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.

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.

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.