Detroit Tigers: Zac Reininger could be a useful bullpen piece in the future

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

The Detroit Tigers 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!

The Tigers continue to be trouble by bullpen performances. The team had surprisingly good showings from Louis Coleman, Blaine Hardy, and Victor Alcantara, as well as disappointing years from Shane Greene, Warwick Saupold and many others.

We review Zac Reininger next, a prospect, whom given another year of development could end up being a useful bullpen piece in the future.

Zac Reininger

Reininger bounced between Triple-A Toledo and Comerica Park this season. He pitched in 21.1 innings for the Detroit Tigers. In that frame, he posted a 7.59 ERA. He walked nine batters and allowed eighteen runs while striking out eighteen.

He posted better numbers with the Mud Hens, posting a 2.63 ERA, allowing eighteen runs while striking out fifty-three over 51.1 innings of work.  Given another year of development it’s possible the 25-year translates his minor-league numbers to the clubhouse and becomes a stable part of the Tigers bullpen.

Grade: C

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