Tigers' Rafael Montero return breaking out with Braves is another indictment on 2025 deadline

Of all of the Tigers' terrible 2025 trade deadline acquisitions, Rafael Montero actually ended up being one of the least harmful. He came to Detroit as one of the worst qualified relievers in baseball and was therefore never fully trustworthy as a Tiger, but he finished out the season with a nice 2.86 ERA in 22 innings after the deadline. Veterans with far better track records (Chris Paddack, Charlie Morton, Paul Sewald) were worse.

Still, Montero kind of encapsulates everything that was wrong with that deadline. He should've come to the Tigers for cash and nothing more, but Scott Harris gave the Braves a living, breathing player for him. Jim Jarvis, an 11th-round pick for the Tigers in 2023, was an unranked prospect in Double-A at the time, but even he was too much.

Tigers fans haven't thought much about Jarvis since that trade — nor Montero, who currently has a 5.66 ERA with the Yankees' Triple-A team — but his ascent with the Braves this season is reopening not-that-old wounds.

He was called up for all of two days back in May but returned at the beginning of July and is hitting .308 with an .826 OPS since. Unsurprisingly, he's quickly become a Braves fan favorite.

Former Tigers prospect Jim Jarvis is lighting it up with the Braves after Rafael Montero trade

Jarvis debuted on the Braves' top-30 prospects list this season, coming in at No. 28 after making a nice first impression in the organization last year. He was hitting .305 with a .863 OPS in Triple-A Gwinnett before his first call-up and improved to .313/.867 there after being sent back down.

The Braves have had him posted up at shortstop for most of July, but Ha-Seong Kim is working his way back from his second IL stint of the season and looks close to completing a rehab assignment. Jarvis could be the easy demotion, but he has some flexibility as a utility infielder, which could save him a place on the roster.

As could the fact that he managed to get a hit off of a 103.1 MPH Mason Miller fastball on Tuesday night. The Braves still lost 8-3, but it was an incredible feat for the rookie.

The Tigers probably could've used a guy like that in May to jumpstart the offense, but alas. We got 22 semi-decent innings of Rafael Montero instead. Yay.

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