These 3 Tigers pitchers have seen huge upticks in velocity in spring training

Casey Mize

Bet you didn't expect to see this name on here, did you? Well, to be quite honest, neither did we. Considering all that Mize has gone through, it was going to be a miracle if we saw any positive developments from him. We were just going to be happy if he was healthy. But to see what we've seen early on, we couldn't be happier.

In his last full season in 2021, Mize averaged 94 mph on his four-seam fastball. He came out of the bullpen on Sunday, and the fastball was averaging 95.4 mph. In his first outing of the spring, his fastball was consistently hitting 97. He hasn't done that since his days at Auburn.

Apparrently, he's worked a ton on his fastball, which is good. If the heater isn't effective, than his offspeed and breaking pitchers won't be either. He's also ditched the sinker, which is a great move since that would always get crushed.

Not only has his fastball seen a nice jump in velo, but he's getting whiffs on it too. That might be a more important development than that velocity, if we're being honest.

These are two important steps for Casey Mize in his return from Tommy John surgery. The next one? Command. He's walked two in each of his appearances so far this spring. However, command is usually the last thing to return when recovering from Tommy John surgery, so we're not too worried about that just yet.