The Tigers announced Friday that they’ve claimed lefty Tyler Holton off waivers from the Diamondbacks, who’d designated him for assignment earlier in the week. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, Detroit transferred right-hander Casey Mize to the 60-day injured list. Mize underwent Tommy John surgery and back surgery last year and wasn’t expected to be ready within the season’s first two months anyhow, so his eventual placement on the 60-day IL was a foregone conclusion.
The 26-year-old Holton made his MLB debut in 2022, pitching nine innings and allowing three runs on right hits and a pair of walks with six strikeouts during that brief cup of coffee. The rest of his season was spent in Triple-A Reno, where he logged a 4.43 ERA in 44 2/3 innings, fanning 23.5% of his opponents against a 9.3% walk rate.
It was a rebound effort for Holton, who’d previously limped to a 6.72 ERA between Double-A and Triple-A in 2021. Even amid those struggles, he notched a strong 26.5% strikeout rate, however, and his 6.5% walk rate was similarly encouraging. Solid strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates have been the norm for Holton since being selected in the ninth round of the 2018 draft. He doesn’t throw hard and has never ranked among the D-backs’ best prospects, but his track record of performance, MLB readiness and pair of remaining minor league option years all surely held appeal to the Tigers.
Prior to claiming Holton, the only left-handed bullpen option on the 40-man roster had been Tyler Alexander (assuming the club wants to keep Joey Wentz in a starting role). Non-roster veterans Chasen Shreve, Jace Fry and Miguel Del Pozo will all be in camp competing for a job as well. Holton will have a chance to land an Opening Day roster spot, though the Tigers can freely option him to Triple-A Toledo if one of the non-roster options outperforms him (or, if the team simply opts to carry one left-hander to begin the season). Wherever he starts the year, Holton figures to log some action in the big league bullpen in 2023, given the lack of certainty that permeates the Detroit bullpen following offseason trades of Gregory Soto and Joe Jimenez.
As for Mize, he underwent Tommy John surgery last June, so he’s unlikely to be an option until the season’s second half. The Tigers only recently revealed that Mize also underwent back surgery around that same time, however. Mize told reporters about the procedure earlier this week, explaining that his back issues have been slowly escalating over the past several years. Knowing he’d be off the mound for a year-plus anyhow, he opted for surgery aimed at alleviating the issue so he could truly be at full strength once he returns to the mound later this year.
Best of luck to Holton; he looked like a serviceable LHRP in his limited MLB time.
Has some good off-speed pitches and if he can consistently locate that fastball he should be able to maintain himself in the big leagues. A shame we won’t be able to see in the desert if he is able to work that out.
If he grabs 10 guys and 2 work out to replace Soto and Jimenez then I think we have a success don’t we. Personally I think one or more of Englert, Uceta or Wingentner will make us forget them both. Getting g useful parts like Vierling, Mato , Sands and Henry-Malloy for two replaceable bullpen arms is a win to me. Getting their BP replacements cheap makes it that much better. I like what he is doing. Two years ago San Fran won 107 games doing this. He’ll, if you can pitch and replace Soto I’ll buy your jersey 😉
That was supposed to be a response to Colavito’s post. Sorry, my bad.
If you haven’t gotten a minor league invite to Lakeland from Harris yet, raise your hand.
I sent a request to him but still haven’t heard anything back, probably because I suck as a pitcher, but then again that doesn’t seem to matter in Detroit
Because pitching was the obvious issue in Detroit last season….
If anything the incredible amount of injuries to the staff showed the strength within the system.
They didn’t hit at all. That’s was the problem and will probably continue to be the problem.
Time to stock up and transfer our wounded to 60 day lists. I’d also run a few borderline guys through waivers in next couple weeks, there’s going to be better players available, try to stash them in AAA
I turned it down
Tigers in need of LH relief help. Why not?
That was smart of Mize to get his back surgery while he was out. He’s pretty young to have back issues.
He’ll be on the Harris shuttle off the 40 man through waivers to AAA soon and hopefully they find another body with some promise and keep it going. Sounds like he has some potential. Wingentner and Uceta are some potential gems I’m interested to see from their minor signings.
“The 26-year-old Holton made his MLB debut in 2022, pitching nine innings and allowing three runs on RIGHT hits and a pair of”
Need a little proofreading/editing here to make a little more sense.
LHP……..that’s all you need to know.
Let’s hope the do not rush him and let him heal properly.
Zimmerman was great when Al signed him. True he paid too much at the time and paid for too long but Zimmerman developed back issues and we all know how that worked out.
Baseball pitchers should never play golf. Different muscles.
Hire me, Scott. I have that kind of insight!
The Zimmermann signing was disastrous because of his injuries, but there were some minor red flags already in his last season with Washington (which was another good one indeed). Zimmermann’s velocity started to clearly diminish before he came to Detroit – where he started with 4 wins and 0.00 ERA in a row…
Gruß,
BSHH
I loved the Zimmerman signing at the time. He was a great pitcher in Wash and I thought he’d do well. Then the bottom fell out for him. A signing most everyone loved that tanked. I remember the opposite happening too: lots of people were not fans of the Pudge Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez signing at the time and they worked out very well. Just shows we can’t predict. It would be great if we had some of our signings work out like the Pudge and Ordonez ones, or even an Eric Haase type signing. Cross your fingers.
The fact that the Tigers front office could not trade Goodrum and Rogers to the Pirates just goes to show how inept they are!
Hire the Superfife! I need a job. You need someone in Japan. It’s a big move!