Detroit Tigers minor-league tools series: Best Fastball

We are taking advantage of the MLB lockout to look at the Detroit Tigers farm system.

The 2021 Detroit Tigers minor league season gave us unfamiliar names that rose through the system. Last season, we saw Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning move up from prospect status to rotation mainstays. So the question is, who is the next pitching prospect going to be and what type of pitching arsenal are they going to possess?

Today, thanks to Chris Brown, who brought over this format from TigsTown, we are going to look at the best fastballs in the system. The format for this will be:

• -Future Shock: The young prospects who we may see later on this list
• -Honorable mentions:

If you have not already, check out our past Tigers Minor League Tools Series articles.

-Best hitter

-Best power hitter

Detroit Tigers Minor League Tools Series: Best Fastball

So let’s begin with the three areas of focus:

-Velocity

-Command

-Movement

Velocity is critical to this category. It has become the norm to see minor league players throw in the upper 90s compared to in the past. Which is why our next area of focus, command, is important.

A pitcher may throw hard, but if he does not have good command, that may lead to a higher walk rate as they move up through the system. Movement, the action of the fastball takes when it’s pitched, helps change the eye level of a hitter.

If a fastball is flat and has no movement, it makes it easier for a hitter to track. It may work at the lower levels for strikeout numbers, but may not translate into the big leagues.

Detroit Tigers Best Fastball: Future Stock

• Jackson Jobe
• Rayner Castillo
• Erick Pinales
• Ty Madden (2021 32nd pick overall)
• Tanner Kohlhepp (2021 5th round draft pick out of University of Notre Dame)
• RJ Petit (2021 14th round pick out o Charleston Southern University)

Jobe’s fastball velocity in high school was in the 93-95, but as he continues to grow into his 6’2 frame, that will probably increase. As far as command goes, he showed very good command not only in his fastball but his change and slider at the high school level.

For movement, he showed high spin rates on his fastball (2300-2500 RPM) and slider (2900-3200 RPM). His slider has tremendous upside and once he gains experience against minor league hitters, he should be interesting to see what happens. Mark Powell from our FanSided.com site spoke to Tim Grieve, who was the area scout in Oklahoma that provided the information to Al Avila. Here’s what he said about why the Tigers were so comfortable to draft him.

” There is a comfort level, and it comes from the top-down. Al (Avila) is the same guy who took Josh Beckett (out of high school). We all understand there’s risk involved no matter who you take. With Jackson we just felt this is a kid who’s looked too good to pass up… we’re very comfortable with our development staff, we’re ecstatic with (pitching coach) Chris Fetter and you think we can only imagine what they’re going to do with a kid like this.”

While Rayner Castillo is just 17 and only has pitched in the DSL Tigers team, he has flashed a plus slider but has thrown a fastball in the low 90s. Like Jobe, he is very raw, but there is potential. Looking forward to seeing him pitch stateside soon.

For Erick Pinales, the numbers show a fastball average around 96 MPH down in Lakeland over 16.7 innings of work after moving over from rookie ball. It has hit 99 with spin rates in the 2500-2670 range and a cutter that displayed decent movement. His issue, however, is his command as he issued 18 walks.

Ty Madden averages around 94-96 that touched 100 MPH at Texas with good movement on his slider. He may move up quickly in the system this season.

RJ Petit averaged 94-96 and hit 97 in college. From all accounts, has a nasty slider and stands almost seven feet tall.

Go to the nine-second mark here for the movement on this strikeout. It’s not a fastball but still impressive.

Tanner Kohlhepp hit 100 MPH in college and possess movement on all his pitches. Pretty easy going windup and release.

Detroit Tigers Honorable Mention-Fastball

• Ted Stuka
• Gio Arriera
• Carlos Guzman

Here we have three arms who spent time in Lakeland this season. Guzman is a former shortstop who converted to a pitcher back in 2017. He had a good season back at West Michigan in 2019 before injuries shut down his season.

He throws a fastball that hit 97 last season but averaged around 93.4. He still has problems with commanding what he wants to throw, which explains his BB/9 of 4.2. There is enough there with his fastball and changeup. He looked rusty when I first saw him in Lakeland, but to be fair, that was the season opener. Back in 2019 at West Michigan, he showed when he can command, he can be effective.

Ted Stuka has a fastball that has good arm side run but it’s not his go-to pitch, his slider and sinker generate more swings and misses. His fastball touched 98 this season, but like Guzman, needs to work on his command as he average 9 walks per 9 for the Flying Tigers.

Gio Arriera, who I saw at West Michigan in 2019 and on my Lakeland trip this season, was pumping 96-97in Lakeland with his fastball in the start I saw him. In the times I see him, his fastball had good movement, especially on right-handers. The velocity dropped as he went on and so did his command. There is upside to Arriera, who is a starter currently but could see him in the bullpen with a slider that has generated a 51% whiff rate last season.