Detroit Tigers Minor League Report: Week 2

Erie SeaWolves

Things have not gone as well for Erie, as the SeaWolves are 5-8 after a 2-4 week. Like Toledo, the arms shone brighter than the bats this week.

The pitching performance of the week came in game two of a twin bill on Wednesday. Right-hander Kyle Dowdy had been used only in relief in the season’s early days, but got the ball in game two.

The former 12th rounder responded with a dynamite performance. Dowdy gave up two hits in five scoreless innings while striking out 10. Opponents are now hitting .163 against Dowdy this year, and he has 18 strikeouts to three walks in 12.2 innings. Not a bad start to his first stint in Double-A.

After a mediocre first start, Kyle Funkhouser had an interesting line in his second start on Saturday. A former fourth round pick of the Detroit Tigers, Funkhouser went four and a third, giving up a run on two hits with seven strikeouts.

He also walked five, while throwing less than 60 percent of his pitches for strikes. Funkhouser hasn’t had a big problem with walks so far in the minors, but did have his share of control issues in college. Let’s hope this outing was a blip on the radar and not the start of a trend.

The Offense

The offense for Erie has been struggling, averaging just four runs per game. Two relatively new members of the Detroit Tigers organization are off to especially slow starts.

We touched on him a bit last week, but Jake Rogers has had a rough start to his year. In four games this past week, Rogers went 1-for-13 with seven strikeouts. Rogers has the talent to reach Detroit on his glove alone, but a .162 average is not going to cut it.

Outfielder Troy Montgomery has had a tough go of it as well. Acquired in the Ian Kinsler trade, Montgomery is hitting .162 and has struck out in 39 percent of his plate appearances. As a result, he lost his leadoff job to fellow outfielder Jake Robson, who is hitting .313 and leads Erie in hits.