Detroit Tigers: Prospects recently added to 40-man roster most likely to make 2018 Opening Day unit

Possibly later in the season

Speaking of relievers who could shoot through the system, we now come to Gerson Moreno.

Like a number of relief pitcher prospects who pitch in the Detroit Tigers farm system, Moreno throws hard. His fastball-slider combination will eventually help him miss bats in the Majors.

That could conceivably be sooner rather than later.

Moreno has a bit of a head start on Jimenez considering he finished the season with Double-A Erie.

At first glance, the 22-year-old’s numbers don’t exactly match up well with his dominant displays at Lakeland to begin the season.

Gerson Moreno with Advanced-A Lakeland in 2017: 22.1 innings, 2.01 ERA, 2.42 FIP, 82.7% strand rate, 1.21 WHIP and 12.09 strikeouts per nine innings.

Gerson Moreno with Double-A Erie in 2017: 28.0 innings, 6.43 ERA, 4.65 FIP, 61.5% strand rate, 1.43 WHIP and 11.07 strikeouts per nine innings.

The Double-A stats aren’t exactly easy on the eyes, but it’s encouraging to see that Moreno continued to keep his strikeout rate relativity high despite the step up in competition.

The right-hander’s xFIP also checked in at a very respectable 3.86 in a SeaWolves uniform—against competition that was on average 3.3 years older than him no less.

He also logged a career-best 52.2% ground ball rate with Erie.

If Moreno continues to make progress and start dominating in Double-A and produces similar results with Triple-A Toledo, it’s conceivable he could make the jump to Detroit.

Spencer Turnbull

Spencer Turnbull’s development has likely been hindered somewhat by injuries, but he made the jump all the way to Double-A Erie in 2017.

Similar to how Artie Lewicki jumped from Erie to Toledo and then to Detroit, it’s possible that the 25-year-old Turnbull could make it to the Majors, but at this point, Moreno seems like a better bet to reach Detroit.