Detroit Tigers Rule 5 Options: Pitchers

We continue to look at Rule 5 options for the Detroit Tigers to pick at number 3 with a focus on a few arms that the Tigers could go with.

With the exception of 2017, the Detroit Tigers have drafted a pitcher with the Rule 5 selection however, it has not stopped us from covering all of our bases here at Motor City Bengals as Chris Brown has covered corner infielders, catchers and did a brief one to two sentences of players you should get to know including a few pitchers and Dan Hasty gave you five names he likes.

However, in this piece, we will highlight five pitchers including their pitch mix and a few video clips so you can have an idea of how they pitch. I covered Alex Speas, the pitcher from the Texas Rangers, who was throwing 102 MPH in spring training and I thought he would be a good piece to store away in the back of a bullpen.

RHP Lake Bachar

The 25-year-old 6-2 right-hander used to be a punter for a Division III school in Wisconsin. He was left exposed in last year’s draft but obviously, with COVID, we have not seen him in a game since he was at Double-A Amarillo.

Bachar features a fastball and a curve and has primarily been a starter in his time in the Padres system. He pitches from the stretch at a 3/4 angle with decent run on his fastball that can touch 95 MPH with good, repeatable mechanics. He seems to have a tendency to overthrow but a long relief role in mop-up duty is a possible role.

RHP Brett de Geus

Our friends over at Prospects Live (ranked 29th on their board) and our own Dan Hasty are high on Brett de Gaus so I will spare you another breakdown but taking a pitcher who has a high spin rate on his slider and a fastball that can hit 98 could not hurt.

LHP David Parkinson

The Tigers could use another lefty in the bullpen and Parkinson has pitched at the Double-A level. In 2018, he won the Paul Owens award for the most outstanding pitcher in the Phillies system. Primary a starter, Erie SeaWolves fans should recognize him as he was last pitching in Reading in 2019.

He pitches from the full windup, mid 3/4 angle with a fastball, changeup, and a curveball. The 1-5 action he gets on his curveball on righties is a plus.  He started to come over the top with his hands in his delivery when he got to Double-A so the video below was when was High-A

Riley Pint RHP

The Rockies drafted Pint fourth overall in the 2016 draft, the same draft the Tigers took Matt Manning with the 9th pick. This is the case where you can’t “judge the box score” because well, that is ridiculous in the first place and his potential could use some more instruction. I also say this because the Detroit Tigers Vice President and Assistant GM is David Chadd scouted and coached in Wichita, Kansas, and Pint played high school ball at Overland Park, which is two hours north.

This is just pure speculation on my part but from my experience, look at the Tigers’ selections in the draft from the great plains area since around 2006 from Oklahoma and Kansas. According to Baseball America, he throws two separate breaking balls, a curve and a slider that are above average and a fastball that gets up to 102. This part and take this perhaps with a grain of salt, is where it gets interesting in their write up ($)

"“In a best-case scenario he becomes a Justin Verlander-esque front-line ace. Like Pint, Verlander had problems with a stiff front side and control issues as an amateur but the Tigers were able to clean it up.”"

Kade McClure RHP

Thanks to Ralph Lifshitz of Prospects Live for this suggestion. McClure like Pint, is tall, standing at 6-7, 230 lbs. Drafted out of the University of Louisville by the White Sox in 2017, he has a fastball that is around 95 MPH, thanks to Pair that with a slider that is above average and you have a bullpen arm that Detroit could store away. He had knee surgery in 2018 but there have not been any issues with his arm.

According to Baseball America, he worked with White Sox biomechanics specialist Ben Hansen. What is biomechanics when it comes to baseball?  James Fox of FutureSox.com did a great write up on Hansen’s role with the team which is because of his engineering background, he works with players by capturing data and using that to help them get better.

A random fun fact about McClure. He went to high school with Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky so that factoid is less annoying to Tigers fans than the Matthew Stafford and Clayton Kershaw one.  Despite not pitching above High-A,  McClure based on his size and extension on his delivery could be a workable arm in the bullpen.