Detroit Tigers Rookie Pitcher Keider Montero Named American League Player of the Week
The Detroit Tigers find themselves just 1.5 games back of the third Wild Card seed in the American League with 11 games left on the season.
A big part of the Tigers' success this season, has been the pitching staff.
Entering Tuesday with a team ERA of 3.65 on the season, Detroit ranks third in the metric, behind only the Seattle Mariners (3.50) and the Atlanta Braves (3.55).
While rookie pitcher Keider Montero has not been the best pitcher on the staff, he showed last week that he is more than capable of holding down a spot in the rotation with two strong starts.
The first came on September 10th when the rookie would throw his first complete game shutout, accomplishing the feat while only needing 96 pitches.
The second came five days later, seeing Montero in another scoreless outing, this time only five innings, and picking up his second win of the week and sixth of the season.
After 14 innings of scoreless baseball, two wins, and a 0.64 WHIP, Montero was named the American League Player of the Week.
Congratulations to Keider Montero, your AL Player of the Week! 👏 pic.twitter.com/92XXXa7QX7
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) September 16, 2024
Montero, 24, signed with the Tigers as an International Free Agent on August 16th, 2016.
The young right-hander would rise through the minors carrying a 4.19 ERA across 481 2/3 innings in 119 games (106 starts) with 504 strikeouts and a 1.433 WHIP.
According to MLB Pipeline, Montero entered the 2024 season as Detroit's ninth-ranked prospect with Jason Beck praising the starter's development.
"By adding fastball command to his nasty duet of high-spin breaking pitches," writes Beck, "he became a highly-rated starter."
Montero's repertoire includes a four-seam fastball, a slider, a knuckle curve, a changeup, and a sinker.
He leans heavily on his four-seam fastball, throwing it 42.6 percent of the time, but his slider and sinker grade out as his two best pitches per Baseball Savant, each worth two runs.
In the complete game shutout, Montero's command was on full display.
Of his 96 pitches, the rookie generated 17 whiffs and 13 called strikes for a CSW rate of 31 percent.
For the season, the young right-hander has pitched to a 4.60 ERA across 88 innings in 16 games (15 starts) with 66 strikeouts and an 89 ERA+.
The Tigers are hopeful that Montero can build on the success that he had last week, leading to the American League Player of the Week award, and help the team in their final push for a playoff berth.
TROY BROCK