The Tigers have claimed righty Johnny Barbato off waivers from the Pirates, the teams announced and Robert Murray of Fan Rag first tweeted. He was designated recently by Pittsburgh when the club claimed fellow righty Shane Carle.
Barbato, 25, saw 28 2/3 innings of action in 2017, managing a 4.08 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 5.7 BB/9. Needless to say, that walk tally will need to go down if Barbato hopes to succeed in the majors. He has never shown major control issues in the minors, though, and he did demonstrate a 94+ mph fastball and average (for a reliever) 11.3% swinging-strike rate.
Bob Knob
Good pick-up !
GoRockies
Tigers #2 starter
MLBTRS
Stop exaggerating. He’s only a #3
tigerdoc616
He is a reliever
Eat'EmUpTigers
*woosh*
largeunit
Right? idk where these guys are getting the idea that he’s a #2, #3, or even a starter at all seeing as though he hasn’t pitched in that capacity since his initial season in pro ball, and hasn’t thrown more than 88 innings during any year since.
MLBTRS
*woosh*, *woosh*
WARrior
Fulmer will be a solid #2 behind Barbato’s once-in-a-generation arm
tigergreg
The Al Avila hits just keep on coming!
luvbeisbol
Yeah well a 108 loss team will have many available innings
Molecricket23
Nice! Met his sisters at Spring Training.. smoke shows!!! Great family. He can throw a little bit as well. Good pickup for the Tigers. Should be in the bullpen freezing his ass off opening day against Pit.
YankeesBillsNets305
This is the true scouting report that we need lol
neworleanstaints
He’s from Barbados.
Second best pitcher on the Tigers already. Good pickup for them. Got a #2 starter just like that.
Eat'EmUpTigers
He can’t be any worse then what I’ve seen with Bruce Rondon the past 5 years. Plus Barbado doesn’t look like he spends his off seasons hanging out at Old Country Buffet like Rondon either. Bonus.
Rightout
I see lots of walks from Mr Barbato in the future,,,another great avilia move…not
Phillies2017
It’s a waiver claim. They have priority, might as well use it.