Detroit Tigers: Artie Lewicki might be out of time

With the season drawing to a close, we are going to provide year-end grades to each Detroit Tigers player who donned the Olde English D in 2018.

The Detroit Tigers have nearly completed the first year of what looks to be a multi-year rebuilding process. While the team was hard to watch at times, there is still plenty to evaluate from this season as we look ahead to the next few years.

As with any team, there were a lot of excellent performances, surprise performances, and of course disappointing performances. Here at Motor City Bengals, we are going to be evaluating each player who suited up for the Detroit Tigers this season. We will analyze how they performed, what their future holds in the Motor City, and we will provide them a grade.

Note: the grade will be relative to what was expected of them. So a player who performed well above expectations may earn a B or an A, even if their actual season numbers are not that elite. If you disagree, feel free to drop us a comment. We would love to have discussions about these!

Once again, the Detroit Tigers had a less than stellar bullpen in 2018. Grades have already been given to Buck Farmer (here) and Warwick Saupold (here). Now, we turn to another player whose season was cut short by injury.

Artie Lewicki

Lewicki once again split time between AAA and the big leagues this season, making 12 starts with Toledo and making 13 appearances (3 starts) with the Tigers. His numbers at Toledo were subpar, with a 4.67 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP, although he had a 3.43 FIP and a nice 8.03 K/9.

While his Triple-A numbers were down from a season ago, his big league numbers improved. In his 38.2 innings with Detroit, Lewicki had a 4.89 ERA (4.12 FIP) with a 6.98 K/9 and a 3.26 BB/9. All of those are improved from his big league experience from last year, although he still doesn’t look like much more than a fringey middle reliever.

Tragedy struck in early September, as Lewicki underwent Tommy John surgery. He will miss the entire 2019 season. When he returns for 2020, he will be 28 and may struggle to find his way back into the picture in the Motor City.

Grade

Lewicki had limited expectations this season, and although he made improvements it’s hard to call his performance this season very good.

Grade: C-

Check back here daily for more player grades! And if you’d like to discuss any grades, please leave us a comment on our Facebook or Twitter page.