Detroit Tigers: Three things to watch for on Matt Manning’s debut

What is Matt Manning’s velocity, how long does he hold it for, and do the nerves take over

Detroit Tigers starter Matt Manning was felt by many to be a low-mileage arm with significant projection with his velocity when he was drafted. At the time, Manning was a high school pitcher who had taken to pitching later in high school. This raised the intrigue for many teams but it also raised the risk.

Fast forward five seasons and Manning has shown more of the mid-’90s than the upper-90’s perhaps evaluators and analysts would have hoped would come along. Still, he does show the ability to scrape 97 with his four-seamer.

During my looks, velocity was inconsistent. In my first look, he was 91-92 in the first inning before finding and maintaining 93-95 through the remainder of the start and finding a little extra when necessary. More recently, he was mostly 92-94 with his fastball except for the fifth inning, where he randomly went 95-97 before bumping it back down through the rest of the game.

Of course, throwing harder is typically better, but the upper band of his velocity appears to compliment his other pitches too, considering it widens the gap in velocity between them. Considering his inconsistencies with the offering in Toledo as well as the adrenaline that comes with making your major league debut, fastball velocity will be a fascinating watch on Thursday.