The Tigers are sounding a bit delusional with their former first-round pick

The Detroit Tigers have had a lot of success drafting and developing players in recent years, as evidenced by the infusion of youth that helped to lift the club to a remarkable late-season surge and, ultimately, a playoff run in 2024. But for as many wins as they've had in the draft, not every prospect has turned out to be a success story.

Take Matt Manning, for example. Selected by the Tigers in 2016 at No. 9 overall, the right-hander made his MLB debut in 2021 but still hasn't managed to stick in the big leagues. In 50 career Major League starts across four seasons, Manning has a 4.43 ERA, a 7.8% walk rate and 16.4% strikeout rate over 254 innings.

There's also the small detail that Manning can't seem to stay healthy, as he hasn't made more than 18 starts in a single season since 2021. That trend continued in 2024, when he missed two months with a right lat strain while pitching for Triple-A Toledo. He made five starts for the Tigers last season, including three spot-starts in doubleheaders, but even when injuries ravaged Detroit's starting rotation and left gaping holes in its Major League pitching staff, Manning still couldn't earn a spot on the big-league roster.

Tigers are sounding a bit delusional with plan for former first-round pick Matt Manning

Despite the fact that Manning has yet to experience a breakout season, Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris said at last week's MLB general manager meetings that the team still believes in Manning as an option to compete for a job in Detroit's 2025 Opening Day starting rotation.

"He's going to come to camp ready to compete for a job," Harris said of Manning (via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press). "He struggled this year. He ended up spending a bulk of the year in Toledo. As we've seen in recent years, if you start with size, athleticism and pure stuff, I wouldn't count a guy like that out."

Manning possesses an above-average fastball, but the rest of his arsenal leaves much to be desired. Harris noted that Manning's addition of a splitter was a promising development last season, but Petzold observed that unless his command improves, all of his secondary pitches will remain works in progress.

Manning had a strong showing at Spring Training last year but found himself the odd man out in a battle with Casey Mize and Reese Olson for two openings in the Tigers' Opening Day rotation. This year, for some reason, Harris seems to believe that he'll be back in the mix. We'll believe it when we see it.

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