Detroit Tigers Minor League Report: Week 5

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.

With injuries piling up for the Detroit Tigers, there was a lot of movement all throughout the organization. Let’s get to it.

Toledo Mud Hens

Although their roster has been in flux over the last week, the Mud Hens continue to play good baseball. They’ve won five straight, and at 21-11, they’re comfortably leading the International League West.

The Moves

Due to injuries, the Detroit Tigers had to do a lot of shuffling this week, meaning the Mud Hens had to provide reinforcements. One of the more notable moves was Miguel Cabrera landing on the disabled list. As a result, John Hicks slid over to first, and Grayson Greiner was called up to make his MLB debut and back up James McCann.

Leonys Martin also hit the shelf this week, with Mikie Mahtook returning to take his place. The last time we checked in on Mahtook, he was really scuffling. He was seemingly finally coming out of his season-long slump, notching three hits in his final game before the promotion. In his return to the Detroit lineup on Wednesday, Mahtook went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

The pitching staff wasn’t immune, as Alex Wilson and Jordan Zimmermann hit the DL, too. Those spots were filled by righty Zac Reininger and utility man Pete Kozma.

Reininger had a strong first month with the Mud Hens, posting a 2.63 ERA and 9.9 K/9. He has not pitched since his recall, but will be looking to improve on the 7.45 ERA he put up last year with Detroit.

Kozma started 2018 hitting .200 without a homer in 26 games for Toledo. So, of course, in his Tigers debut Wednesday, he homered in his first at-bat and went 2-for-3. Baseball is a strange game.

Dominant Pitching Performances

Despite all the shuffling, Toledo’s pitching staff had a great week, including back-to-back shutouts against Columbus (Cleveland). On Tuesday, Drew VerHagen got it started, retiring all 12 he faced with eight strikeouts.

In two starts since he was designated for assignment, VerHagen has been lights out. In seven innings, he has not yielded a hit, issued one walk, and struck out 12. It’s a small sample size, but VerHagen getting himself straightened out would really help the Tigers bullpen down the road.

The second shutout was started by knuckleballer Josh Turley. The lefty gave up just two hits and three walks over eight innings. After the start, John Wagner of the Toledo Blade interviewed Turley about the different grips he uses for his knuckler.

It wasn’t a shutout, but Ryan Carpenter continued to rack up the K’s in his lone outing of the week. The southpaw fanned 10 in his seven innings of one-run ball. Carpenter has struck out 42, the most in the Detroit Tigers organization this year.

Greiner’s Replacement

With Grayson Greiner at least temporarily with the Tigers, a catching spot opened up in Toledo. Detroit promoted Kade Scivicque from Erie to share the backstop duties with Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Scivicque was a fourth round pick of the Tigers in 2015. In 2016, he and Mike Aviles were traded to Atlanta for Erick Aybar. Detroit re-signed Scivicque a few weeks ago, after the Braves released him.

The former LSU Tiger reported to Erie after signing, splitting time with Tigers top catching prospect Jake Rogers. With Rogers continuing to struggle at the plate, Scivicque got the call to Toledo. He’s 3-for-9 since the promotion, including his first homer of 2018.

Lakeland Flying Tigers

Lakeland posted a 2-4 week to drop to 14-19 on the year. Despite being five games under .500, the Flying Tigers are still in third place in the Florida State League North Division.

Starting Staff Update

Alex Faedo is still in search of his first pro win despite another solid outing. Last year’s first rounder yielded a run on five hits in five and two-thirds on Saturday, lowering his ERA to 2.34.

Looking at the .217 BABIP he’s allowed, you may fear regression is coming for Faedo. However, his batted ball profile may suggest otherwise. Like we discussed with Burrows, Faedo is getting a lot of fly balls, as nearly half of the balls put in play against him are in the air.

More than half of those are infield fly balls. That suggests lots of very weak contact is being made, as hitters pop-up into easy outs. Weak contact and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4.5:1 should keep Faedo’s numbers from regressing too much.

A starter we have not yet touched on in this space is Tom de Blok. de Blok grew up in Amsterdam, and pitched for the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic last year. Shortly after the tournament, the Detroit Tigers signed him.

The right-hander spent most of last season with West Michigan. Splitting his time between the rotation and the bullpen, he posted a 2.87 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 5.5:1.

His first few starts this year were a disaster, but de Blok has started to right the ship. In de Blok’s last three outings, he has gone at least five innings, allowed one run, and given up four or fewer hits. His ERA still sits at 6.11, but it’s a lot better than the 12.34 mark he had after three starts.

The Offense

Chad Sedio has been one of the top hitters in the Detroit Tigers system this year. A 27th round pick in 2016, Sedio has a hit in 25 of the 29 games he’s played in.

This past week, he added three more multi-hit efforts, including a pair of three-knock games. His .306 average is the highest in the organization among those who have enough plate appearances to qualify for a batting title.

2017 Midwest League All-Star Danny Woodrow joined Lakeland this week after starting his season on the disabled list. Woodrow hit .271 and stole 31 bags for West Michigan last year, giving the Flying Tigers more speed with Derek Hill currently on the DL.

Woodrow had a pair of hits in his 2018 debut on Monday, and added three more last night to get off to a 6-for-17 (.353) start at the dish. He’s also already stolen three bases in four tries in his four games.

West Michigan Whitecaps

The Whitecaps went 3-4 for the week, bringing their season mark to 18-15. That record has them in fourth, three games out of first place in the Midwest League Eastern Division.

Keeping with the theme of the week, we lead off with a strong start by Matt Manning. The young righty was roughed up last week, but bounced back in a big way on Wednesday.

Over the course of six scoreless innings, Manning gave up four hits, one walk, and struck out eight. As we touched on last week, walks have been a problem for Manning this year, so allowing just one is a good sign. He also continues to pile up ridiculous strikeout numbers, having fanned 26 in 15.2 innings (14.9/9).

A few weeks back, we touched on the hot starts of Eudis Idrogo and Wladimir Pinto. Idrogo has been as consistent as anyone in the Detroit Tigers organization this year. Through five starts, the southpaw has gone at least five innings in each, not allowed more than one run, and given up five or fewer hits.

On Sunday, the Venezuelan tossed six frames of one-run ball while striking out five. For the year, Idrogo owns a 0.60 ERA across 30.0 innings with a 0.97 WHIP. While his strikeout rate is less than 7.0/9, his strikeout-to-walk ratio is still strong, at nearly 3:1.

In the bullpen, Pinto continues to baffle opposing hitters. The right-hander has held opponents to three hits in 11.1 innings for an .081 average, and has yet to yield a run.

Pinto’s strikeout rate is somehow even higher than Manning’s, at 15.9 per nine innings. He is also 7-for-7 in save opportunities, and his seven saves lead the Midwest League.

The Offense

West Michigan has had a tough time generating offense all season, hitting .231 as a club. Their most notable offensive performance this week came from Zac Shepherd, who had a four-hit game on Saturday.

The four-hit effort came in the middle of three straight multi-hit games for the Australian infielder. His strong week at the plate raised his average to .254 after a slow start. Shepherd’s on-base per percentage is much more impressive. Through 22 games it sat at .425, and he had walked nearly as many times (19), as he has had struck out (20).

Detroit’s brass took notice of Shepherd’s on-base prowess, promoting him to High-A Lakeland on Thursday. He made his first appearance for the Flying Tigers this year that night, going 1-for-2 and scoring a run.

Next: Analyzing the last 10 No. 1 overall picks

That wraps up another week of the Minor League Report. Make sure to check back each Friday for the latest updates from around the Detroit Tigers system.