Former Top Detroit Tigers Prospect Claimed by Pirates After Surprise DFA
Coming down the final stretch of the year, the Detroit Tigers have fully embraced playing their young players to see what they can do at the Major League level.
So far, it's gone better than anyone could have imagined as they were one of the hottest clubs in the league during the month of August. Their roster full of past and present top prospects have generated the most exciting stretch of baseball this team has produced throughout the season.
As the Tigers finish the year, the front office has to make some decisions about who they want to evaluate before heading into the offseason with the aim of upgrading certain positions.
With that comes some tough decisions about who to option or designate for assignment.
A casualty of this was Joey Wentz, one of Detroit's former top prospects when they acquired him ahead of the trade deadline back in 2019 from the Atlanta Braves.
Ranked within the top 10 of their pipeline for two years, and then inside the top 15 before making his Major League debut in 2022, the left-hander put together an impressive first seven starts of his career with the Tigers when he posted a 3.03 ERA.
Unfortunately, that was the highlight of his tenure with Detroit.
Last year, Wentz had a 3-13 record across his 25 outings and 19 starts that saw him post a 6.90 ERA where he gave up an opponent's batting average of .298 over 105.2 innings pitched.
When he continued to struggle this season, the Tigers ultimately made the surprising decision to designate the former top prospect for assignment that opened themselves up to the possibility another team could claim him.
That's exactly what happened.
According to his player profile page, the Pittsburgh Pirates have claimed him off waivers. They will move Wentz to their active roster since he is out of options.
It will be interesting to see if he can get his career back on track with the Pirates, but clearly Detroit felt it was better they looked in a different direction.
BRAD WAKAI