inning scoreless relief stint in which he struck out three.

For Chafin, 34, Toledo is a bit of an odd feeling. It’s his first time in the minor leagues, outside of some rehab outings, since 2016. He signed with the Tigers on a minor-league deal this spring, but he still expected he’d make the team.

“Quite frankly, I was pissed. Nobody wants to be here, let’s be honest,” said Chafin, who’s already pitched in six games for the Mud Hens, with a 4.76 ERA and seven strikeouts over 5.2 innings. “But, you know, every career has its bumps in the road, and you kind of gotta take the punches and roll with them the best you can, learn from any situation you’re in, good or bad, and do the best you can with what you’ve got while you’ve got it

“There ain’t nothing else you can do besides that, right?”

Said Alvarez: “The only way to go about it is to be where your feet are.”

That seems to be the prevailing attitude in Toledo, from the guys who aspire to be major-leaguers — and especially the guys who aspire to be major-leaguers, again.

In short: Suck it up, buttercup.

“That’s anyone’s goal here at Triple A,” said Jahmai Jones, 27, an outfielder who was signed to a minor-league deal this offseason, after getting brief looks in the majors from four teams from 2020-24, including the New York Yankees last year. “If you’ve been there, to get there; and if you’ve been there, to get back, right?

“When I take a look around, everyone’s got a pretty common goal.

“At the end of the day, you just gotta play better.”