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Casey Mize Shut Down From Throwing Due To Continued Elbow Soreness

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The Tigers are shutting down Casey Mize from his throwing program, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Jason Beck of MLB.com). The right-hander, who has been out since mid-April due to a sprained medial ligament in his elbow, had been experiencing continued soreness while throwing from 90 feet at flat ground.

Hinch indicated Mize was headed for further medical evaluation, although there’s no indication a surgical procedure is under consideration at this point. The medial ligament is not one that typically serves as a precursor to Tommy John surgeries, and the organization has maintained optimism thus far that he’d be able to rehab from the issue without going under the knife. Mize has experienced multiple setbacks during a recovery process that has already dragged longer than the team initially anticipated, however.

That’s no doubt frustrating to both pitcher and team alike. The Tigers’ starting staff has been decimated by injury, one of the reasons the club has an underwhelming 21-33 record. Mize’s absence has loomed particularly large, as he made just two starts before the injury. That’s come on the heels of the former first overall pick tossing a team-leading 150 1/3 frames in 2021, when he pitched to a solid 3.71 ERA.

Mize, who turned 25 last month, is among the most important players in the organization. Detroit has built a good chunk of their rebuild on the young trio of Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning — whom they envision joining offseason signee Eduardo Rodríguez as the core of the long-term rotation. Skubal has had the breakout season for which Detroit has been hoping, working to a 2.15 ERA with a stellar 27% strikeout rate through his first ten starts. Mize and Manning, however, have both been on the IL since mid-April.

Manning, who’s dealing with shoulder soreness, was shut down from throwing himself late last month after a bout of biceps tendinitis arose during a minor league rehab stint. Hinch said today that doctors have cleared him to restart a throwing program (via Beck). It’s still not precisely clear when he might be able to embark on a new rehab assignment, but it’s positive news that Manning is again able to throw in any capacity after his recent setback.

Mize îs already on the 60-day injured list. Manning is on the 10-day IL, but his placement is retroactive to April 17. He’s likely to wind up transferred to the 60-day IL himself whenever the Tigers need a 40-man roster spot, as he certainly won’t be back on an MLB mound by the middle of June.

Matt Manning Shut Down From Rehab Assignment With Biceps Tendinitis

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The Tigers have pulled back Matt Manning from his minor league rehab stint after he was diagnosed with biceps tendinitis, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters last night (via Cody Stavenhagen of the Athletic and Jason Beck of MLB.com). Hinch didn’t provide a specific timetable for when the right-hander may again get back to the mound, but he noted it wouldn’t be for the “foreseeable future.”

Manning first landed on the injured list in mid-April due to shoulder inflammation. He went to Triple-A Toledo on May 8 to begin a rehab stint, seemingly positioning him to return by the end of the month. Manning was pulled early from a start with the Mud Hens last Thursday, but general manager Al Avila suggested afterwards that was unrelated to any arm soreness and instead because the 24-year-old felt light-headed.

The Tigers sent Manning back out with Toledo on Tuesday, suggesting they weren’t concerned about whatever caused his early departure last week. He made it through just 1 2/3 innings and issued a pair of walks — bringing his total to seven free passes in his last 7 2/3 Triple-A frames — before informing the team of his arm discomfort. After revealing the biceps issue, Manning now looks in line for a lengthy absence.

It’s the latest in a series of blows to the Detroit rotation, which has been decimated by injury. Of Detroit’s season-opening starting five, four — Manning, Casey Mize, Eduardo Rodríguez and Tyler Alexander — are on the IL. So is veteran Michael Pineda, who was expected to take Alexander’s spot at the back end after a few build-up outings in Toledo. Detroit entered the year knowing they’d be without Spencer Turnbull, who underwent Tommy John surgery last July and won’t be an option until the tail end of the season at the earliest.

That the Tigers still rank middle-of-the-pack with a 4.19 rotation ERA is fairly impressive — largely attributable to a breakout season from their lone healthy top starter, Tarik Skubal. Beyond Skubal, Detroit has been left turning things over to Alex Faedo, Beau Brieske and Elvin Rodríguez, while they’re in the process of stretching out Rony García from relief. That’s obviously not ideal, and when paired with an offense that has been largely ineffective, has led to a disappointing 16-28 start.

Manning, Mize and Skubal were each top prospects before they reached the big leagues, with the Tigers envisioning that trio anchoring their next contender. Mize had the best 2021 numbers of the group, while Skubal has emerged as one of the top arms in the American League this season. Manning has yet to have much success at the big league level. The 24-year-old posted a 5.80 ERA across 85 1/3 innings last year, and he’s been limited to two starts this season.

Hinch did offer a moderately encouraging update on Mize, who has also been down since mid-April with an elbow sprain. He’s hoping to begin a throwing program by next week (Stavenhagen link). Given that he hasn’t pitched in six weeks, the righty will certainly need some time to build up arm strength before heading out on a rehab stint of his own.

The timeline is clearer for top outfield prospect Riley Greene, whom Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press reports is set to begin a rehab assignment tonight with Low-A Lakeland. Viewed as a candidate to break camp with the club as the Opening Day center fielder, Greene instead suffered a foot fracture late in Spring Training. That has kept the former #5 overall pick on the injured list all season, but it seems he’s nearing a return. Greene has yet to make his big league debut, but Detroit’s sputtering lineup should afford him an opportunity fairly quickly after he works back into game shape.

Avila: Manning Exit Not Due To Injury

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12:54pm: Tigers fans can breathe a sigh of relief, it seems. General manager Al Avila tells reporters that Manning was lifted not because of an arm or shoulder injury but because he’d become increasingly light-headed and was not feeling well (Twitter link via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press). It’s not yet clear whether Manning will require an additional rehab appearance due to the fact that today’s was cut short.

11:46am: Tigers righty Matt Manning exited his minor league rehab assignment in the third inning with an apparent injury, tweets Jason Beck of MLB.com. The 24-year-old landed on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation back on April 20 and was making his third start of his minor league rehab stint. Manning, who’d already walked three through his first 2 1/3 frames, plunked Pirates shortstop Kevin Newman before a visit from the trainer that ended with his departure from the game.

There’s no formal word from the Tigers just yet, but further injury for Manning will only add to what’s been a snakebitten rotation in Detroit this year. The Tigers currently have Manning, Casey Mize, Tyler Alexander, Michael Pineda and Spencer Turnbull on the injured list. Turnbull was expected to miss the bulk of the 2022 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery last summer, but the other four are dealing with 2022 injuries — and they could soon be joined by free-agent signee Eduardo Rodriguez, who left yesterday’s start against the Rays in the first inning due to an injury to his left side. Manager AJ Hinch said yesterday that Rodriguez would likely require a trip to the injured list.

Manning was the ninth overall pick in the 2016 draft and, for years, has been viewed as a potential building block on the Tigers’ pitching staff. He was hit hard through 85 1/3 innings during his MLB debut last year, although the majority of his outings were solid in nature. Manning was blown up for six or more runs in four of his 18 starts en route to a 5.80 ERA, but he finished the year with a more palatable 4.43 ERA in his final five outings. He pitched to a 2.25 ERA with four strikeouts, no walks and a 52% grounder rate in eight innings this season but left his second start after two innings due to shoulder discomfort.

The Detroit rotation is in shambles at the moment, though lefty Tarik Skubal appears to be in the midst of a bona fide breakout. He’s being followed by former first-rounder Alex Faedo and rookie Beau Brieske, and it’s not clear just where the Tigers will turn beyond that trio. Long reliever Rony Garcia impressed in relief of Rodriguez yesterday, and the Tigers also have veteran Wily Peralta in a long relief role at the moment. Peralta was a valuable pickup for them last year, making 18 starts and pitching to a 3.07 ERA — albeit with shakier underlying numbers. Down in Triple-A, veteran Chase Anderson has pitched fairly well on a minor league deal, as have 24-year-old hurlers Joey Wentz and Elvin Rodriguez — both of whom are on the 40-man roster.

AL Central Notes: Kwan, Tigers, Funkhouser, Manning, Mize, Kirilloff

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The Guardians suffered a 10-2 defeat to the Yankees and also lost outfielder Steven Kwan to right hamstring tightness in the third inning.  Kwan started the game in left field and made his first two plate appearances before being replaced in the field in the bottom of the third.  Guardians manager Terry Francona told MLB.com’s Joe Trezza and other reporters that it was a “preventative” removal for Kwan, and that the outfielder is day-to-day.

Making his MLB debut on Opening Day, Kwan has been one of the season’s early stories, hitting a whopping .341/.456/.500 over his first 57 plate appearances.  Quite a bit of that production came in Kwan’s first five games, yet there is still plenty of hope that the rookie can stick as Cleveland’s everyday left fielder.  Depending on his hamstring’s status, however, Kwan might soon be making his first trip to the big league IL.  Kwan missed almost seven weeks of the 2021 Triple-A season while dealing with a strain of that same right hamstring.

More injury updates from around the AL Central…

  • Kyle Funkhouser has yet to pitch this season due to a right shoulder strain, and the Tigers moved him yesterday from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL.  “We’re trying to resolve the symptoms before we can progress more aggressively,” Hinch said.  “The timeline made it virtually impossible for him to be back prior to the 60 days,” manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including The Detroit News’ Chris McCosky).  Hinch also noted that Funkhouser is speaking with doctors about whether or not surgery could be required, so the reliever could be facing a much longer absence than just the minimum 60 days.
  • In other Tigers news, Hinch said that Casey Mize will be resuming his throwing program today at the team’s spring training facility in Lakeland.  Mize was placed on the 10-day IL on April 15 with a sprained MCL, though there were already early indications that the former first overall pick wouldn’t be out of action for too long, and that he has escaped a more serious injury.  Matt Manning is also headed to Lakeland but won’t yet begin throwing, as his right shoulder was still feeling some discomfort when Manning threw off flat ground yesterday.  Despite this update, Hinch said Manning didn’t have “a setback.  It’s nothing we are overly concerned about.  It’s just a slower ramp to playing catch before we get him back on the mound.”
  • Twins outfielder Alex Kirilloff is slated to begin a Triple-A rehab assignment on Tuesday, according to multiple reporters (including Betsy Helfand of The St. Paul Pioneer Press).  Right wrist inflammation sent Kirilloff to the injured list on April 13, so between the injury absence and a dismal 1-for-17 start to the season, Kirilloff will be looking for a reset once he returns to Minnesota’s lineup.  Most importantly, Kirilloff and the Twins hope that this is the end of his wrist problems, as the former top prospect also underwent ligament surgery last year.

Tigers Notes: Mize, Manning, Pineda

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The Tigers were dealt a couple scares in the rotation last week, with righties Casey Mize and Matt Manning both landing on the injured list due to arm issues. Mize suffered an MCL sprain in his throwing elbow, an ominous-sounding injury that seemed as if it could result in a long  absence. There’s still not much clarity on his timetable for return, but the most recent news on the 24-year-old has been promising.

In an appearance on MLB Network Radio yesterday, manager A.J. Hinch said initial results indicated they’d “avoided any sort of catastrophic occurrence” (relayed by Jason Beck of MLB.com). Mize himself addressed the matter this afternoon, saying he “(feels) good” because he’s “not having surgery and … going to pitch again soon” (via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press).

That Mize appears to have avoided a serious injury is obviously fantastic news for the club. The former first overall pick is an integral part of the organization’s present and future. That’s also true of Manning, himself a former top ten draftee and highly-regarded prospect. The 6’6″ hurler left his start over the weekend with shoulder discomfort. Detroit placed him on the injured list due to inflammation this afternoon, but Hinch didn’t sound particularly concerned. The manager said Manning is hoping to resume throwing as soon as this weekend (Beck link), suggesting his stay on the IL could be brief.

Even if Manning returns in short order, the Tigers will be down a couple starters through an ongoing stretch of six consecutive games without an off-day. In response, Detroit announced tonight they’re recalling veteran Michael Pineda to make his season debut tomorrow afternoon against the Yankees. Signed to a $5.5MM guarantee in Spring Training, Pineda consented to be optioned to open the year after being delayed in reporting to camp by visa issues.

The hope had been for the big righty to start three games with Triple-A Toledo before being called up, but he’ll be pressed into action after two minor league appearances by the injuries to Mize and Manning. Now that he’s in the majors again, Pineda figures to take the ball every fifth day as a regular member of the rotation. Once Mize and Manning return, Tyler Alexander would likely be bumped into a long relief role — assuming the club avoids intervening injuries.

Tigers Place Matt Manning On Injured List, Recall Angel De Jesus

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The Tigers announced this afternoon that right-hander Matt Manning has been placed on the injured list, retroactive to April 17th, with right shoulder inflammation. Fellow right-hander Angel De Jesus was recalled in a corresponding move.

Manning had been pulled from his most recent start with discomfort in this throwing shoulder. A few days later, manager AJ Hinch provided an encouraging update, saying that the news from further testing was “as positive as it could be” and that there was no structural damage. Despite that good news, the club is going to let Manning sit for a few days and rest his arm.

The club had an off-day on the 18th and has another coming up on the 25th, meaning that it’s possible Manning will only miss one start. After two starts this year, he has a 2.25 ERA in eight innings. He only has four strikeouts in that time but hasn’t allowed a single walk yet. The 24-year-old is looking to build off of a rookie campaign last year where he threw 85 1/3 innings of 5.80 ERA ball.

As for De Jesus, he was selected to the 40-man roster in November to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, which was later canceled after the lockout. As soon as he gets into a game, he will be making his MLB debut. The 25-year-old has already thrown four innings in Triple-A this year, allowing three earned runs, with five strikeouts against no walks.

Hinch: No Structural Damage In Matt Manning’s Shoulder

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April 19: Manager AJ Hinch said in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM this morning that Manning’s initial diagnosis is “as positive as it could be” (Twitter link via Jason Beck of MLB.com). Imaging revealed that Manning is dealing with inflammation and some tendinitis, but the shoulder appears to be structurally sound. The Tigers have not determined whether Manning will make his next start but surely breathed a sigh relief nevertheless upon learning that there’s no major damage.

April 16: The Tigers have dealt with more than their share of injuries in this young season, and they may have suffered another today. Matt Manning was pulled early from his start with right shoulder discomfort, the team announced. This comes just a day after fellow young starter Casey Mize was placed on the injured list with a sprained MCL.

Beyond their young starters, the Tigers already began the season without Riley Greene, one of the top prospects in the game. Only recently, offseason acquisition Javier Baez was also placed on the injured list.

Manning and Mize together represent one of the primary reasons the Tigers are viewed by many as a team to watch this season. Losing both this early in the season would be a gut punch. Not to mention, they are already without Spencer Turnbull, whose career was on the upswing before Tommy John surgery knocked him out of commission.

As for Manning himself, the 24-year-old former ninth overall pick made 18 starts last season, putting down a a 5.80 ERA/4.62 FIP over 85 1/3 innings. Today was just his second start of the young season, having tossed six innings of one-run baseball in his season debut against the Red Sox.

For today at least, Drew Hutchison stepped in for Manning, tossing three scoreless innings of one-hit relief. Hutchison could be a candidate to stay in the rotation, should Manning require a stint on the injured list. Michael Pineda is already expected to join the rotation in Mize’s place. The 31-year-old Hutchison is in his second season with the Tigers. He notched a 2.11 ERA over 21 1/3 innings last season in what was his first big league action since 2018.

Tigers Option Matt Manning, Reinstate Derek Holland From Injured List

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The Tigers optioned right-hander Matt Manning to Triple-A after last night’s ballgame, the team announced. The move makes room for Derek Holland, who will be reinstated from the 10-day injured list.

Manning has been one of the Tigers’ top prospects since he was taken ninth overall in the 2016 draft. Along with Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal, Manning figures heavily into the Tigers’ rebuilding strategy. The Tigers have long been a pitching forward organization, of course, but it’s only now that all three of their highly-touted arms have begun to arrive in Motor City. With five starts this season, Manning is the last of the three to make his Major League debut.

Like Mize and Skubal, Manning’s early results have been relatively underwhelming. The 23-year-old has a 6.95 ERA/5.36 FIP through 22 innings with a solid 7.9 percent walk rate, but subpar 8.9 percent strikeout rate. It’s early to judge Manning, of course, and he put forth arguably his best effort yet on Friday night against the Twins, tossing five innings and yielding two earned runs on two hits and three walks while striking out three. The move makes sense at this juncture, however, as the Tigers won’t need a fifth starter for the foreseeable future with the All-Star break beginning Monday.

Thus far, Manning has presented a relatively diverse arsenal, fronted by 93.3 mph four-seamer, thrown 62.0 percent of the time. He compliments the heater primarily with a change-up to lefties and a slider to righties, occasionally mixing in a change-of-pace, looping curveball, clocking in at 78.3 mph.

The slider-forward approach is one that we’ve seen many Tigers’ hurlers take this season, with Mize and Skubal also showing increased reliance on the slider, as noted here and here by Timothy Jackson of Baseball Prospectus. Ace Spencer Turnbull, too, had increased his slider usage from 20.9 percent to 24.5 percent this year prior to being injured.

A flyball-heavy approach has left Manning somewhat prone to the long ball this season, especially in Triple-A  where he was tagged with a 27.5 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate. While that number is astronomically high and sure to regress to the mean somewhat, he was tagged for three more home runs in the Majors, amounting to a 3.0 percent home run rate – right around the league-average rate.

As for the 34-year-old Holland, he will rejoin the Tigers bullpen. The veteran southpaw has 14 appearances on the season totaling 15 innings of work with a unsightly 9.60 ERA. ERA indicators — 4.01 SIERA, 4.04 FIP — are far more complimentary of Holland’s contribution, however. The difference could be due to a .426 BABIP that’s well above both the league-wide average of .297 and his own career average mark of .299.

Holland has been a touch wild, with an 11.5 percent walk rate, despite a career best 74.4 percent first pitch strike percentage. To his credit, as he’s gotten ahead in counts, Holland has struck out 25.6 percent of batters, a strong mark just above the league average for relievers.

Holland has been on the injured list since June 10th with shoulder inflammation. It was his second stint on the IL so far this season. Formerly of the Rangers, White Sox, Cubs, Giants and Pirates, the journeyman joined the Tigers on a minor league deal this offseason and made the team out of spring training.

Tigers’ Matt Manning To Make MLB Debut Thursday; Matthew Boyd To IL

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The Tigers announced a series of roster moves today, the most exciting of which is the planned MLB debut of acclaimed pitching prospect Matt Manning.  Manning, 23, will start Thursday night in Anaheim against the Angels.  Additionally, pitchers Matthew Boyd and Alex Lange hit the IL, Wily Peralta and Miguel Del Pozo had their contracts selected, and Jeimer Candelario was reinstated from the IL.

Manning was drafted ninth overall by the Tigers in 2016 out of high school.  Prior to the season, Baseball America ranked Manning as the 33rd-best prospect in the game.  The COVID-19 pandemic deprived Manning and many others of a minor league season in 2020, and he also dealt with a right forearm strain.   Manning made his Triple-A debut on May 4th of this year.  He’s scuffled to an 8.07 ERA in seven starts, with more than 27% of his flyballs leaving the yard.  Still, Manning’s last outing was solid, and he retains “frontline starter potential” according to Baseball America.  He’ll get a tough assignment, going up against Shohei Ohtani.

Boyd, 30, exited Monday’s start due to an arm injury that Tigers manager A.J. Hinch described today as “more toward the elbow.”  Through 13 starts, he was experiencing a resurgent season with a 3.44 ERA in 70 2/3 frames.  With a strikeout rate of just 18.8%, Boyd is likely still a 4.50 ERA type pitcher whose flyballs happened to stay in the yard over a brief sample.  Still, he’s under team control through 2022 as an arbitration eligible player and should be a solid late July trade candidate if the injury turns out to be minor.  Boyd joins rotation-mate Spencer Turnbull on the IL.

Lange, a 25-year-old rookie reliever, struggled to the tune of a 7.31 ERA over 18 fairly low-leverage outings before hitting the IL with a shoulder strain.  He was rated as a 40-grade prospect by Baseball America prior to the season.

Peralta and Del Pozo will be new additions to the Tigers’ 40-man roster.  One such spot was opened with the transferring of Rony Garcia to the 60-day IL.  Peralta, 32, joined the Tigers on a minor league deal back in February.  He was once a productive member of the Brewers’ rotation, peaking with a 3.53 ERA in 198 2/3 innings back in 2014.  He managed to give the Mud Hens six mostly solid but brief outings and is an option to take Boyd’s spot Saturday in Anaheim, Hinch told reporters.

Del Pozo has 13 big league innings to his name.  The 28-year-old southpaw inked a minor league deal with the Tigers back in January.  He’s been dominant in a dozen Triple-A relief outings, punching out 34.7% of batters faced and walking only 6.1%.

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.

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