Detroit Tigers Minor League Report: Week 7

West Michigan Whitecaps

The Whitecaps had a great week, winning six straight before a loss Thursday night. West Michigan stands at 26-20 for the year, three and a half games out of first place.

Manning Delivers Strong Outing

Matt Manning was dominant in his lone outing of the week. The Detroit Tigers 2016 first round pick dealt six scoreless frames, gave up three hits, one walk, and fanned nine. As has been the case all year, Manning’s strikeout rate continues to boggle the mind. The right-hander is up to 43 in 26.2 innings, for a rate of 14.4 per nine.

As we’ve noted before, Manning has had a tendency to struggle with control at times in his young professional career. It’s encouraging that the righty has walked just one in two of his last three starts.

An even better sign is the percentage of strikes he’s thrown. Since throwing a measly 54.7 percent strikes in his second start of the year, his strike percentage has increased with each outing. On Tuesday, he threw 66.7 percent of his pitches for strikes, a season-high.

Dynamic Duo Promoted

Throughout the season, we’ve documented the dominance of Venezuelan righties Eudis Idrogo and Wladimir Pinto. Both of them earned well-deserved promotions to Lakeland this week.

Idrogo posted a 0.49 ERA in six starts for the Whitecaps and made his debut for the Flying Tigers on Tuesday. Coming on in relief, he gave up three hits and three runs in two-thirds of an inning.

Pinto had been even more dominant as West Michigan’s closer. Prior to his promotion, the 20-year old had not allowed a run in 16.2 innings. His strikeout rate was 16.2/9, and opponents hit .077 against him. Like Idrogo, he didn’t have the Lakeland debut he was hoping for. Pinto gave up two runs on three hits in an inning of relief work on Wednesday, although he did earn the win.

2017 Draft Picks Heating Up

Last year’s second rounder Rey Rivera and 22nd rounder Colby Bortles had good weeks at the plate to supplement the strong Whitecaps pitching. Rivera went 8-for-23 (.348) for the week and drove in seven. The hot week raised his average to .273, and his 20 RBIs are fourth on the team, despite missing the first few weeks due to injury.

Bortles went 8-for20 (.400) to boost his season average .257. While .257 isn’t great, it’s a lot better than the .216 mark he was at a month ago. He also added seven RBIs in his five games to take over the team lead with 23.

Next: What can the Tigers expect from the No. 1 pick?

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