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Detroit Tigers Minor League Report: Week 5

By Rob Low

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 06: A detail of a Detroit Tigers hat and glove are seen during warm ups against the New York Yankees during Game Five of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium on October 6, 2011 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 06: A detail of a Detroit Tigers hat and glove are seen during warm ups against the New York Yankees during Game Five of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium on October 6, 2011 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images) /
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Detroit Tigers
MIAMI, FL – JULY 09: Beau Burrows #55 of the Detroit Tigers and the U.S. Team delivers the pitch against the World Team during the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at Marlins Park on July 9, 2017 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

Erie SeaWolves

The SeaWolves have had a down season record-wise so far, so a 4-4 week will count as an improvement. Still, at 12-20 they’re well off the pace in the Eastern League Western Division.

Another Weekly Award

For the second straight week, the Detroit Tigers had one of their minor leaguers earn a Pitcher of the Week honor. This time around, it was Beau Burrows. The righty was named the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week for his work between April 30 and May 6.

The 2015 first rounder won both of his starts in that period, including six scoreless frames with just a pair of hits allowed on Saturday. His season ERA now sits at 2.81, nearly two runs lower than it was in his 15 starts for Erie in 2017.

A big reason for his improvement is the batted balls he’s allowed. A year ago with the SeaWolves, 28.3 percent of the balls put in play against him were line drives. This year, he’s cut that nearly in half, down to 14.7 percent.

Burrows’ ground ball and strikeout rates are down too, but only slightly, so he’s getting more fly ball outs this year. The rate of infield fly balls has increased a little, so most of the outs he is recording now are lazy fly balls. Despite the increase in fly ball rate, he hasn’t given up more home runs, as that ratio has been more than cut in half.

Changes on the Infield

All the moves for Detroit and Toledo in the last week had an effect on the Erie roster as well. Kody Eaves was promoted back to the Mud Hens, leaving room for former 18th rounder Will Maddox to come off the disabled list.

Maddox hit the DL just three games into the season, and missed about a month of action. Since his return, he’s hit safely in all three games, giving him an even .300 average.

A few weeks ago, we noted the hot start of Michigan State product Blaise Salter. The shuffling turned out in his favor as well, as the first baseman was promoted to Erie for the first time this week. In his SeaWolves debut Thursday night, Salter hit cleanup and went 1-for-4 with a run scored.

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