A Look at the Detroit Tigers’ Immediate Minor League Pitching Depth

Mar 16, 2013; Jupiter, FL, USA; Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Jose Alvarez (71) delivers a pitch against the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium. The Tigers defeated the Cardinals 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

Previously I looked at the immediate depth the Detroit Tigers will have in the top levels of the minor leagues for position players. This mostly focused on the AAA and AA players who are on the 40-man roster and could fill in for the big league club on a moment’s notice.

The Tigers don’t have anyone would could step in and replace a starters’ value — it would be rare for any club to have that luxury — but the disappointing thing is that they don’t have many players at all who could be counted on to even be a replacement level option. Perhaps Jordan Lennerton could do that at first base, and perhaps one of Hernan Perez, Danny Worth, or Eugenio Suarez could do that at second base, but the cupboard appears rather bare (at least in terms of players who could contribute in 2014) at the other positions.

Today I’m going to shift gears and look at the team’s pitching depth. Even without Doug Fister the rotation looks to be one of the best in baseball (it’s hard to beat that top three), but do they have anyone capable of stepping in should an injury occur? And what about the already shaky bullpen? Do they have many players to cycle through who could get big league hitters out?

Let’s take a look (2013 level for each 40-man player listed in parenthesis):