Tigers may have a legitimate No. 2 ace in their rotation and it’s not who you think

Emma Lingan

Detroit Tigers v Los Angeles Angels / Ric Tapia/GettyImages

The Detroit Tigers had plenty of reason to be excited about the front of their rotation heading into the 2025 season. Tarik Skubal was coming off a unanimous American League Cy Young Award-winning campaign, and Jack Flaherty was coming home after taking a brief detour to win a World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But between the much deserved hype surrounding Skubal and Flaherty, the surprise breakout of former No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize and the arrival of top pitching prospect Jackson Jobe, have been the larger talking points. We're forgetting somebody, though!

Right-hander Reese Olson got the win for the Tigers over the Los Angeles Angels last Sunday to improve to 4-2 on the season. He tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings while allowing three hits and three walks and striking out eight. It was his third scoreless start of at least five innings and his third straight start with at least seven strikeouts.

Over his last four outings, Olson has a 1.14 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 27 strikeouts to nine walks in 23 2/3 innings. In seven starts this season, he has given up just one home run – a first-inning solo shot to Freddie Freeman in the Tigers' opening series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Reese Olson, 96mph Fastball and 88mph Changeup, Overlay.

Good look at the drop on his changeup pic.twitter.com/WHR1ifPBUt
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 4, 2025

Tigers may have a legitimate No. 2 ace in Reese Olson

Olson may not be the best overall pitcher in the Tigers' rotation, but he is by far the best at keeping the ball in the park. Only two qualified AL starters have a better home run rate than Olson's so far in 2025: Tyler Mahle of the Texas Rangers and Hunter Brown of the Houston Astros.

Much of Olson's success can be attributed to the effectiveness of his off-speed pitches, particularly his changeup. According to Baseball Savant, Olson ranks in the 99th percentile among all MLB pitchers in off-speed run value. He is also in the 91st percentile for whiff rate (33.5%), striking out batters 47.1% of the time with his changeup – the highest of any qualified pitcher in baseball this season.

It's early and there's still room for improvement, but Olson is quietly having a tremendous start to the season for the Tigers. It's time to give him his flowers for the important role he has played in keeping Detroit atop the AL Central.

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Emma Lingan

Emma Lingan is an MLB Staff Writer for FanSided primarily covering the Pittsburgh Pirates. She has been covering baseball for more than a decade dating back to her time as a student at Wake Forest University, and she has won two gold medals as a member of the U.S. National Team delegation (2016 Pan-American Championships & 2017 World Baseball Classic). A native of Washington, D.C. and current resident of Nashville, Tenn., she is also entering her seventh season as a credentialed NHL media member and currently covers the NHL’s Nashville Predators for The Hockey News. When she's not watching hockey, baseball or football, she enjoys podcasting, reading, going to the gym, consuming large amounts of coffee and taking long walks with her dog, Minkah. You can follow her @Emma_lingan on Twitter and Instagram.