Detroit Tigers: Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning took flight

Here at Motor City Bengals, we are going to take a look back at the Detroit Tigers 2021 season with some in-depth articles.  In this article, we look at Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, and Matt Manning as they stepped into the rotation.

Another season of Detroit Tigers baseball is in the history books but unlike the ones of recent past, this one ended on a relatively high note. The Tigers’ 77 wins exceeded projections and what the fans may have expected. Led by manager A.J Hinch and the rest of his staff, the Tigers were never out of too many games and were able to finish .500 or better in every month except for April, August, and October.

The biggest leap forward would have to be the pitching staff. The fingerprints of pitching coach Chris Fetter were all over the pitching staff. Each pitcher had a plan of attack and most saw improvement as the year went on.

The 2021 Detroit Tigers got 79 starts from their starters who were in MLB rookie status, the second-most in team history behind only the 2003 Tigers squad, who had 80.  The 2021 rookies also average a K per 9 of 7.89 and an ERA of 4.38 this season.

This marks the first time in team history that three rookies made 15 or more starts in one season. Mize led the way with 30 starts, followed by Skubal with 29 and Manning with 18.  That is rather significant because while we think of the World Series rotations of 1984 and 1968, they had a core to them that came from the farm system but all of them never played together in their rookie season.

Let’s start by taking a look at Casey Mize’s 2021 season and how he was the ace of the staff.