Detroit Tigers: Matt Manning, Matt Hall, Gregory Soto earn promotions in minors

Detroit Tigers fans will see three of the team’s top pitching throw for new affiliates down the stretch. Starters Matt Manning, Matt Hall and Gregory Soto have all been promoted.

Detroit Tigers pitching prospects are setting the team up for a bright future, this much is true.

Top 2017 draft pick Alex Faedo looks like a future front-line starter, while 2015 first-rounder and current Double-A Erie starter Beau Burrows has a similar ceiling.

Burrows has been joined by a number of top Tigers pitching prospects with the SeaWolves this season, including fellow starter Tyler Alexander and relievers Victor Alcantara, Gerson Moreno, Mark Ecker, Adam Ravenelle and Paul Voelker.

Another pitcher who will feature alongside Burrows and company is starter Matt Hall.

A sixth-round pick in 2015 out of Missouri State, Hall misses plenty of bats with an excellent curveball.

The southpaw has racked up 110 punch outs to go along with a 2.44 ERA in 103.1 frames for Advanced-A Lakeland.

Those numbers have reportedly helped him earn a promotion to Erie. The Erie Times-News’s Tom Reisenweber tweeted the following on Thursday morning:

“To replace Artie Lewicki in the @erie_seawolves rotation, SP Matt Hall has been promoted to Erie. @MLBPipeline @MiLB.”

Additionally, Hall is now listed as a member of the active roster on the SeaWolves’ official website.

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Hall isn’t the only pitching prospect making the step up to more advanced competition.

Matt Manning

Arguably Detroit’s best overall prospect, Matt Manning is moving up to West Michigan to join the Whitecaps.

The Tigers’ Single-A affiliate announced the move in a tweet Friday morning, tweeting:

“ROSTER MOVE: @tigers #1 prospect @MattManning19 is headed to West Michigan! #wcaps #tigers.”

After showing plenty of promise with one of the Detroit Tigers Gulf Coast League teams in his first test of professional baseball in 2016 with 46 strikeouts compared to just seven walks and a 3.99 ERA in 29.1 innings, Manning thrived with Connecticut to begin 2017.

In nine starts spanning 33.1 innings for the short-season club, the former first-round pick notched a sparkling 1.89 ERA.

He also continued to miss bats and limit damage, which are both significant positives for the right-hander.

In said 33.1 innings, Manning walked just 3.8 batters per nine frames and didn’t surrender a home run in 139 batters faced.

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Gregory Soto

Manning takes Gregory Soto’s place on West Michigan’s roster. Per another tweet from the Single-A club’s official Twitter account, the right-hander was promoted to Advanced-A Lakeland.

The Whitecaps tweeted on Friday morning:

“ROSTER MOVE: In a corresponding move, pitcher @Gregsoto30 was promoted to High-A @LkdFlyingTigers #wcaps #tigers.”

Like many notable prospects in the Detroit system, Soto throws hard. However, unlike the likes of Moreno, Ecker and Bryan Garcia, the left-hander is a starter.

In 18 starts (96 innings) for West Michigan this season, the 22-year-old’s power stuff has helped him rack up strikeouts and overwhelm opposing hitters.

Next: Is James McCann still Detroit's catcher of the future?

Soto has punched out 116 batters so far, while hitters own just a .204 average off of the starter.