Although at least one spot in the Detroit Tigers’ starting rotation is still up for grabs, the club will have ample options when it has to reach down to Triple-A Toledo for help.
The Tigers re-signed veteran Ricardo Pinto last week on a minor-league deal.
He will supplement a Mud Hens’ rotation that will have plenty of young arms.
Pinto, who turns 28 on Thursday, has pitched a handful of times in the big leagues and also had a stint in Korea in 2020. He logged 123 innings between Toledo and Double-A Erie in 2021.
Pinto is a useful signing because, as a minor-league journeyman rather than an MLB veteran, he’s unlikely to opt-out after spring training; he can work in the rotation or the pen; and he can bounce between levels if needed (although he’d certainly prefer to stick with Toledo).
He’ll join three onetime prospects coming back from injury who are very likely to start the season in the Toledo rotation: Lefty Joey Wentz and right-handers Alex Faedo and Rony Garcia.
Right-hander Elvin Rodriguez pitched just two innings in Toledo last season, but could be a candidate for a rotation job this spring.
Paul Richan, 24, and Garrett Hill, 26, could also find themselves in Toledo before long, if not from Day 1.
That’s seven pitchers, which isn’t a bad start, given that there could be other veterans like Pinto added between now and April.
There’s no guarantee that this year’s Toledo rotation will be better than last year’s group, which was a patchwork of veterans like Pinto, Drew Hutchison, Pedro Payano and Mark Leiter Jr. But the 2022 version will be younger and have a higher upside.
Faedo, a first-round draft pick out of the University of Florida in 2017, was once a top-100 prospect and seemed to be putting things together in Double-A Erie in 2019. But his stint at Toledo was shut down early in 2020 and he underwent Tommy John surgery in December of that year.
Wentz, acquired from the Braves in the Shane Greene trade in 2019, returned to action last summer after missing about 15 months following Tommy John. He made 13 starts in Erie, striking out 58 and walking 33 in 53 1/3 innings.
Garcia was a Rule 5 Draft pick from the New York Yankees in 2019 and had a bumpy debut in 2020. He injured his knee in June and missed the rest of the 2021 season but has looked sharp in the Dominican Republic this winter.
It was a mild surprise when Rodriguez, acquired from the Angels in the 2017 Justin Upton trade, was added to the 40-man roster in November. But it was an indication that the Tigers saw the 23-year-old as a potential upper-level depth piece who could help as early as this year.
Wentz, 24, Faedo, 26, and Garcia, 24, are also on the 40-man roster.
(That’s worth noting because it means all four pitchers are currently locked out by MLB and wouldn’t be able to pitch for the Mud Hens in the unlikely event the work stoppage affects the season).
The seven potential starters mentioned hardly represents an exhaustive list, and it’s worth noting that 21 different pitchers started a game for the Mud Hens in 2021, although many of those were “openers.”
TIGERS’ STARTING ARMS IN 2022
MLB
1. Eduardo Rodriguez
2. Casey Mize
3. Tarik Skubal
4. Matt Manning
5. Free-agent pitcher to be signed
6. Tyler Alexander
Triple-A
1. Ricardo Pinto
2. Joey Wentz
3. Alex Faedo
4. Rony Garcia
5. Elvin Rodriguez
6. Paul Richan
7. Garrett Hill
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