Detroit Tigers Minor League Report: Week 2

The Detroit Tigers are in rebuilding mode. “Future Friday” is a segment where we examine the bevy of prospects in Detroit and their future impact in the Motor City.

The first two weeks of the minor league season are in the books for the Detroit Tigers affiliates. While some players are off to hot starts, others are trying to work their way back to Detroit. We’ll start with a first place team that has won four straight.

Toledo Mud Hens

Pitching has been carrying the Mud Hens to their 9-3 start. During their four-game winning streak, the starting pitcher has not allowed more than one run.

The trend started Saturday night, with A.J. Ladwig, Johnny Barbato, and Mark Montgomery combining on a three-hit shutout.

After inclement weather postponed Sunday’s game, Warwick Saupold worked three scoreless innings on Monday. On Tuesday, Ryan Carpenter allowed one run over six innings with nine strikeouts. Wednesday, Blaine Hardy went five innings, giving up a run on two hits to complete a Toledo sweep of Durham (Tampa Bay).

Detroit Tigers fans have seen Saupold, Carpenter, and Hardy before, two of them already this year. Saupold started the season with the Tigers, but was sent down when Mike Fiers was activated from the disabled list.

Carpenter made his MLB debut in a spot start back on April 1 against Pittsburgh. Hardy hasn’t been with the Tigers this year, but was a contender for a bullpen spot this spring before he was slowed by injury. Expect all three to contribute again in Detroit sooner rather than later.

The Offense

It was a quieter week offensively for Toledo. Dawel Lugo’s season-opening nine-game hitting streak was snapped, but he’s hitting .321 with hits in 11 of 12 games.

Lugo has played exclusively at second base, despite most of his minor league experience coming at shortstop or third base. That seems to suggest he’s being groomed to be the second baseman of the future.

The question then becomes, will Lugo be replacing Dixon Machado? Or will Jose Iglesias be traded and Machado moved to shortstop to make room for Lugo? It’ll be interesting to see how the middle infield situation develops throughout the season.

Prior to the season, our Andy Patton made a list of prospects entering make-or-break seasons. One of the quartet he mentioned was catcher Grayson Greiner.

Greiner was slow out of the gates, going just 4-for-28 to start the season. Hopefully that’s now behind him, as the former third round pick went 4-for-4 on Wednesday night.

Finally, there’s Mikie Mahtook, who started the season in left field for Detroit. Mahtook was sent down last week after a 4-for-31 start. The change of scenery has not helped, as Mahtook is 2-for-15 with seven strikeouts.

Mike Gerber getting the call-up to be the 26th man for today’s doubleheader is telling. It’s a message from management that Mahtook must turn things around in Toledo before getting a chance to reclaim the left field job with the Tigers.

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.

Lakeland Flying Tigers

The Flying Tigers are having an even tougher time than Erie right now, having dropped five straight.

We’ll start with last year’s first rounder, Alex Faedo. Faedo made his third career start on Wednesday, and ran into his first bit of trouble. In six innings, the righty gave up four runs, three of which were earned, and seven hits.

Despite getting hit around a bit by Jupiter (Miami), Faedo continued to pound the strike zone. He struck out six and walked one, while throwing more than 70 percent strikes for the third straight start. For reference, Chris Sale and Clayton Kershaw led the majors with a 68.2 strike percentage last year.

In three starts, Faedo has now struck out 15 and walked just one in 16.1 innings. Despite the seven hits surrendered Wednesday, opponents are hitting .190 against him.

Elsewhere among starters, Venezuelan righty Anthony Castro has yet to give up a run in two starts. Castro tossed seven shutout innings last Friday, allowing four hits while striking out six.

In 2017, Castro posted a 2.49 ERA in 21 starts for West Michigan. So far, it appears the 23-year old is picking up right where he left off.

The Offense

Local product Blaise Salter has led Lakeland’s offensive attack thus far. The Detroit Tigers drafted him twice, first out of Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in 2011, and then again in 2015, after his senior year at Michigan State.

Their persistence has paid off, as all Salter has done in the minors is hit. Between West Michigan and Lakeland last year, he hit .304 with 39 doubles and 75 RBIs.

So far this year, Salter is hitting .327, and has multiple hits in five of 13 games. He currently leads the Flying Tigers in hits, doubles, and RBIs.

Daz Cameron is off to a so-so start at the plate, hitting .234. His defense, however, is already giving fans flashbacks to his father, three-time Gold Glove winner Mike Cameron.