Detroit Tigers: Jason Foley has bounced back after early struggles

Detroit Tigers reliever Jason Foley has recovered well from rough start.

The Detroit Tigers season may not have gotten off to the best start, and the bullpen was partly to blame for that. Jason Foley struggled when being called upon early in the seasons. The performances were shaky, and the results were not ideal, especially when he was inheriting runners.

However, the Detroit Tigers have continued to rely on Foley to get it done, hoping he can snap out of the funk he brought into the 2023 season. Even though it's still mighty early in this campaign, he has done an excellent job getting back on track and figuring things out.

It's early, and he must be looking to keep up this level of performance over time, but it seems he's going to be one of the workhorses out of the Tigers bullpen in 2023 if things continue they have to this point.

After making his debut in 2020, Foley saw a significant uptick in usage last summer, where he pitched in 60 games, totaling 60.1 innings of work. He pitched to a 3.88 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP and punched out 43 opposing hitters while issuing 11 walks.

In 2023, Foley has made seven appearances out of the Tigers bullpen. He's allowed four hits and issued three walks over 7.0 innings of work with seven punchouts to his credit. He's pitched to a 1.29 WHIP, which is the best in the Tigers bullpen, besides Tyler Holton, who threw three scoreless in relief against the Giants.

Foley's biggest issue has been the inherited runners' part of relief his work. Early on, he had struggled when he came into games where he inherited runners. Which is not entirely reflected in his stats, so the ERA would be a little higher.

But Foley has seemingly settled in a little bit more after a shaky start. He's not pitching to the same levels as that of someone like Joe Jiménez did during his time in the Tigers bullpen. But being that he seems to be A.J. Hinch's go-to guy to be first out of the bullpen, he's showing improvements.

Trying to be optimistic here... with a brutal bullpen as it is, it's good to see Foley settling in. The Tigers need all the help they can get out of this bullpen in 2023, so seeing Foley figure things out is only good for them.