Detroit Tigers Top Prospects No. 16: RHP Alex Faedo

We continue our rankings with RHP Alex Faedo; ranked our 16th-best Detroit Tigers prospect.

Detroit Tigers fans and various prospect writers have not seen right-hander Alex Faedo pitch in quite sometime. Last season, we had him ranked number 13 overall and most recently, Michael looked at his long-term future with the ballclub.

So it came to writing up this report for 2022, there are several important caveats to remember. Since none of us has seen him throw since 2019, the debate in the Tigers Minor League Report channel was where to place him on the list?

From what I have learned in the last three years, when it comes to prospect evaluation, even from our public analysis point of view, by just looking at the box score and looking at Baseball America and FanGraphs for their perspectives is not enough. Watching a player for a few games can really help asset who the player is.

For example, you can see with your own eyes the power of Roberto Campos, who was a mystery until last season.

So when it comes to Faedo, we can only go by his words that he said recently to the Freep and what we think his future will be and what we already know as far as what he can throw.

Alex Faedo’s Strengths

His command of his slider, fastball and a changeup makes his arm intriguing. With his mechanics, as shown here, he can throw the slider to both sides of the plate. His delivery is consistent and repeatable. He has a good understanding of command, which was rated a 55 by FanGraphs and has a fastball that sat around 93-94 prior to surgery.

His quote in the Freep says about the type of competitor he is.

"“I feel like I’ve always had adversities that I’ve had to battle through that may not have been public or anything like that. I’m not going to sit there and complain or make excuses. That’s the hand that I was dealt, and I’m going to make the best of it. I’m going to have to play an extra two years because I missed the last two. If I can play when I’m 45, I’m going to keep trying to chuck it. I don’t want to stop playing baseball.”"

Alex Faedo’s Future with the Detroit Tigers

Why slot number 16 fits well with Faedo? After TJ surgery, pitchers have a tendency to throw harder. The Tigers need pitching depth across all levels and I could easily see him being a starter in Erie with a quick move up to Toledo in the middle of the summer. This is pending on how he comes back from surgery and he has an ally who he has been able to rely on and that is friend, LHP Joey Wentz. It took a while before Wentz pitched with some consistency and this could be the case here for Faedo.

Whether his role is out of the bullpen or as a starter, one thing is for certain. There is an upside to this arm and with the new staff in place, Detroit should keep him around versus a trade as my colleague Micheal suggested. We have seen what the Tigers did with the likes of late-round draft picks like Beau Brieske and Garrett Hill last season, would be interesting to see how the current staff will formulate a plan for Faedo to play up to his strengths.