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Alex Faedo

Tigers Prospect Alex Faedo To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Tigers right-hander Alex Faedo will undergo UCL surgery later this month, as per a statement released by the team.  As per the usual timeline for Tommy John procedures, Faedo will miss the entire 2021 season but should be ready by Opening Day 2022.

Faedo has a 3.96 ERA, 4.07 K/BB rate, and 9.3 K/9 over 236 1/3 innings in Detroit’s farm system, moving from high-A ball to Double-A in 2018 and then spending all of 2019 with Double-A Erie.  Any thought that Faedo could skip Triple-A and make his Major League debut in 2020 was first hampered when a positive COVID-19 diagnosis kept him out of Summer Camp, and then Faedo was shut down due to a forearm strain in August.

The 18th overall pick of the 2017 draft, Faedo drew some top-60 prospect attention in analyst rankings but his first pro season somewhat lowered his stock.  MLB Pipeline’s scouting report explains that Faedo had a drop in fastball velocity and his slider (arguably his best pitch) lost effectiveness, though both pitches looked better during the 2019 season.

Both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America ranked Faedo as the tenth-best prospect in a pitching-heavy Tigers farm system.  The development of such young arms as Matt Manning, Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, Joey Wentz, and Faedo has been a key element of Detroit’s rebuilding process, and Mize and Skubal both made their MLB debuts this past season.  Given Faedo’s diagnosis, there is bound to be renewed concern over Manning, who was also shut down with a forearm strain over the summer.  At last word back in October, however, Manning had recovered.

Tigers Select Matt Manning, Three Others

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The Tigers announced that they’ve selected the contracts of right-handers Matt Manning, Alex Faedo, Alex Lange and left-hander Joey Wentz in advance of tonight’s deadline to protect players from the 2020 Rule 5 Draft.

All four players were top 40 picks in their respective draft classes — Manning and Wentz in 2016, Faedo and Lange in 2017. Manning went ninth overall to the Tigers back in ’16 and stands out not only as one of the organization’s best prospects but one of the best prospects in all of baseball. He checks in at No. 15 on Baseball America’s Top 100 list, No. 18 at FanGraphs and No. 20 at MLB.com.

There was some thought that the 22-year-old Manning might even make his Major League debut for the Tigers in 2020, although that didn’t come to pass. He spent the 2019 season with Detroit’s Double-A affiliate in Erie, where he pitched to a 2.56 ERA with 10.0 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 through 133 2/3 frames and is viewed as a potential top-of-the-rotation piece alongside fellow top prospect Casey Mize.

Both the 25-year-old Faedo and the 23-year-old Wentz factor prominently into the organization’s prospect rankings, though neither is thought to have the same ceiling as that of Manning, Mize or southpaw Tarik Skubal. Still, both are viewed as near-MLB prospects who could fill spots in the middle or back of a rotation. Wentz, acquired from the Braves in the trade that sent Shane Greene from Detroit to Atlanta, will be further off by virtue of the fact that he is on the mend from 2020 Tommy John surgery.

The Tigers picked up Lange, 25, in the trade that sent Nick Castellanos to the Cubs back in 2019. He’s a bit further off than Faedo despite being the same age, as he has just 54 2/3 frames at the Double-A level under his belt and has shown some control issues while pitching there. Still, it’s conceivable that any of Manning, Faedo or Lange could make their big league debuts next season, depending on their progress in the upper minors and on the state of the Detroit rotation. This quartet, paired with the aforementioned Mize, Skubal and righty Franklin Perez, represents but a portion of the deep reservoir of talented young arms the Tigers have stockpiled to this point in their rebuilding efforts.

Tigers Shut Down Matt Manning, Alex Faedo

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The Tigers have shut down pitching prospects Matt Manning and Alex Faedo for the remainder of the season, GM Al Avila announced to reporters (including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News).  Both right-handers have been diagnosed with right forearm strains, though Avila emphasized that four different specialists examined the pair to ensure that there was not a more severe injury at play.

“We wanted to be super cautious,” Avila said. “We just wanted to be sure we were right in our assessment, that it was not going to be a big deal and we were prescribing the right course of rehab.”

With Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal already making their MLB debuts this season, bringing Manning and Faedo up to the active roster would have given Detroit fans an early preview of what the Tigers hope will be their rotation core for the next decade.  Even before the forearm problems, however, Faedo missed the Tigers’ summer camp due to COVID-19, and McCosky notes that Manning was dealing with mechanical issues both in summer camp and dating all the way back to Spring Training.

In terms of who could replace Manning and Faedo in the 60-man player pool, Avila said the club is “looking at adding prospects from within the organization,” though “we do have a list of players outside the organization who, if we needed to in an emergency go out and sign.”  Avila didn’t mention the possibility of a trade, though since the 13-16 Tigers are only two games out of a wild card berth, it isn’t out of the question that the club could make an addition before the trade deadline.

AL Central Notes: Boyd, Indians, Mize, Sox, Cease

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Matthew Boyd elevated his stock considerably with a strong start to the season and a heavier reliance on four-seamers and sliders, and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic recently took a look at whether the Tigers might be open to trading the 28-year-old lefty. While the rebuilding Detroit club likely isn’t in a position to wholly refuse offers on virtually anyone on the roster, the Tigers do have a preference if they’re to move Boyd, Rosenthal reports. Given the glut of young pitching in the upper minors, the team’s ideal trade package for Boyd would center around a controllable young hitter with substantial upside. The Tigers needn’t feel compelled to move Boyd either this summer or even in the 2019-20 offseason, as he’s still controlled for another three seasons, but his improvements thus far appear more legitimate than many early-season, small-sample success stories. It’s easy to imagine that he’s already more appealing to other clubs than he was a month ago, and even if the Tigers ultimately hang onto him, Boyd will surely be one of the most sought-after arms in the game this summer if he maintains his early output.

Here’s more from the American League Central…

  • Right-hander Casey Mize, the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft, tossed a no-hitter in his Double-A debut following a midweek promotion, but the Tigers aren’t planning to accelerate his timeline to the Major Leagues based on that dominant effort, per Chris McCosky of the Detroit News. “[General manager Al Avila] has told me, ’Don’t even look at them,'” manager Ron Gardenhire tells McCosky of Mize and fellow top pitching prospects Matt Manning and Alex Faedo. “So, I am happy they’re doing well, but they are not in my thoughts.” Both Avila and assistant GM David Chadd were present to watch Mize’s one-walk, no-hitter live and will watch Faedo an Manning this week as well. However, McCosky notes that the pair isn’t getting live looks at those young arms with an eye toward a near-term promotion. Faedo has just 89 innings above A-ball, while Manning has just 39 1/3.
  • The Indians left themselves little margin for error this past offseason and are now paying the price, writes Zack Meisel of The Athletic (subscription required). Cleveland pinned its hopes on a dominant rotation but is already down Mike Clevinger and Corey Kluber. While the former is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a teres major strain, he can’t be activated until June 7 given his placement on the 60-day injured list, and there’s no timeline yet for the latter. As far as in-house alternatives, Adam Plutko is still working his way back from a forearm issue, leaving Jefry Rodriguez as the de facto fourth starter and a collection of question marks behind him in the fifth slot. Chih-Wei Hu and non-roster journeyman Asher Wojciechowski are perhaps the likeliest fifth options for an Indians club that currently faces a three-game deficit in the division.
  • Although Tommy John surgery is “on the table” as an option for injured White Sox left-hander Carlos Rodon, his health won’t impact top prospect Dylan Cease’s timeline to the big leagues, general manager Rick Hahn told reporters Thursday (link via LaMond Pope of the Chicago Tribune). “[N]o one is going to be promoted to Chicago simply because there’s a need in Chicago,” said Hahn, stressing that Cease or any other prospect will only be promoted when the player’s development dictates a promotion. “(Cease’s) timeline is not in any way affected by anything that happens with Carlos. It’s only going to be affected by what happens with (Cease).” The 23-year-old Cease, who entered the year as a consensus Top 50 prospect in the game, has done a good job making an early case for a big league debut. Through 24 1/3 innings at Triple-A, he’s pitched to a 3.33 ERA with a 30-to-7 K/BB ratio and a 55.1 percent ground-ball rate.

Tigers Sign First-Rounder Alex Faedo

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WEDNESDAY: Faedo’s deal is an above-slot arrangement worth $3.5MM, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman.

TUESDAY: The Tigers have signed first-round draft pick Alex Faedo, MLBPipeline.com’s Jonathan Mayo reports (Twitter link).  Financial terms aren’t yet known, though the 18th overall pick carries a slot value of $3,214,600.  Tony Paul of the Detroit News reported yesterday that Faedo was in Detroit and intended to sign his first pro contract, likely after taking a physical and finalizing any pending financial details.

Faedo is a 21-year-old right-hander out of the University of Florida.  He was rated as the 10th-best prospect in this year’s draft class by Baseball America, with MLB.com (11th), Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen (13th) and ESPN’s Keith Law (27th) also giving him high grades.  Law’s slightly-less-optimistic report notes that Faedo lacked showed an over-reliance on a slider and lacked command, making him a question mark as a future starting pitcher.

Faedo did have minor surgery on both knees last fall, however, which could explain his somewhat modest results this season.  The BA and MLB.com scouting reports note that Faedo’s fastball, slider and changeup have all gotten generally good reviews from scouts, with his fastball reaching 93mph regularly and touching 95mph this spring once Faedo seemed more fully healthy.

The Tigers have worked out deals with the rest of their top-10 draft picks, as per MLB.com’s DraftTracker.

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