Andrew Sears' disappointing MLB debut points to worrying trend with Tigers pitchers

The Tigers called up No. 14 prospect Andrew Sears for his MLB debut on Sunday, and it ... probably didn't go as well as he hoped. To be fair, he came into the game under inauspicious circumstances.

When he entered for the fourth after opener Jacob Waguespack and Ty Madden, the Royals were out to an early 5-1 lead. Sears got through a clean inning, the Tigers offense bit back with a four-run rally to tie the game, and then Sears promptly gave it up, allowing four more runs in the fifth. Kansas City would go on to tack on two more for an 11-7 final.

The final line for the top prospect's debut: four innings, six hits, five runs, one walk, three strikeouts.

The Tigers will probably retain him on the roster for at least one more start or long relief outing because they don't have a ton of other options right now. Drew Anderson is in the rotation now, so Sears may replace him as Detroit's go-to guy for anywhere between two and four innings as long as the Tigers are giving Keider Montero an extra day off between starts.

It's possible that the kid settles in, but his debut hints at a difficult trend we've seen over the past many years with the Tigers. They call guys up way too early, and they might just struggle to develop and coach pitchers overall.

Tigers might have a developmental problem with their pitchers after Andrew Sears' disappointing debut

Of the Tigers' three most notable pitching call-ups of the last two years — Sears, Jackson Jobe, and Troy Melton — Melton spent the most time at Triple-A. It still wasn't that much, just 36 1/3 innings, but Jobe and Sears' 9 and 9 1/3 respectively are negligible compared to that. Melton also happens to be one of their biggest success story this season.

There was perhaps more of an argument to be made for Jobe, who was once the No. 1 pitching prospect in baseball and came up when the Tigers' pitching staff was desperately hurting, but he has yet to live up to expectations so far.

This isn't to say the Tigers never develop good pitchers. They traded away two success stories at the deadline. But Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize were slow burns, and they spent a large chunk of their early careers injured, just like Jobe. (And Mize still hasn't been able to shake the injury bug.)

The Sears and Jobe promotions might've been coming from a place of desperation, but that smacks of poor long-term planning when it comes to Tigers pitching.

Do we see a trend here? Scott Harris isn't good at signing pitchers, but he's also no great shakes at overseeing their development, either. While the offense offers a lot to look forward to over the next many years, everything on the other side of ball might as well be a mystery.

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