Detroit Tigers: Alex Faedo, Daz Cameron promoted

The Detroit Tigers are in rebuilding mode. “Future Friday” is a segment where we examine the bevy of prospects in the organization and their future impact in the Motor City.

The biggest news in the Detroit Tigers system this week were the promotions of Alex Faedo and Daz Cameron to Double-A Erie. This week also featured several Lakeland and West Michigan players suiting up in their respective All-Star Games, and some terrific pro debuts. We’ll start with Toledo, where a pair of lefties began rehab assignments.

Toledo Mud Hens

The Mud Hens turned in a 3-3 week, bringing their season mark to 42-29. Toledo’s record remains the best in the International League, although their lead has slowly been shrinking recently.

The Rehabbers

As we’ve seen before, Toledo is a popular place for the Detroit Tigers to send players on rehab assignments. Two more Tigers joined the Mud Hens to begin rehab assignments this week, Francisco Liriano and Daniel Stumpf.

Liriano started Sunday’s game for the Mud Hens against Louisville (Cincinnati). The veteran southpaw worked four innings, yielding eight runs on 11 hits. Liriano also fanned seven, and did not issue a free pass.

Obviously, Tigers fans would have preferred for Liriano not to get knocked around as he did, but no walks is a good sign. In fact, Detroit’s brass was encouraged enough to pencil him in for a return this weekend.

Liriano has battled control problems on and off throughout his career, and 2018 has been no exception. Through 10 starts for Detroit, he’s walked 4.5/9, slightly higher than his career average. His strikeout rate stands at a career-low 7.0/9, making low walk numbers even more important. Here’s to hoping he continues to throw strikes and the Tigers can deal him before the trade deadline.

Stumpf made his first rehab appearance Tuesday night. He pitched an inning, allowing a run on two hits, while picking up a strikeout. Before landing on the disabled list, Stumpf endured a rough May. Things didn’t appear much different with his struggles for Toledo.

The lefty is likely to make at least one more appearance for the Mud Hens before returning to the Detroit Tigers bullpen. As he returns to full health, the Tigers will expect him to look more like the pitcher who finished April with a 1.59 ERA.

Tazawa Debuts

A few weeks back, the Tigers signed Junichi Tazawa to a minor league deal, following his release from the Marlins organization. The right-hander worked one inning in his debut for Toledo on Tuesday, retiring the side in order on 10 pitches.

Tazawa started his major league career with a few good years in the Red Sox bullpen, but really struggled after signing with Miami last season. Like Jacob Turner, the Tigers hope Tazawa can find some of his old form to help their bullpen down the line. If he doesn’t, it’s a deal that didn’t cost much, making it a worthwhile risk for a rebuilding club.

Erie SeaWolves

The SeaWolves began the week by winning three straight, then dropped their next three. At 31-39, Erie sits in a tie for last place in the Eastern League Western Division.

Faedo and Cameron Promoted

For the first time in their young careers, both Alex Faedo and Daz Cameron earned promotions to Double-A. Faedo came to Erie following 12 very good starts for Lakeland. In those 12 outings, he allowed one earned run or fewer nine times, including his last five in a row.

The righty made his debut for the SeaWolves Tuesday, and acquitted himself very well. In six innings, Faedo yielded two runs on a pair of hits, walked two, and tied his career-high with seven strikeouts. That makes it 11 of 13 professional starts with two earned runs or fewer for last year’s first rounder.

Cameron played in 58 games for Lakeland, slashing .259/.346/.370 with 10 steals. His final game prior to the promotion was the Florida State League All-Star Game. One of five Flying Tigers in the game, Cameron went 1-for-4 with a single.

It was a busy first day with the SeaWolves for Cameron on Tuesday, who played in both games of a doubleheader. He went 3-for-6, walked three times, and stole a base. Cameron picked up a hit in each of his first three games for Erie, and collected his first RBI on Wednesday.

Funkhouser Continues Roll

Since surrendering six runs on May 31, Kyle Funkhouser has been dominant. Over his last three starts, Funkhouser has given up just one run, and tossed 15 straight scoreless frames. During this three-start stretch, he’s also surrendered just 10 hits, three walks, and fanned 22.

The walk issues which plagued the former fourth rounder earlier in the year, have seemingly subsided. For the season, the righty sports a 3.60 ERA across 70.0 innings of work, and has struck out a batter per inning. The way Funkhouser, Beau Burrows, and Spencer Turnbull have been pitching, it’s a race to see who gets promoted to Toledo first.

Another Former Marlin

We’ve already touched on Junichi Tazawa, but the Detroit Tigers also recently signed Hunter Cervenka to a minor league deal.  The lefty made 73 relief appearances for Atlanta and Miami over the last two seasons, posting a 4.69 ERA.

After failing to stick with the Marlins and Orioles this spring, Cervenka signed with Sugar Land of the Independent Atlantic League. In 19 appearances, he owned a 1.53 ERA, and struck out 21 while walking just two in 17.2 innings.

His performance caught the attention of the Tigers, who signed him to a minor league deal on June 5. Cervenka started with Lakeland, and fanned five in three and a third scoreless frames over two outings.

Detroit promoted Cervenka to Erie’s bullpen this week. Over his first two appearances, he’s allowed a pair of base runners in four and a third innings, added four more strikeouts, and still hasn’t allowed a run.

Like the other two recently signed former Marlins, Tazawa and Turner, Cervenka is a low-risk depth option. Being a lefty gives him the best chance of the three to stick in Detroit, since the Tigers have barely used a southpaw out of the bullpen since Daniel Stumpf‘s injury.

Blaine Hardy pitched in relief earlier in the week, but has looked good as a starter and could rejoin the rotation when the Tigers need a fifth starter again. If he keeps pitching the way he has since joining the organization, the Detroit Tigers need to at least give Cervenka a chance.

West Michigan Whitecaps

Like Lakeland, the Whitecaps also had their All-Star break this week. West Michigan won all three games they played to go into the break on a four-game winning streak. They finished the first half 36-34, in third place in the Midwest League Eastern Division.

All-Star Duo

The Whitecaps boasted a pair of All-Stars this season, shortstop Cole Peterson, and right-hander Brandyn Sittinger. Peterson entered Tuesday’s All-Star Game in the sixth, and grounded out in his lone at-bat. Sittinger came on in the eighth, and struck out the only batter he faced.

The game probably would’ve ended in a tie if not for a new minor league rule. With the score tied 2-2 after nine, the teams agreed to play one more inning. Starting this season, when a minor league game goes into extras, each half inning begins with a runner on second base.

The West All-Stars were unable to score in the top of the 10th. With two outs in the bottom half, Montrell Marshall (Dayton – Cincinnati), singled to give the East All-Stars a dramatic walk-off victory.

Manning Dominates

Matt Manning turned in his best start of the year this week. The former first rounder dealt a career-high seven shutout innings, giving up three hits and one walk, while striking out six.

The outing dropped the righty’s ERA to 3.70, the lowest it’s been all season. Through 10 starts, Manning has struck out 12.6/9, and walked 5.2. Despite missing the first few weeks due to injury, his 68 strikeouts rank in the top 10 in the Midwest League.

Azocar Heating Up

Prior to the season, Jose Azocar made Andy Patton’s list of prospects entering make-or-break seasons. His 2018 got off to a rough start, as he slashed .214/.231/.252 in 30 games for Lakeland. Azocar’s poor start to the campaign resulted in a demotion to West Michigan.

It took a few weeks, but the outfielder finally seems to be coming around at the plate. On Sunday, Azocar notched four hits, extending his hitting streak to six in a row. In 20 games with the Whitecaps, he’s hitting .304 with nine extra-base hits, including five triples. There’s still a long way to go before he’s back on track in his development, but it’s a good start.

Connecticut Tigers

Last Friday marked Opening Day for the Connecticut Tigers, the Detroit Tigers short-season affiliate in the New York-Penn League. Connecticut is off to a 2-5 start in the Stedler Division.

Hernandez and O’Loughlin Debut

A pair of prospects made their Tigers affiliate debuts for Connecticut this week in Wilkel Hernandez and Jack O’Loughlin. Acquired in the Ian Kinsler trade last offseason, Hernandez took the ball for Connecticut on Thursday. It was an interesting debut to say the least.

Hernandez lasted just an inning and two-thirds, giving up three runs, although only one was earned. He also allowed two hits and three walks, but struck out six. Hernandez struck out four in the first inning, thanks to a passed ball on a third strike that allowed the batter to reach. That gives him a strikeout rate of 32.4/9. I’m going to go out on a limb and say he doesn’t keep that up.

The Detroit Tigers signed O’Loughlin as an international free agent out of Australia in July of 2016. He pitched for Adelaide in the Australian League for two seasons, and made his debut for Connecticut on Tuesday.

The southpaw spun four nearly perfect innings, striking out five, with a hit batter the lone blemish. O’Loughlin, Billy Lescher, and Aaron Fernandez were working on a combined no-hitter against Vermont (Oakland), but the Lake Monsters lone hit of the game turned out to be a walk-off single.

GCL Tigers

The Tigers Gulf Coast League affiliates began their 2018 seasons this week as well. GCL Tigers West started the season 3-0, and sit in first place in the GCL Northwest. The East squad is 2-1, a half game out of first in the GCL Northeast.

Incredible Debuts

By now, there’s a good chance you’ve heard about the incredible pro debut of Brock Deatherage. This year’s 10th round pick of the Tigers hit three homers and scored four times in his first professional outing for GCL Tigers West Monday. He followed that up with a grand slam the following day, and earned a quick promotion to West Michigan.

Kingston Liniak put together a nice pro debut as well. Selected in the fourth round this year, Liniak collected three hits and drove in three runs in his first game for GCL Tigers West on Tuesday.

A pair of pitchers made excellent professional debuts for GCL Tigers East on Wednesday. Wayne State product Jared Tobey started, and allowed just a pair of base runners while striking out three in four scoreless innings. 35th rounder Chavez Fernander worked the next four, surrendering one hit and fanning four. The duo combined with Ronaldo Lopez on a two-hit shutout.

East’s Offensive Eruption

On Tuesday, GCL Tigers East put up an astonishing 24 runs on 18 hits, while drawing 13 walks. The outburst included three innings of five runs or more, including an eight-run fourth and nine-run seventh. The game was also called early due to rain, so the Tigers did all of that in eight innings.

The club was led by Mosies Bello, who drove in seven. 32nd round pick Clark Brinkman had a huge game as well, going 3-for-4, walking three times, scoring three runs, and driving in five.

Next: Francisco Liriano to the Yankees?

That’ll do it for this week’s Detroit Tigers Minor League Report. Make sure to check back each Friday during the season for the latest news and updates from around the system.