Detroit Tigers all-time starting rotation by WAR

Dizzy Trout - 44.3 WAR

The Tigers' #5 starter, Dizzy Trout, may not been particularly familiar to younger Tigers fans as he pitched for Detroit from 1939 to 1952. He started 305 games for the Tigers and posted a 3.20 ERA and 3.40 FIP in his 2,591.2 innings of work.

For the less analytically inclined, Trout still has a strong case for inclusion as he won 20 or more games twice in his career, made a pair of All-Star teams, nearly won MVP in 1944, won a World Series ring in 1945, and was the model of consistency on the mound for well over a decade.

Trout's success on the mound is somewhat funny because his strikeout rate with Detroit was a very low 4.2 K/9. A product of a different time in baseball history, Dizzy relied on pitching to contact and did it better than almost anyone else during his time in the big leagues.

One final note on Trout: for a pitcher, he could actually hit pretty well. Dizzy connected for 20 home runs in his career while putting up a very reasonable (for a pitcher) .213 average while driving in 110 runs in his career. Sometimes a pitcher just has to take matters into his own hands.