Pitching Injuries Ground Detroit Tigers’ High Hopes

The Detroit Tigers’ suffering was supposed to finally end this season.

All the high draft picks that have been accumulating, a couple of major free agent signings this past offseason and a solid finish to the last season seemed to set up the Tigers for a rebirth in 2022.

Not so fast.

The Tigers have a 23-33 record. That puts them 8 ½ games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins in the American League Central in a division that is seemingly wide open because of the favored Chicago White Sox’s struggles.

The Tigers haven’t had a winning season since 2016 and their rebuilding – tanking? – hit bottom in 2019 when they lost 114 games. However, things started to change last year in Hinch’s first season as manager when the Tigers went 68-61 in their last 129 games following a 9-24 start.

Yet the Tigers have disappointed this year and the reason for the struggles could be summed up during Hinch’s pre-game meeting with reporters Tuesday night in Pittsburgh. The talk was almost exclusively about injured players, primarily starting pitchers who were supposed to form the backbone of a contending team.

“It’s been bad,” Hinch admitted. “Anytime you lose the most stable part of your team, which is our young starting pitching, it is a little frustrating. I try to deal in realities. This is our reality. We are where we are.”

Left-hander Tarik Skubal, who is having a breakout season at 25, is the only pitcher who was expected to be a part of the rotation not on the IL. The biggest names on the IL are right-hander Casey Mize and left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez.

The Tigers have been counting on Mize to lead the rotation since drafting him first overall in 2018 from Auburn. The 25-year-old had a solid first full major league season last year with a 7-9 record and 3.31 ERA in 30 starts but has pitched just twice this season and not since April 15 because of a sprained elbow.

Rodriguez was signed to a five-year, $77-million contract to help stabilize a young rotation that was expected to also include 27-year-old lefty Tyler Alexander (sprained elbow), 24-year-old Matt Manning (shoulder inflammation) and veteran Michael Pineda (fractured right middle finger) along with Skubal.

Rodriguez went just 1-3 with a 4.38 ERA in eight starts before being placed on the IL on May 19 with a sprained ribcage. He did begin a rehab assignment Thursday at Triple-A Toledo.

Skubal has emerged as the Tigers’ ace amongst all the injuries. He has a 5-2 record and 2.33 ERA through 11 starts and pitched seven innings in each of his last three outings.

That represents a big step forward for the Tigers’ ninth-round draft pick in 2018 from Seattle University. He was 9-16 in his first two major league seasons with a 4.57 in 39 games, including 36 starts.

“Tarik Skubal is obvious a big piece of trying to push this thing forward,” Hinch said. “It speaks to our minor league people and our (player development) people. He’s learned some hard lessons over the last year and a half or so, but for a team that had a rough start to the season, the day he pitches every single time there is a different feel in the clubhouse and that is a signature of a guy who is turning into a very good major league pitcher.”

The Tigers have the same hopes for Mize, Manning and two rookie right-handers who have made their major league debuts this season — Alex Faedo and Beau Brieske.

Faedo has been steady, not allowing more than two runs in any of his first seven career starts while compiling a 1-2 record and 2.92 ERA. Brieske is 0-5 with a 4.98 ERA in eight starts and has been tagged for 12 home runs in just 42 innings but Hinch sees potential.

It would help the Tigers’ patchwork rotation if it got some run support. Detroit is averaging an MLB-worst 2.82 runs a game.

Signed to a six-year, $140-million contract as a free agent, shortstop Javier Baez has been disappointing with a .200 batting average and three home runs in 49 games. Rookie first baseman Spencer Torkelson, the first overall pick in 2020, is hitting just .190 with four homers in the first 51 games.

Another highly touted rookie, outfielder Riley Greene, would have also made his MLB debut by now but broke his right foot during the last week of spring training.

“We’re going to continue to try to win every game but missing some of your better players is not a recipe for success,” Hinch said.