Detroit Tigers minor league report: Opening week fireworks

There’s still plenty of talent in the Detroit Tigers farm system.

Last weekend didn’t just bring us Opening Day for the Detroit Tigers, it also marked the beginning of the minor league baseball season. In fact, because of the lockout-induced delay to MLB action, the Toledo Mud Hens actually began their season before the Tigers.

There’s not quite as much star power in the system this year, with Spencer Torkelson up with the big boys, and Riley Greene on the shelf for a few months. But there’s still enough interesting talent on the farm to keep Detroit Tigers fans excited for the future.

Most of the farm teams played just three games, so there hasn’t been a ton of action to speak of, but we still saw plenty of highlights at every level of the minors. Let’s begin with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens.

Toledo Mud Hens (2-4) – T7th in International League East

The Toledo Mud Hens opened up their season with six home games against the Rochester Red Wings, Washington’s Triple-A affiliate. They started off on the right foot (claw?) with a 5-0 win on Opening Day, led by a strong start from Nivaldo Rodriguez (4.1 IP, 5H, 0R, BB, 7K), excellent bullpen work, and a couple big hits from Jacob Robson and Daz Cameron.

Unfortunately, the Hens didn’t find much success the rest of the week. Joey Wentz looked solid in his first start of the year last Wednesday, and Ryan Kreidler had a huge game (3-for-3, 2HR, BB), but Rochester pulled away for a 6-3 win. The Toledo bullpen collapsed late on Thursday, spoiling a solid rehab start from Michael Pineda and three strong innings from Ricardo Pinto in a 8-5 loss in 12 innings.

The Red Wings made it three in a row on Friday by beating up on starter Chase Anderson (2.2 IP, 6H, 3ER, 2BB, 2K) and reliever A.J. Ladwig (3.2 IP, 5H, 4ER, BB, 4K) in a 7-4 victory, and then on Saturday they spoiled the Triple-A debut of Beau Brieske (5IP, 7H, 5ER, BB, 4K) in an ugly 9-0 blanking. The Mud Hens bats stayed quiet for most of Sunday, too, but another strong outing from Rodriguez and the bullpen, and a blast from Brady Policelli, set the stage for Josh Lester’s walk-off heroics in a 2-1 win.

The Mud Hens struck out 77 times last week, easily the highest total in the International League. They’ll try to make some more contact this week as they hit the road to Des Moines for a six-game set against the Iowa Cubs.

Erie SeaWolves (2-1) – T1st in Eastern League Southwest

The Erie SeaWolves began their season with a small, three-game series at home against a very talented Akron RubberDucks squad. And, despite hitting just .200 as a team and striking out a staggering 47 times in three games, Erie came out of the series with a pair of wins.

Erie held Akron to just two hits in the first game of the season, winning 2-0 behind a terrific start from Reese Olson (4IP, H, 0ER, BB, 7K), outstanding bullpen work, and big hits from Quincy Nieporte and Dane Myers. Saturday’s contest was a spectacular display of pitching, with SeaWolves starter Garrett Hill (4IP, H, 2BB, 6K) shutting down the RubberDucks, and Akron’s electric pitching duo of Daniel Espino and Xzavion Curry combining to strike out 16 batters in 8.1 innings. But Kerry Carpenter and Gage Workman both hit home runs against Espino, and Erie pulled out a 3-2 win on a walk-off wild pitch.

Akron managed to salvage one win in the series on Sunday, scoring twice early off starter Austin Bergner (3IP, 2H, 2ER, 3BB, 4K), and then plating two late runs to win 4-2. Catcher Dillon Dingler had a solid day for the Howlers, though, blasting his first home run of the season, and cutting down a runner on the basepaths.

Erie hits the road for the first time this season with a six-game set against the Somerset Patriots, the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees.

Lakeland Flying Tigers (1-2) – T4th in Florida State League West

Video was typically hard to come by for the Lakeland Flying Tigers, but fortunately the Yankees had a video team in Lakeland for the home opener, and we have some Statcast data to help fill in the blanks. The Flying Tigers are one of the youngest teams in full-season ball, with five teenagers on the roster, including the three youngest players ($) in the Florida State League. That youth didn’t seem to affect the team’s bats, as they posted a solid .764 OPS, though the offense was led by infielder Chris Meyers, one of the older hitters on the team. Meyers went 5-for-11 in his first three games, with a double and a monster home run.

Lakeland did drop that game 9-6, but starter Brant Hurter (4IP, 2H, ER, 5K) was pretty strong in his pro debut, and the club won 5-1 on Saturday behind excellent pitching from rehabbing veterans Wily Peralta (2IP, H, 2K) and Alex Faedo (3IP, H, 2K). Saturday also marked the professional debut of the Detroit Tigers 4th rounder from last year’s draft, Tyler Mattison (2IP, H, ER, 3BB, 3K). Mattison had some trouble throwing strikes, but he did garner eight swings-and-misses with his fastball, which sat at 94 MPH and had an average spin rate of nearly 2,600 RPM. Minor-league Rule 5 addition Elvis Alvarado (2IP, H, BB, 3K) finished the game, with his fastball cresting 98 MPH twice.

The Flygers lost Sunday’s finale 9-5, but there were plenty of positive signs in the game. Wilkel Hernandez (2.2 IP, 3H, 0ER, BB, 5K) saw his first competitive action since August of 2019, throwing all four of his pitches, touching 95 MPH with his heater, and generating a game-best 11 swings and misses. Lakeland’s young infield played well, too, with third baseman Izaac Pacheco going 2-for-4 and shortstop Manuel Sequera lacing a single at 103 MPH. But the most eye-popping performance came from second baseman Cristian Santana:

Santana finished the game 2-for-5, and he went 5-for-12 with a walk in the series. That’s awfully impressive considering he’s the youngest player in the FSL, and this is his first season playing in the United States. The Detroit Tigers may have a good one on their hands.

Fans with an MiLB.TV subscription can actually see Santana and his teammates play this week, as the Flying Tigers head to Bradenton for six games against the Marauders.