Detroit Tigers 2017 season in review: Drew VerHagen

Detroit Tigers fans saw right-handed pitcher Drew VerHagen return to the team in 2017. While VerHagen didn’t have his most successful season, he showed promise for the future.

Detroit Tigers pitcher Drew VerHagen began the 2017 season as a starting pitcher.

Taking the ball as a full-time starter for the first time since the 2014 season—largely spent with Triple-A Toledo—VerHagen once again began the campaign with the Mud Hens.

The right-hander’s stats with Toledo were largely solid in his return to the rotation.

VerHagen notched a 4.90 ERA and a 4.30 FIP in 97.1 frames. Never one to rack up a ton of strikeouts, he punched out 6.38 batter per nine innings.

What’s more, the 26-year-old’s run-prevention stats were largely mauled by a handful of bad outings.

He was tagged for a combined 14 hits, 11 earned runs, six walks and two home runs in a combined 10.2 innings in a pair of starts on May 3 and May 8.

Just 10 days later, he surrendered 10 hits and 10 runs in four frames against Louisville.

There was also a four inning affair against Gwinnett that saw the opposing team rack up nine hits and six runs.

VerHagen also allowed five runs, four walks and two hits in 1.2 innings against Columbus.

Other than those outings, VerHagen was largely reliable with 10 starts to his name in which he allowed three earned runs or fewer.