The Tigers have signed right-hander Jordan Balazovic to a minor league deal, according to Just Baseball Media’s Aram Leighton. Balazovic returns to North American baseball after a brief stint with the Doosan Bears of the KBO League, as Balazovic signed with the Bears after he was released by the Twins last July.
A fifth-round pick for Minnesota in the 2016 draft, Balazovic earned some looks at the back of top-100 prospect lists during his climb up the ladder of the Twins’ farm system. However, most of his success happened in the lower rungs of the ladder, as Balazovic has a 6.35 ERA in 151 2/3 career innings of Triple-A ball. Despite those struggles, the Twins gave him a look at the big league level in 2023, and Balazovic posted a 4.44 ERA, 15.7% strikeout rate, and 11.1% walk rate across his first 24 1/3 innings in the Show.
The Twins opted to designate Balazovic for assignment last February and then released him, though he was quickly re-signed to another minor league contract. More struggles at Triple-A led to Balazovic being released again so he could pursue his opportunity in South Korea, and Balazovic had a 4.26 ERA and a strong 27.6% strikeout rate in 57 innings with the Bears, starting 11 of his 12 games.
Balazovic still had an 11.2% walk rate with the Bears, which is a bit higher than his 9.01% career walk rate in the minors. His control worsened as Balazovic faced higher levels of competition in the minors, while his strikeout and grounder rates were generally pretty solid, albeit with some variance within the small sample sizes of bouncing to different minor league levels.
Balazovic is only 26, so there’s logic in the Tigers taking a flier on a former notable prospect to see if another change of scenery helps the right-hander unlock any potential. Detroit has also signed the likes of Matt Gage, Brendan White, and Ryan Miller to minors deals in recent days, as the Tigers are lining up some depth arms to evaluate in spring camp. These types of signings are common practice for any team, of course, and won’t preclude Detroit from taking a run at bigger-name bullpen options like reported target Kirby Yates.
Sign a middle of the order bat already. How can you build minor league depth before filling the holes on your roster?
Is that .. is that a serious question?
Seems like they are waiting on Bregman or seeing who misses out on a big contract (Alonso?). The cupboard will be bare if they wait too long.
The Tigers are very far away from just needing just one or two aging veterans to becoming long term serious contenders. Most of their homegrown base is still being developed.
They made the playoffs and beat Houston with what they have right now. Adding even one veteran bat like Bregman, Diaz, Kim…someone at a higher level than what they added last year, should make them even better in theory. Add to that the continued development of the in house players like Greene, Keith, Meadows, Dingler, Carp, Malloy and all their young pitchers. SS, 3B and 1B are still questions marks for various reasons but all have young players who can potentially contribute this year (Tork, Jung, Sweeney). The farm (recently rated #1 by one outlet) has young bats like Lee, McGonigle and Clark who will arrive to supplement the offence next year or the year after and fill more holes. And then there is Jobe who is a stud and more pitching coming behind him.
How are they not long term serious contenders?
I created a study around 2006. I calculated the average age of players since 1876 that a player performs well before he declines. There are anomalies but, the average age of 32 hasn’t increased over time.
That is very interesting and rings true. Bregman scares me in a long term deal for just that reason.
Aram mentioned
The Tigers are having a remarkable offseason as the hits just keep on coming…for Toledo at least!!!
Embarrassing off season…Oakland As of the mid west now….Mile Ilitch would be ashamed if he was still alive.
Still tons of time left and lots of options for signings Bregman, Kim, Alonso, Sasaki, Flaherty, Verlander and trades Baty, Diaz, Luis Castillo.
Tigers & Mariners still waiting to make their first big splash of the offseason. …who will make the first move?? I’m going to start to get cynical and letting the epithets fly if there is still no action by Valentine’s Day.
Agreed. I will eat all my kids Valentines day candy and blame Scott Harris and Gerry Dipoto. My q2 year old daughter is like a raccoon on meth when it comes to candy and will hunt them down! Sign those bats boys.
mid
AL Central is going to belong to the KC Royals.
I really don’t have much faith that Detroit will improve their major league roster. Their PR department will try to sell tickets based on the Tigers’ playoff run from 2024.
Why wouldn’t they sell tickets based on their playoff run in 2024?
You’d be total trash as a PR department head with that silly logic.
Reckless spending is not a solution; it didn’t work for Mike Illitch and hopefully his son is smarter and learns from those previous mistakes.
No one’s arguing for reckless spending. We just want to spend a little to supplement the core.
They need to spend wisely and timing is part of that tactic.
I’d like to see a big name too but i also understand that they can not overpay for one.
The team is trending in the right direction without having to lose our minor league talent in the process or break the bank.
So your suggestion is to keep adding minor league depth and hope that the Tigers’ August and September were not a mirage? (BTW….would signing a Bregman or Burnes be considered “reckless spending”…considering they’d fill weak spots on the roster?)
I agree with all three of you. They need to add to the core and fill positions of need but they to avoid another Baez debacle. They have to make sure it’s the right player, at the right price and contract length to balance current needs with future needs. If they are unsure about Tork then get a 1B like Diaz who could get ABs at 1B, 3B and DH while still allowing Tork (and Malloy for that matter) to get ABs and not blocking the future in Bruceno or Liranzo vs an expensive contract fior Alonso. Same idea at 3B…do you go big and get Bregman thereby blocking Jung, or get a Swiss army knife like Kim to share time and as a backup plan for SS when Baez implodes again.
I don’t think they are done adding to their position players, just waiting out the market. Just hope they don’t wait too long.
I didn’t make a suggestion other than hoping the son will not go down the same path of failure as his father did.
Perhaps re-read what i posted and then comment… no need to fabricate anything.
“”The team is trending in the right direction without having to lose our minor league talent in the process or break the bank.””
*Hard to walk*….I took this as your ‘suggestion’, or your point of view. I was responding to what I perceived as your ‘suggested” path for Detroit.
Well said.
Lol. Season doesn’t start for another 3 months. We’re not done yet, I promise. Reaching the playoffs didn’t earn Harris a little trust? Even a tiny bit?
Another BIG dude.
So, say the Tigers’ hire the Superfife; utilizing his silver tongue, persuasive speech and impeccable logic – the Superfife talks Bregman, Hernandez, Profar and Santander into taking one year contracts with extensions = WHO GETS KNOCKED OFF THE 40?
REMEMBER- This isn’t just paperwork – the Tigers have many years of time, money and effort invested in some of these guys…..
Who do you cut? That’s just on the position players side. The same issue exists for pitching.
Be patient, there are several bats available…they are letting the market work itself out
I can foresee Bregman being unsigned going into the season. I won’t be surprised if Alonso ends up with just a 1 year deal.
Where do I sign up for playoff tickets ?