Keider Montero's WBC showing with Venezuela leaves Tigers fans feeling conflicted

On Tuesday night, Team Venezuela went to the first World Baseball Classic final in their history after staging an upset over the reigning champions in Team Japan in the quarters, and then ending Team Italy's Cinderella run in the semis. They took the heavy favorites in Team USA down 3-2 on a Wilyer Abreu two-run bomb and Eugenio Suárez RBI double.

Despite their absolutely stacked offense, led by Ronald Acuña Jr. and mentored by the Tigers' own Miguel Cabrera, the pitching left something to be desired. Having Ranger Suarez as an ace was a huge plus, but the rotation's threat level took a bit of a dive beyond him — at least on paper.

Unfortunately, another Detroit Tigers representative in Keider Montero didn't disprove that on Monday against Italy. He had a nice first inning, notching a strikeout and getting through the rest easily on a double play, but ran into trouble in the second.

With one out, he gave up a single and then three consecutive walks to give Italy a run. His replacement, Ricardo Sánchez, gave up an RBI groundout that was added to Montero's ledger.

It suggested that the Tigers were right when they optioned Montero to Triple-A in their third round of spring training roster cuts. His command simply wasn't there in the second inning, and he walked 8% of batters faced last season in the majors.

But when the stuff looked good, it looked really good. If he can put it all together, he could punch his ticket back to majors sooner rather than later.

Keider Montero's WBC performance justified Tigers demotion — but also flashed a lot of potential

Despite some speculation that Montero might end up in the bullpen as a long reliever, the Tigers deciding not to go that route isn't necessarily a reflection of their belief in him. AJ Hinch explained that the Tigers believe he's a starter, and they didn't want to take him out of that role just to get intermittent appearances out of the bullpen. Keeping him in a starter's routine in Triple-A will keep him ready to go at a moment's notice.

Hinch and the front office certainly want to see improvements to his command a lower walk rate, which put him just below league average in 2025.

This has been Montero's way over the last few years. Sometimes he's brilliant, sometimes he's awful. If he can find some consistency, he could not only make him the Tigers' easy choice if another starter gets injured, but give him a very good chance at a Opening Day spot in 2027, after the Tigers lose a wave of starters to free agency.