Detroit Tigers: It’s time to shine for Ryan Carpenter

The Detroit Tigers added minor league starter Ryan Carpenter to their roster to start game two of Sunday’s double-header.

After not making the Detroit Tigers rotation, left-hander Ryan Carpenter finds himself starting the third game of the season this afternoon. A pair of rainouts forced Detroit into an Easter double-header, and the Tigers chose to give Carpenter the ball so that the rest of their rotation (Francisco Liriano, Daniel Norris and Matthew Boyd) can pitch on regular rest.

For double-headers, a team is allowed to roster an extra player on their 25-man roster. Carpenter will be that 26th man, and will be sent back to the minor leagues once the game is complete.

Still, this represents a great opportunity for the 27-year-old left-hander, who will be making his major league debut.

Who is Ryan Carpenter?

Carpenter was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the seventh round of the 2011 draft out of Gonzaga University.

After three seasons in Tampa Bay’s minor league system, Carpenter signed with the Colorado Rockies. Carpenter made it up to Triple-A in 2017, going 10-9 and posting a 4.15 ERA with a 9.29 K/9 and a 2.25 BB/9.

What’s more, Carpenter also turned in a career-best 43.5% ground ball percentage and a 74.4% strand rate, which was his best over the course of a full season.

The Tigers signed Carpenter early in the offseason, with the intention of having him compete for a spot at the back end of the rotation. Carpenter had an extremely strong spring, throwing 9.2 innings and giving up three runs with a stellar 12/4 K/BB ratio.

However, Detroit signed veterans Mike Fiers and Francisco Liriano to round out their rotation, sending Carpenter down to Triple-A Toledo to begin the year. The expectation was that he would be one of the first Tigers to receive a call should they need an extra starter.

It’s much earlier in the offseason than expected, but that call came today for Carpenter. Now, he will get to face a Pirates team that only mustered one run against Michael Fulmer in the first game, but scored 13 against the Tigers on Friday.

What to expect

Carpenter is a 6’5 left-hander who has long been fly-ball prone. His control has been impeccable over the last year or so, so expect him to attack hitters up in the zone quite a bit today. He will look to get ahead in the count and force weak contact.

Making his debut, it’s hard to know how long of a leash he will have. The Detroit Tigers only had to use Shane Greene for one inning today, so the rest of the bullpen should be well-rested. Expect Carpenter to go about five or so, with the bullpen taking over from there. If he looks as good as he did in spring training, manager Ron Gardenhire could let him go a little longer as well.

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Ryan Carpenter has a chance to make a very strong first impression against the Pirates tonight. Even though he will be sent down after the game, he should get plenty more chances to don the Olde English D as the year goes on.