Keider Montero is somehow making Tigers fans forget how much they miss Justin Verlander

The Tigers tried to frame their demotion of Keider Montero as a compliment. The rotation was full after Framber Valdez's signing and Justin Verlander's re-signing, but the front office wanted to keep Montero stretched out as a starter in Triple-A instead of messing with his routine and moving him into a long relief role. They still believe in him as a starter and wanted him to be ready at a moment's notice.

And he needed to be ready sooner than anyone anticipated. Verlander went onto the IL with hip issues after just one start — a very bad one against the Diamondbacks — and Montero was the obvious first call.

Since then, he's been pretty excellent through three outings. He's tended to run into trouble his third time through orders, something he's still working through this season. In his first and third starts, against the Cardinals and then Royals, he was taken out after putting some traffic on the bases, so some of the runs on his ledger aren't totally his fault — we all know the Tigers have some serious middle relief issues.

His second start was a scoreless six-inning effort against the Marlins, and he was managing his pitch count well at 80. Through his outing on Thursday, his overall pitching run value is in the 94th percentile, making him the Tigers' best starter by that metric.

Keider Montero is holding the fort well while Justin Verlander stays sidelined on Tigers' IL

Hinch's last update on Verlander didn't sound good, and it just gave fans even more flashbacks to the hip inflammation that kept Alex Cobb out for the entirety of his $15 million year with the Tigers. While it'd be hard to complain too much about the $13 million spent on Verlander — we were begging for it, after all — at the very least, it would be an absolute shame if his last shot with the Tigers amounted to just a single five-run appearance.

But his roster spot looks very safe in Montero's hands so far, and it's mightily reassuring for 2026 and beyond. The Tigers are probably losing all of Verlander, Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, and Casey Mize in the offseason, so Montero is writing his ticket onto next year's Opening Day roster alongside Valdez, Jackson Jobe, Reese Olson, and Troy Melton (if all goes right with the latter threes' injuries) right now.

Remember: Montero once threw a complete-game shutout. Ever since, he's been trying to prove that it wasn't just a fluke, and so far this year, it looks like he's finally on his way.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow