Detroit Tigers: A Look At Zack Godley

The Detroit Tigers signing of Zack Godley provides another pitching choice come Spring Training.

The Tigers signed right-hander Zack Godley to a minor league deal. The deal is worth $1.5 million and will be a non-roster invitee to Spring Training for an opportunity to compete for a rotation spot. He has a clause in his contract that he could opt out of his deal on March 23rd.

Godley’s career started with the Cubs as a tenth-round draft pick out of the University of Tennessee in 2013. (Former Tiger Steve Searcy, the 3rd round pick in 1985, is an alumnus and has an award named after him in Knoxville so there is your random fact of the day) and was traded on December 9th, 2014 with Jefferson Mejia for Miguel Montero.

After a short time in the minors, Godley would make steady progress as he joined the Diamondbacks rotation.  His man combination of a curve and sinker led to a 64% groundball rate in his breakout 2017 season. Mitchell Bannon of The Dynasty Guru broke down his numbers on his pitching mix and what was the difference was, two years later.

“The product of Godley’s repertoire was generating slightly more swings outside the zone than average (33.1%, 30% is average) but significantly less contact on these out-of-zone pitches (46.6%, 66% is average). Likely, with Godley’s pitch combination unfamiliar to batters, they were susceptible to chasing his curveball out of the zone, a trend that has not kept up, as Godley’s out-of-zone contact-rate now sits at a much more pedestrian 61.3%.”“The product of Godley’s repertoire was generating slightly more swings outside the zone than average (33.1%, 30% is average) but significantly less contact on these out-of-zone pitches (46.6%, 66% is average). Likely, with Godley’s pitch combination unfamiliar to batters, they were susceptible to chasing his curveball out of the zone, a trend that has not kept up, as Godley’s out-of-zone contact-rate now sits at a much more pedestrian 61.3%.”

His struggles continued as he led the National League in wild pitches (17) and hit batsman (12) in 2018. He was DFA and the Blue Jays picked up in August, where he was used as a reliever. With a K per 9 rate of 9.6 in 2017 and 9.3 in 2018, he has the potential to getting back to being an effective strikeout pitcher.

Of course, it starts with what Rick Anderson sees and the new, more analytical approach under new Tigers director of pitching development and strategies Dan Hubbs can provide.  This was a low-risk, possibly high reward signing for the Tigers.