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.

West Michigan Whitecaps (2-1) – T1st in Midwest League East

The West Michigan Whitecaps took a two-hour bus ride to Midland to kick off their season against the Great Lakes Loons, and they returned home with two wins for their trouble. Three spectacular starting pitching performances led the way for the ‘Caps, beginning with Carlos Guzman on Friday.

West Michigan got RBIs from five different players in their 5-1 victory, including a double from Trei Cruz and Parker Meadows‘ first home run of the season. Saturday saw the pro debut of Dylan Smith, the Detroit Tigers’ 3rd-round draft pick in 2021, and he was outstanding, allowing just one hit over three innings. The Whitecaps also got big games from Colt Keith (2-for-5, 2B, 3B, 2R) and Austin Murr (3-for-3, BB, 2 RBI) and a superb bullpen performance from Dario Gardea (2IP, 5K), but they ultimately lost 5-4, despite outhitting the Loons 9-4.

Sunday’s finale saw another exciting debut, this time from Detroit’s first rounder from 2021, Ty Madden. He didn’t exactly get off to a hot start, allowing a home run to the first batter he faced, and snagging a screaming liner near his ear from the next batter, but he settled in quickly.

Madden’s final line (4IP, H, ER, BB, 6K) was strong, but his new pitching mechanics might have been the most promising development. Madden was generally considered a top-12 talent in the draft last year, but he slid to the Detroit Tigers at pick 32 because teams were concerned about his fastball getting hit hard when he left it up in the zone. But Madden’s arm slot seems to have dropped slightly from his college days, and in the video above you can see him throw about 20 elevated fastballs, and generate no fewer than 8 swings-and-misses with the offering.

Also promising on Sunday was West Michigan’s offense, which went bonkers over the final two innings to plate 11 runs and register a 14-4 victory. Five different players knocked in a pair of runs, Andrew Navigato picked up three hits, and Meadows hit his second home run of the early season.

The Whitecaps head home this week for a six-game set with in-state rival Lansing.