Detroit Tigers: Garrett Hill pitched his way into staff last year

Detroit Tigers pitcher Garrett Hill deserves a spot in 2023 bullpen.

Spring Training is getting closer by the day; with February upon us, it's time to start getting back into action. The Detroit Tigers made some changes this off-season, even if those moves were to the chagrin of the fanbase.

But as the team starts to ramp up in Lakeland, Fla., they will see what kind of pitching staff they will roll out in 2023. Even though the Detroit Tigers starting rotation is pretty much solidified at this point, there are holes in the bullpen.

Plus, after 2022, there's a lesson to be learned. The Tigers need to be smart and ensure that they have starting pitchers who can slot into the rotation. The 2022 season brought more injuries than one could count on their fingers, with what felt like 40 different players making starts throughout the season.

One of those pitchers was right-handed pitcher Garrett Hill, who jumped from Double-A Erie to the big leagues throughout the spring & summer of 2022. Hill made seven starts with the Erie SeaWolves and eight starts with the Toledo Mud Hens but made the bulk of his appearances in Detroit.

In 2022, Hill would find his way into 17 games for the Tigers, where he made eight starts and proved he could pitch out of the bullpen. Hill accumulated 60.1 innings pitched on the season, pitched to a 4.03 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP, and was able to be an effective arm for the team.

He really did emerge as one of the Tigers' more reliable arms in 2022. The numbers will not win you a Cy Young, but he kept churning out solid appearances. He would go out and piece together solid outing after solid outing.

The Tigers have to be happy with what Hill brings to the table. He gets the job done even as a guy whose strikeout numbers are not through the roof. He pitches effectively, has pitchability, and finds ways to miss barrels and get the job done.

If the Tigers want to keep an arm in the bullpen readily available to make starts, Hill should be the right-handed option, joining Tyler Alexander with those honors. As Spring Training comes into focus, it will be interesting to see how Hill slots in with the team's pitching staff.

Certainly his 2022 performance earned him a spot with the team in 2023. He did what was asked of him. He churned out quality starts, well, not statistically since he was not always pitching six innings. Still, he was churning out quality performances, limiting the opposition without much run support to help him.

The Tigers should be happy with what he showed them in 2022, and he deserves a chance to pitch for the team again in 2023 and make the occasional start as needed.