The Detroit Tigers are the only undefeated team remaining in the American League, less than one week into the 2024 baseball season.
The Tigers are 4-0 and haven’t even played a home game yet. They are 4-0 despite five players in their regular lineup hitting a combined .111 (7-for-63). And the real reason they are 4-0 is because the pitching staff has allowed only eight earned runs in 38 innings. That’s a sparkling 1.89 earned run average.
They have accomplished that despite losing their best pitcher from a year ago. Eduardo Rodriguez left as a free agent in December, signing a four-year, $80 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
That’s not far from the entire Tigers’ active payroll entering this season of $95,391,233, according to spotrac.com
The Tigers invested some off-season money in pitching. They gave Kenta Maeda a two-year, $24 million contract, signed Jack Flaherty for one year at $14 million, reliever Andrew Chafin for one year, $4.75 million and brought in Shelby Miller for one year at $3 million. Chafin and Miller also have club options for 2025.
Over the past seven seasons, the Tigers haven’t had much pitching worth paying much as the team compiled a woeful 419-610 record. They finished above the AL average ERA just once, at 4.24 a year ago. They were dead last in ERA in 2017 and 2020 and next-to-last in 2019.
Tarik Skubal Leads Turnaround
Last week, left-hander Tarik Skubal became the Tigers’ first homegrown Opening Day starter since Justin Verlander in 2017 – the year that started all the losing. Verlander was dealt away at the trading deadline to Houston, where he helped the Astros win the World Series. The Tigers went 6-24 after the trade and have yet to recover.
Skubal, 27, pitched six innings of three-hit ball, not allowing a run or walk while striking out six in the opener.
“Big start for our team, big start for him,” manager A.J. Hinch told Jason Beck of MLB.com. “Couldn’t ask for much more.”
As the season unfolds, that should change. Skubal’s upper-90s fastball and mid-80s curve looked great and he is looking to build upon a 2023 season that was rather spectacular if unnoticed by casual fans. He had a 7-3 record and fine 2.80 ERA in 15 starts after recovering from elbow surgery. His secondary numbers were more eye-popping: only 14 walks and 58 hits allowed with 102 strikeouts in 80 1/3 innings.
A year ago, right-hander Reece Olson made great strides as a rookie, fanning 133 while giving up just 33 walks and 83 hits over 103 2/3 innings. He had a 5-7 record, but Hinch thinks the 24-year-old can become a consistent winner.
“He can attack so many different game plans with so many different weapons,” Hinch said. “He gets in-zone misses. He can throw any pitch in any count. He can be unpredictable. He’s really good.”
He didn’t give up a run over 5 2/3 innings in his first start, showing an improved changeup to go with a sharp slider and decent fastball.
In the bullpen, right-hander Jason Foley has a win and two saves in three appearances. His fastball has been timed at 101 mph with good sink. He’s got a sharp slider to go with it. Not bad for a guy who signed with the Tigers as an undrafted free agent. He missed all of 2018 following Tommy John Surgery and all of 2020 due to the Covid-19 shutdown of the minors.
Another Pitching Prospect
Jackson Jobe is only 21 years old and expected to spend most of this season in the minors. Yet the No. 3 overall pick in 2021 has such overpowering stuff it would not be too much of s surprise to see the right-hander called up to join the fun if the Tigers stay near the top in the AL Central.
Last year, he walked only 2.3% of the batters he faced across four levels of the minor leagues – just six walks in 64 innings with 84 strikeouts. That walk rate is astounding, given the incredible movement of 14 to 17 inches on his tightly-spinning slider or the good ride on an upper-90s fastball up in the zone.
Jobe got $6.9 million to sign out of high school in Oklahoma. He could soon be earning much, much more as a legitimate rotation ace.
Bats Should Start To Help
While pitching is so important, four position players age 24 or under likely hold the key to how far the Tigers can go in the AL Central in the future.
Rookie Colt Keith is starting at second base. The lefty hitter had a breakout 2023 season in which he hit a combined .306 with 27 homers and 101 RBI across two minor-league levels. The Tigers signed him to a six-year, $28.6 contract extension in January before he ever appeared in a big league game.
Parker Meadows had 19 homers and 19 stolen bases in the minors last year and added three homers and eight steals in 37 games after being called up to Detroit. The right-handed hitter has taken over in center-field, moving lefty Riley Greene to right. Greene hit .288 with 11 homers in 99 games a year ago in Detroit and was 7-for-7 in steal attempts.
At first base, Spencer Torkelson hopes to build upon a strong 2023 season in which he became a bonafide slugger with 31 homers and 94 RBI. Signed for $8,416,300 as the No. 1 overall draft choice in 2020 out of Arizona State, the Tigers believe he will improve upon a .221 batting average over his first 273 games in the majors – while providing big power out of the cleanup spot in the order.
The AL Central is up for grabs. The Tigers finished second a year ago with a 78-84 record and believe the addition of veteran pitchers Maeda and Flaherty to the developing youngsters could keep them in contention all of 2024.