Detroit Tigers: Designing the perfect arsenal based on the 2023 pitching staff

Flipping the big breaker that Detroit Tigers RHP Alex Lange uses.

Moving on with the arsenal, we have one filthy breaker in the mix. Why not add another? For the Detroit Tigers, look no further than Alex Lange to add another filthy breaking ball to the mix. The right-handed pitcher has an exceptional curveball that he can use for success and that we will be adding to our arsenal to help attack hitters.

While Olson's slider has more sweep to it, Lange's breaker has more of a vertical attack, being depthy with a bigger break. He can land the pitch for strikes and utilize it to get ahead at times, using it early or can use it to finish at-bats as a putaway pitch. It's a pitch that will prove beneficial for this arsenal, as it's one of the reasons Lange has been so effective working out of the Tigers bullpen.

Lange's curveball can get some velocity to it, working into the upper-80s. He throws it harder, with a really good depthy shape to it. With less than an inch of horizontal on average, his average of 39.8 inches of vertical drop makes it a pitch that can disappear on hitters. He can locate it in the bottom third as a starting point, letting it disappear below the zone to induce the swing and miss.

Looking at the effectiveness, Lange was able to utilize his curveball to a 48.4% whiff rate and a 30.0 PutAway% in 2023, which is quite impressive. It's part of the reason I selected this breaker for the arsenal. Lange's breaker is a big piece of the puzzle for this arsenal. If it could tunnel well off of the Brieske fastball from the beginning, it would be a deadly combination, being able to see hitters lose it below the zone, fictitiously, of course.