Detroit Tigers: Is Jason Foley a bullpen piece moving forward?

Jason Foley is earning his role with the Detroit Tigers moving forward.

The Detroit Tigers have gotten the most from their bullpens. They are starting to establish who will be a part of this team’s core moving forward. Jason Foley has been one of those arms who is really proving a point with his performance in 2022.

They have had a group of arms who have stepped up in 2022, showing that they could be a group to keep around in the future. Foley is one of those arms who has pitched well when given the ball and got the job done.

He has logged 53 games in 2022, accumulating 54.2 innings pitched for the Tigers, finding his way. Foley’s not going to go out and strike batters out left and right, but he’s going to induce weak contact and record the outs.

Foley has minimized the opposition’s chances and done an excellent job keeping them off the board at times. He has managed a 3.13 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP during the 2022 season overall for the Tigers. Foley had a blow-up outing giving up four runs in just a third of an inning on September 3rd, but came back the next night and delivered a scoreless inning.

Since the rough outing, he has thrown four scoreless innings with five punchouts while allowing just one hit. Overall, looking at the season, Foley’s been able to get the job done with a couple of bumps and bruises along the way.

The Detroit Tigers need to make Jason Foley part of the future plans.

Jason Foley is 26 years old while just breaking into the league and making his debut during the 2021 season. He appeared in all of 11 games for the Detroit Tigers during the 2021 season but has since become a reliable option in the team’s bullpen.

He’s got a fastball with arm-side sink in the repertoire that can be labeled as a four-seamer with less life to it at times (according to Baseball Savant). He’s the profile of a sinker/slider guy with a changeup in the repertoire if needed.

Foley tends to live in the lower third of the zone and below, speaking to the movement profiles of his primary two offerings. He throws strikes and has done an excellent job cutting down his walks in 2022.

While he gets hit here and there, he seems to pitch with a similar philosophy to Andrew Chafin. That said, Foley will keep making pitches; if he gets beaten by an opposing hitter when he executes, then tip the cap and try to roll up a double play.

Obviously, there is more to it than that; limiting walks and being efficient has only helped Foley produce the stats he has in 2022. The Tigers must be happy with Foley’s performance in the 2022 season.

As a new regime takes over the front office sometime this offseason, the Tigers will have some decisions to make. As they piece together future plans, Foley deserves to be kept around as a part of the team’s bullpen for the long term.