Doug Fister Makes Rehab Start…And It’s Good

Tonight in Toledo, an increasingly important looking player to the Tigers success, Doug Fister, took the mound in a rehab assignment for the Mud Hens. Needless to say it went well. Just Doug Fister being Doug Fister. Fister probably threw more pitches than he would like for the four innings of work that he put in, but it was a rehab assignment, so it was actually the number of pitches that he threw that was important. Despite a little inefficiency, Fister threw strikes, 44 of 68 pitches were for strikes. He generated 3 ground balls, 2 flyouts, and struck out five in his four innings of work. Fister walked one, and allowed two hits on the night.

As far as health, I think it’s going to be something that the Tigers will have to check on in the morning with Fister. If there are no ill effects from the start, I think the Tigers will be having him join them on their upcoming road trip. This start for Toledo was a warm up for his 2nd start of the year that is scheduled for Monday in Seattle, assuming his health is okay.

The Tigers look like they could use Fister as soon as possible. While Rick Porcello had a strong start on Tuesday, he has been inconsistent, and Max Scherzer just hasn’t been good at all. Drew Smyly and Justin Verlander are more than holding their end of the bargain, but adding Fister to the mix would help improve the rotation quite a bit. Even with Smyly and Verlander, the Tigers starters have a 4.41 ERA overall after 23 games.

Here is hoping Doug Fister wakes up today, and feels good, it would be good news for a team that could kind of use some right now.