Casey Mize's tangible changes should fuel bounce back after rough Twins start

Nothing has been given to Casey Mize, everything earned.

Yes, the Detroit Tigers selected the right-hander at No. 1 overall in the 2018 MLB Draft, but they haven't handed him anything as a result of his draft pedigree. In fact, at the end of last season, it looked like Mize's days in Detroit might have been numbered.

Entering spring training after his first fully healthy offseason with what felt like a minuscule chance to make Detroit's 2025 Opening Day rotation, Mize was consistently one of the Tigers' best pitchers throughout camp. In other words he gave them no choice but to give him a rotation spot. And his spring performance wasn't a fluke, either – through his first two starts of the season, Mize allowed just one run and struck out 12 across 11 2/3 innings of work.

Mize came back down to earth with his first loss of the season Sunday, in which he allowed four runs on seven hits – including his first two home runs allowed this season – across 5 2/3 innings against the Minnesota Twins. Even so, he still has a strong 2.60 ERA and 1.04 WHIP overall, and Tigers fans have every reason to believe that Sunday's start was merely a blip on the radar.

Tigers starter Casey Mize's tangible changes should fuel bounce back after rough Twins start

Mize's resurgence is due at least in part to his new-look pitch arsenal. He has stopped throwing his curveball entirely and added a second slider. In addition to his traditional slider, he's also throwing a slurve that is not quite a full-blown sweeper.

Mize has paired his four-seam fastball – which has increased in velocity, by the way – with sinkers and slurves against right-handed hitters, while utilizing his slider and splitter against lefties.

In reality, Mize's arsenal isn't that new at all. His renewed reliance on breaking pitches more closely resembles what he did in college, where he first developed his elite splitter. As a matter of fact, the Tigers essentially replaced Mize's sliders with a curveball in the minors – the curveball he has since stopped throwing altogether.

Sure, he's bound to give up another homer or two at some point; but Mize going back to what he knows has proven to be largely successful throughout the spring and the first two weeks of the season.

He is back to relying on the same stuff that made him a No. 1 overall pick, and we're likely to see it in his next scheduled start this week against the Kansas City Royals.

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