Detroit Tigers Minor League Report: Week 3

Erie SeaWolves

At 7-11, the SeaWolves are off to the worst start of the four Detroit Tigers affiliates. Despite their slow start, they’re four and a half games off the pace in their division.

The week was a mixed bag for Erie’s starters. Last week, we touched on Kyle Funkhouser and a start in which he struck out seven, but walked five.

The five-walk outing may have just been a blip on the radar, as the former fourth rounder bounced back nicely. Funkhouser struck out nine and walked one over five innings. Despite giving up three runs and taking the loss, it was an encouraging sign.

In three starts, Funkhouser has 18 strikeouts in 12.1 innings for a K/9 of 13.1. The .379 BABIP he’s allowed should come down too, which should help lower his 4.38 ERA.

Tyler Alexander also posted a solid outing this week. The southpaw went five scoreless innings, dropping his ERA to 2.30. When profiling Alexander before the season, we noted his stinginess when it came to allowing walks.

So far, that has continued in 2018. Over 15.2 innings, Alexander has walked one, and sports a WHIP under 1.00.

The bullpen has been anchored by righty John Schreiber. Schreiber has three saves in four opportunities, and owns a 1.17 ERA.

Since becoming a 15th round pick in 2016, Schreiber has been dominating the minors. After posting a 2.76 ERA with Connecticut two years ago, he took that to the next level last year.

In 27 relief appearances for West Michigan, Schreiber struck out 70 over 50.1 innings. He limited opponents to a .147 batting average, and put up a microscopic 0.54 ERA. Continuing to tear up the minors this summer could make him a dark horse candidate for a September call-up.

The Offense

Where the SeaWolves have really struggled early in the year is hitting, specifically hitting for power. Prior to Wednesday’s game against Altoona (Pittsburgh), Erie had a total of three home runs.

The SeaWolves doubled their total that night, hitting three long balls. In the eighth, Gabriel Quintana and Josh Lester hit back-to-back homers. Dominic Ficociello then added his first of the year in the 10th.

The only regular in the SeaWolves lineup who has been hitting consistently is Sergio Alcantara. A highly rated infielder acquired in the J.D. Martinez deal, Alcantara is hitting .311 through 16 games.

Six of Alcantara’s 16 games have been multi-hit efforts, and his average has yet to dip under .300 after any game this season. He faces stiff competition from Dawel Lugo, Isaac Paredes, and others for a spot in the Detroit Tigers future infield, but is showing he belongs in the conversation.

Lakeland Flying Tigers

The Flying Tigers are playing better after a slow start and had won four straight until a loss Thursday night. Lakeland heads into the weekend in third place in the Florida State League North Division with a 9-12 record.

As always, we’ll start with last year’s first rounder, Alex Faedo. Faedo took the hill on Tuesday for Lakeland and turned in another very good outing.

In a season-high six and two-thirds, the righty gave up a run on four hits, did not walk a batter, and fanned six. That puts Faedo’s ERA at 2.74, his strikeout-to-walk ratio at 21:1, and opponents’ batting average at .185. Those are great numbers for anyone, let alone someone making his first four professional starts.

Two Flying Tigers are on the Detroit Tigers current 40-man roster. One of them, Eduardo Jimenez, is off to a great start as Lakeland’s closer. Jimenez has converted all three of his save opportunities, and given up one earned run in eight and two-thirds innings.

Elsewhere in the Lakeland bullpen is local lefty Trent Szkutnik. After attending Bedford High School in Temperance, Szkutnik went to Michigan for three years.

The Tigers made Szkutnik a 20th round pick after his junior year with the Wolverines, and he’s pitched well for the organization since. So far in 2018, Szkutnik owns a 0.84 ERA, and a 6:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Offensively, one of the most consistent hitters for Lakeland has been catcher Austin Athmann. Earlier in the week, Athmann had a seven-game hitting streak snapped that featured four multi-hit games.

During the streak, the former Minnesota Golden Gopher went 12-for-23 (.522), raising his average to .412. Since the streak snapped, he’s hit a slump, but his .298 average is still good for third on the club.

West Michigan Whitecaps

It was an up-and-down week for the Whitecaps, who had both a three-game winning streak and three-game losing streak. They currently sit at 12-6, a half game behind Lansing (Toronto) in the Midwest League Eastern Division.

The big news of the week for West Michigan was the 2018 debut of Matt Manning. One of the top young arms in the system, Manning started the year on the DL.

Manning’s first outing of 2018 was a mixed bag. The first nine outs the 20-year old recorded were strikeouts, and 10 of his 11 outs were K’s.

In the fourth, things started to unravel. With one out, he gave up a single and a walk. After picking up his 10th strikeout, he loaded the bases with another walk, then gave up a two-run single which ended his night. For the evening, Manning threw 69 pitches, 43 of them (62 percent) for strikes.

The former first rounder took the hill again for West Michigan on Thursday afternoon. Again, he had mixed results. On one hand, Manning did not allow a hit, and struck out six in four innings.

On the other hand, he walked five, and threw just 55 percent of his 86 pitches for strikes. Walks were an issue at times last year for Manning, who posted 4.4 BB/9 in his two stops in 2017. Hopefully, as Manning gets comfortable again following the injury, he starts to pound the strike zone more.

The Offense

As seems to be the case with many of the Detroit Tigers affiliates, the offense has been a work in progress for West Michigan. Only two Whitecaps are hitting above .250 thus far, shortstop Cole Peterson, and outfielder Luke Burch.

The Whitecaps took their offensive struggles to a new low on Wednesday, as they were no-hit in game one of a doubleheader against Lake County (Cleveland).

Outside of Peterson, whose hot hitting we’ve detailed in each of the first two weeks, the lone bright spot has been Burch.

A ninth round pick last year out of Kent State, Burch leads West Michigan with 11 RBIs. He drove in multiple runs in four straight from April 19-22, including a career-high three on April 21. Hopefully, the rest of the Whitecaps bats warm up with the weather to keep the team in contention.

Next: Top 10 Tigers Shortstops of All-Time

That’s it for week three of the Minor League Report. Make sure to check back each Friday for the latest news and happenings from around the Detroit Tigers system.