Detroit Tigers: 3 underperforming players who need to improve to stick around

RHP Jacob Barnes

Barnes got off to a hot start this season, giving up just one run in the entire month of April. But May has been a much different story, as he’s got a 7.04 ERA this month, with multiple rough outings to his name.

On May 13 against the Baltimore Orioles, he gave up back-to-back homers. Then a week later against the Cleveland Guardians, he gave up four runs, including a three-run shot to Jose Ramirez.

His kryptonite this entire time has been his lack of swing-and-miss stuff. He only has eight strikeouts in 16 innings pitched this season. He has a career-low 12.5% strikeout rate so far this year. Hitters have been squaring him up pretty well too, as he is in the fifth percentile in hard hit rate per Baseball Savant. His hard hit rate is the highest of his career.

The only reason Barnes is even here is because of a late spring training injury to Andrew Chafin. The story of how that all unfolded is actually pretty wild.

Barnes is just one of those guys who can get the job done in a pinch, but shouldn’t have a permanent role in a major league bullpen. He’s gotten very lucky at times this season, and recently his luck has started to run out. I would imagine once the Detroit Tigers get some of these pitchers back that Barnes would be one of the first to go.