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The Four Newest Detroit Tigers

By Chris Brown

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 29: Three Sumatran Tiger cubs are seen on display at Taronga Zoo on March 29, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. The three Sumatran Tiger cubs were born in January 2019. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 29: Three Sumatran Tiger cubs are seen on display at Taronga Zoo on March 29, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. The three Sumatran Tiger cubs were born in January 2019. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images) /
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The Detroit Tigers added four more players to their roster on Friday. Three were expected, but the fourth was a bit of a surprise.

Today is the deadline for MLB teams to add players to their 40-man roster, lest they be made available for the upcoming Rule 5 Draft, and the Detroit Tigers announced their choices shortly before 11:30 Eastern Time:

There’s nothing terribly shocking here. Last week we predicted who the Tigers would add, but now that it’s officially official, let’s take one more look at each of these new players.

Detroit Tigers
DETROIT, MI – JULY 05: The Detroit Tigers 2017 #1 draft pick Alex Faedo poses for a photo during his visit to Comerica Park prior to the game against the San Francisco Giants at Comerica Park on July 5, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. The Giants defeated the Tigers 5-4. (Photo by Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

Alex Faedo – RHP – 6’5, 225 lbs. – Age 25 – Drafted 1st Round 2017 (18th overall)

Alex Faedo didn’t pitch in the professional ranks in 2017 after leading his Florida Gators team to a College World Series championship. Faedo slid a bit in the 2017 draft, and it looked like the Detroit Tigers landed a huge bargain when Faedo was flashing a mid-90s fastball and a nasty slider on national TV.

But when he hit pro ball in 2018 Faedo’s stuff wasn’t as impressive. His fastball was often in the high-80s, occasionally reaching 93 mph, and his slider looked pedestrian. He still went out there and competed every night, though, and despite some pretty severe home run issues once he reached Double-A Erie, he had a solid season.

Faedo returned to Erie in 2019 and showed some improvement. His stuff was slightly better, and his results were too, though home runs remained an issue. Had 2020 been in any way normal, Faedo likely would have made his MLB debut at some point late in the summer. But instead he remained in Toledo at the Tigers summer camp, and then he was shut down at the end of the year with forearm soreness.

Alex Faedo appears to be healthy now, and he’ll head into 2021 with a chance to compete for a spot in the Detroit Tigers rotation. We expect him to spend most of the season in Triple-A, but he’ll probably get one or two starts in Detroit. If he carves out an MLB role it will likely be as a reliever, but we expect the Tigers to wait a season or two before pushing him that way.

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