Tigers Starting Rotation Depth Impresses During Spring Training
With spring training wrapping up for the Detroit Tigers, the franchise is set out to replicate their success from 2024 this year.
It was a fantastic campaign for the Tigers last season. The franchise was able to snap a lengthy postseason drought and even won a playoff series.
However, despite the success, Detroit went about things in an unconventional way down the stretch. Manager A.J. Hinch did an excellent job piecing together the starting rotation after Tarik Skubal and used his bullpen wonderfully over the last six weeks of the year.
It was not a conventional way that the team went about finding success, but it worked for a short period of time and was enough to get them within a game of the American League Championship Series.
This winter, the organization did a really nice job adding depth to the franchise, especially in the starting rotation. Even though the results from last season were great, the Tigers are a much better team on paper this coming year.
Jason Beck of MLB.com recently spoke about the biggest takeaway from spring training for the Tigers being the new-found depth in their starting rotation.
“While the top of the rotation is clearly a strength with AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal and re-acquired Jack Flaherty, the contest for the final two spots showed vast improvement.”
Easily one of the biggest takeaways from the spring was the new-found depth of the starting rotation.
This was a unit that was pretty barren in the postseason last year. After Tarik Skubal, there really wasn’t much else, but it will be a far different story this campaign.
Heading into 2025, the rotation will feature Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Reese Olson, Casey Mize, and Jackson Jobe. Furthermore, with Keider Montero and Alex Cobb also in the organization, depth is certainly a strength.
Now, while depth is important in the rotation over the course of a long campaign, they also have the potential to have some members of the rotation take a step forward.
Skubal and Flaherty will be the top two in the front-end of the rotation, but Jobe could be in the conversation for the American League Rookie of the Year award. Furthermore, both Mize and Olson have flashed promise as well.
This is really a nice mix of veteran talent and young, developing arms. The Tigers' rotation is not only built to win-now, but also to potentially sustain success for years to come.
Even though last year was a great campaign, the depth of the rotation should help make the regular season a bit easier to navigate this season for Detroit.
