Detroit Tigers Minor League Report: Week 1

Lakeland Flying Tigers

The Flying Tigers are off to a 3-5 start. The big story for Lakeland this week was the pro debut of Alex Faedo.

Faedo took the ball last Friday night, and pitched very well after a rocky start. Last year’s first round pick, Faedo gave up back-to-back homers, and then hit a batter with one out in the first inning.

After a flyout and a caught stealing by Andres Sthormes ended the frame, Faedo went into cruise control. The righty did not allow a base runner the rest of the night, retiring the final 13 batters he faced.

Another solid outing followed on Wednesday night. Faedo allowed one run on two hits in five and a third. Through two starts, Faedo has struck out nine in 10.1 innings, hasn’t walked a batter, and yielded just four hits, for a .118 opponent’s average.

Like Beau Burrows for Erie, Gregory Soto also pitched very well on Opening Night. The late-blooming lefty gave up one hit and struck out five through five scoreless innings. He got knocked around a little in his second start, but still managed to fan seven in four and a third.

After being hit by a pitch in his first High-A plate appearance, Isaac Paredes homered his next time up on Opening Day for Lakeland. Unfortunately, he has struggled since. He’s 3-for-23, with no walks and five strikeouts. However, Paredes is only 19, which is very young for High-A, and has huge upside for the Tigers.