Casey Mize

Health Notes: Mize, Buxton, Astros, D-backs, M’s

By Connor Byrne | June 15, 2019 at 12:29am CDT

On Friday, one day after Casey Mize left his Double-A start early, the Tigers placed the prized right-hander on the minor league injured list with inflammation in his pitching shoulder. Any shoulder injury for a pitcher obviously isn’t an ideal outcome, but it seems Mize and the Tigers dodged a bullet in this instance. Mize, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft and one of the majors’ elite prospects, had been utterly dominant in the minors this season before going on the IL. Between the High-A and Double-A levels, the 22-year-old has logged 78 innings of 0.92 ERA pitching with 8.7 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9.

Now for some major league health updates…

Center fielder Byron Buxton exited the Twins’ game Friday after taking a pitch off the right wrist from Royals starter Brad Keller. Luckily for Buxton and the Twins, though, he avoided a serious injury, La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune reports. “Byron’s doing fine. Wrist contusion,” said manager Rocco Baldelli, who added it’s “pretty positive news.” The 25-year-old Buxton looks to be on track for a career season, having hit .266/.324/.527 (120 wRC+) with nine home runs, 10 steals and 2.2 fWAR in 227 plate appearances.
Speaking of center fielders in fine form, the Astros’ Jake Marisnick departed their game Friday with left knee discomfort, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports. It’s unclear whether the issue will force the Astros to send yet another player to the IL. Marisnick, 28, has paired above-average offense with his usual excellent defense en route to 1.3 fWAR in 156 trips to the plate this year.
An MRI on Diamondbacks righty Jon Duplantier’s shoulder confirmed he’s dealing with inflammation, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com tweets. Like Mize, it seems Duplantier has avoided a catastrophic injury. The D-backs placed the 24-year-old on the IL on Wednesday, cutting off an encouraging start to his career. Duplantier has pitched to a 4.32 ERA/3.83 FIP with 8.64 K/9 and 3.24 BB/9 in 25 innings (eight appearances, three starts).
The Mariners reinstated shortstop J.P. Crawford from the IL on Friday and placed reliever Brandon Brennan on the IL with a strained right shoulder, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Crawford had been out since suffering a left ankle sprain May 28. The injury to Brennan continues what has been a shaky season for the 2018 Rule 5 pick from the Rockies. Brennan leads Mariners relievers in innings (34) and has posted 9.26 K/9 with a 55.4 percent groundball rate, but a high walk rate (5.29 BB/9) has helped produce a 5.56 ERA/4.39 FIP.

AL Central Notes: Mize, Indians, Pineda

By Steve Adams | June 14, 2019 at 8:56am CDT

Tigers fans are holding their collective breaths as top prospect Casey Mize, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft, exited last night’s Double-A start with an apparent injury (link via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). After a third-inning pitch — a fastball that was clocked at 85-86 mph, per Tom Reisenweber of the Erie Times-News (Twitter link) — catcher Kade Scivicque went to the mound and called out the training staff and skipper Mike Rabelo. Mize departed the game at that point. There’s been no formal update on his condition, though Mike Drago of the Reading Eagle tweets that Mize didn’t have his elbow or shoulder wrapped upon leaving the clubhouse and lifted his own bags onto the team’s bus — none of which seem indicative of a major injury. Presumably, the Tigers will have further updates on Mize in the near future.

Here’s more from the division…

The Indians are facing an 11-game deficit in the AL Central, and MLB.com’s Jon Morosi suggests that the team won’t act as an aggressive buyer this summer unless it feels there’s a real chance at winning the division. That’s become increasingly clear in recent weeks. As the gap in the AL Central has grown, so too have rumors about the potential availability of coveted pitchers such as Trevor Bauer (controlled through 2020) and Brad Hand (signed through 2021). Morosi notes that Cleveland would be “poised” to listen to offers on that pair, as well as the resurgent Carlos Santana, barring a sudden climb back into the division race. Santana is hitting .286/.406/.530 with 14 homers and more walks (46) than strikeouts (45) through 281 plate appearances in his return to Cleveland. He’s earning $17MM in 2019 and$17.5MM in 2020, though the Mariners are on the hook for $5MM of the salary still owed to him. Santana’s contract also contains a $17.5MM club option, but that’ll be his age-35 campaign.
Twins righty Michael Pineda used his recent stint on the injured list to focus on the release point on his slider, he tells Dan Hayes of The Athletic (subscription required). “I’m focusing especially on my release point and finishing my pitches, especially my slider, because this is my pitch for swings and misses,” said Pineda. “I love my slider.” As Hayes observes, Pineda’s rediscovered confidence in the pitch was apparent. He threw just five sliders in his final start prior to landing on the injured list before uncorking 26 sliders in yesterday’s win over the Mariners. Manager Rocco Baldelli and pitching coach Wes Johnson both feel that Pineda looked more impressive yesterday, and Johnson spoke of his satisfaction with the incremental improvements in Pineda’s progression back from 2017 Tommy John surgery and 2018 knee surgery. Notably, the right-hander’s velocity was up a couple miles per hour yesterday as well. A revitalized Pineda would only add another weapon to an already strong Twins club. Pineda has a 5.04 ERA in 69 2/3 innings but yielded just one run in 5 2/3 frames on Thursday.

Tigers’ GM Avila On Cabrera, Prospect Timelines

By Steve Adams | June 6, 2019 at 4:02pm CDT

The Tigers and Miguel Cabrera received some tough news recently when four different medical opinions agreed that the future Hall of Famer is dealing with “chronic changes” in his knee that will impact the remainder of his career. The immediate ramifications of that diagnosis brought about a position change for Cabrera, who is now relegated to DH duty on a full-time basis and won’t be seeing any action at first base for the foreseeable future. As detailed at the time, Cabrera is owed more than $150MM through the end of the 2023 campaign on a contract that looks to be more onerous than ever before.

General manager Al Avila met with reporters Thursday to discuss the situation (all links to Twitter via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). “The bad news is that it’s going to get worse as it goes along,” said Avila of Cabrera’s knee condition. “It’s incumbent on him to stay in good shape and it’s incumbent on us to make sure we get him the proper treatment and proper rest.” If both sides are able to hold up their end of the bargain, Avila added, the organization is confident it can “keep [Cabrera] productive on the field through the remainder of his contract.”

That’d be a tall order even for a fully healthy Cabrera (or any player signed into his age-40 season). This version of Cabrera, though, is not only dealing with the recently revealed knee issue but also multiple herniated disks in his back and the perhaps lingering effects of last season’s surgery to repair a torn biceps tendon. The 36-year-old surely enjoyed proving some doubters wrong for a night when he ripped a grand slam just hours after the extent of his knee troubles became public knowledge Tuesday. His overall line of .287/.357/.376, however, illustrates the manner in which his power has yet to materialize in 2019.

Given that substantial commitment to Cabrera for another four years beyond the current campaign, it’ll be all the more imperative for the Tigers organization to produce cost-efficient young talent. To that end, Avila discussed a number of intriguing young prospects Thursday, touching on the timelines of infield prospect Willi Castro and several of the club’s top-ranked pitching prospects.

Castro, a shortstop, is hitting .335/.413/.505 through 232 plate appearances in Triple-A while the Tigers’ entire infield flounders at the plate in the Majors. However, Castro has also committed 10 errors in just 44 starts at short (398 1/3 innings) after making only 15 errors in all of 2018. Scouting reports agree that he’ll eventually be a solid defender at the position, but it seems that consistency has eluded him. For a player who just turned 22, that’s not necessarily a shock. It’s worth wondering whether he’ll get a look later this month, as we’re right around the period of time at which teams can begin promoting players without worrying about Super Two status.

As for the pitchers, Avila suggested that although right-handers Beau Burrows and Kyle Funkhouser have struggled, if they can return to “doing what they’re capable of doing,” they’ll likely get a look in the Majors later in the 2019 season. Tigers fans, though, are surely more interested in getting a look at last year’s No. 1 overall draft pick, Casey Mize. The former Auburn standout is among the game’s top 10 pitching prospects and has decimated minor league lineups in 2019, pitching to a comical 0.83 ERA with a 65-to-10 K/BB in 70 2/3 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A.

However, Avila wasn’t shy about the fact that promoting Mize in the near future isn’t all that likely. While the GM didn’t expressly rule out a promotion at some point in 2019, he plainly stated that there’s “no purpose” in promoting Mize to the Majors right now, citing a wariness of undoing some of the progress he’s made thus far. Perhaps if the Tigers were postseason contenders with a pressing rotation need, there’d be more urgency, but Avila was candid in his assessment of his big league roster as well. “Quite frankly it’s not going to make us into playoff contenders this year,” he said of a near-term promotion for Mize.

Latest On Tigers’ Rotation

By Jeff Todd and Mark Polishuk | May 17, 2019 at 4:00pm CDT

MAY 17: Ross is dealing with ulnar neuritis and won’t throw for at least another seven to 10 days, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News tweets.

MAY 15: The Tigers have already been hit hard by pitching injuries this season, and it doesn’t appear as if Jordan Zimmermann or Tyson Ross will be returning from the IL in the near future. Zimmermann was sidelined with an UCL sprain on April 26, and he is still experiencing discomfort in his elbow when throwing from flat ground, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com reports on Twitter. Given that Zimmermann hasn’t pitched in nearly three weeks and hasn’t yet begun ramping up in earnest, it seems reasonable to anticipate that he won’t be ready to return to the Tigers’ staff for at least another few weeks, assuming that all goes smoothly here on out.

As for Ross, the outlook is perhaps even more ominous. Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire told Woodbery (Twitter link) and other reporters that Ross has scheduled two separate visits with different doctors, as the right-hander tries to figure out the cause of the nerve problem in his throwing elbow. Ross has a substantial injury history that includes thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, and one of his two medical visits is with the same doctor who performed his TOS surgery back in 2016.

Between Zimmermann, Ross, and season-ending injuries to both Michael Fulmer and Matt Moore, the Tigers are trying to make do without four-fifths of their intended starting rotation. One internal option is Drew VerHagen, as Gardenhire told media (including Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press) that VerHagen will be stretched out as a starter at Triple-A. This isn’t the first time that VerHagen has been tried as a starter, as he made three starts for Detroit in 2017-18, though the large majority of VerHagen’s MLB experience (111 of 115 career games) has been as a reliever.

VerHagen is back at Triple-A Toledo after being outrighted off Detroit’s 40-man roster over the weekend, and the 28-year-old has now been outrighted in consecutive seasons. While obviously VerHagen is far from the Tigers’ ideal option for a starter, the team has been forced to leave no stone unturned as it deals with its plague of rotation injuries. It’s worth noting that VerHagen does have some decent career numbers at Triple-A, though his grounder-heavy arsenal and lack of missed bats (6.9 K/9 in his career) hasn’t translated well to the big leagues, as his 5.20 career ERA would attest.

If you’re wondering whether or not star prospect Casey Mize could be an answer to the Tigers’ pitching problems, seemingly nothing has changed from earlier this month, when Gardenhire said that such highly-touted Double-A arms as Mize, Alex Faedo, and Matt Manning weren’t going to be called up. As dire as the injury situation may be, it’s clear that the Tigers aren’t prepared to alter their developmental plans for the sake of covering some innings in a rebuilding year. At least from a long-term perspective, there’s a lot to be excited about with Tigers pitching — MLB.com’s most recent top 100 prospects list ranks Mize as the top pitching prospect in baseball, and the #6 prospect overall. Mize’s ranking will only improve throughout the year, as four of the names ahead of him (Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Eloy Jimenez, and Nick Senzel) have already reached the majors and will soon lose their prospect status.

In other Tigers prospect news, it has been announced that right-hander Franklin Perez is set to make his season debut for Detroit’s high A-ball affiliate in Lakeland. A shoulder strain has kept Perez from pitching in 2019. Originally acquired from the Astros as part of the Justin Verlander trade, the 21-year-old Perez is another well-regarded building block, ranking 71st on MLB.com’s latest prospect list.

AL Central Notes: Boyd, Indians, Mize, Sox, Cease

By Steve Adams | May 3, 2019 at 9:00am CDT

Matthew Boyd elevated his stock considerably with a strong start to the season and a heavier reliance on four-seamers and sliders, and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic recently took a look at whether the Tigers might be open to trading the 28-year-old lefty. While the rebuilding Detroit club likely isn’t in a position to wholly refuse offers on virtually anyone on the roster, the Tigers do have a preference if they’re to move Boyd, Rosenthal reports. Given the glut of young pitching in the upper minors, the team’s ideal trade package for Boyd would center around a controllable young hitter with substantial upside. The Tigers needn’t feel compelled to move Boyd either this summer or even in the 2019-20 offseason, as he’s still controlled for another three seasons, but his improvements thus far appear more legitimate than many early-season, small-sample success stories. It’s easy to imagine that he’s already more appealing to other clubs than he was a month ago, and even if the Tigers ultimately hang onto him, Boyd will surely be one of the most sought-after arms in the game this summer if he maintains his early output.

Here’s more from the American League Central…

Right-hander Casey Mize, the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft, tossed a no-hitter in his Double-A debut following a midweek promotion, but the Tigers aren’t planning to accelerate his timeline to the Major Leagues based on that dominant effort, per Chris McCosky of the Detroit News. “[General manager Al Avila] has told me, ’Don’t even look at them,'” manager Ron Gardenhire tells McCosky of Mize and fellow top pitching prospects Matt Manning and Alex Faedo. “So, I am happy they’re doing well, but they are not in my thoughts.” Both Avila and assistant GM David Chadd were present to watch Mize’s one-walk, no-hitter live and will watch Faedo an Manning this week as well. However, McCosky notes that the pair isn’t getting live looks at those young arms with an eye toward a near-term promotion. Faedo has just 89 innings above A-ball, while Manning has just 39 1/3.
The Indians left themselves little margin for error this past offseason and are now paying the price, writes Zack Meisel of The Athletic (subscription required). Cleveland pinned its hopes on a dominant rotation but is already down Mike Clevinger and Corey Kluber. While the former is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a teres major strain, he can’t be activated until June 7 given his placement on the 60-day injured list, and there’s no timeline yet for the latter. As far as in-house alternatives, Adam Plutko is still working his way back from a forearm issue, leaving Jefry Rodriguez as the de facto fourth starter and a collection of question marks behind him in the fifth slot. Chih-Wei Hu and non-roster journeyman Asher Wojciechowski are perhaps the likeliest fifth options for an Indians club that currently faces a three-game deficit in the division.
Although Tommy John surgery is “on the table” as an option for injured White Sox left-hander Carlos Rodon, his health won’t impact top prospect Dylan Cease’s timeline to the big leagues, general manager Rick Hahn told reporters Thursday (link via LaMond Pope of the Chicago Tribune). “[N]o one is going to be promoted to Chicago simply because there’s a need in Chicago,” said Hahn, stressing that Cease or any other prospect will only be promoted when the player’s development dictates a promotion. “(Cease’s) timeline is not in any way affected by anything that happens with Carlos. It’s only going to be affected by what happens with (Cease).” The 23-year-old Cease, who entered the year as a consensus Top 50 prospect in the game, has done a good job making an early case for a big league debut. Through 24 1/3 innings at Triple-A, he’s pitched to a 3.33 ERA with a 30-to-7 K/BB ratio and a 55.1 percent ground-ball rate.

Central Notes: Sano, Wood, Tigers

By Jeff Todd | April 29, 2019 at 8:50pm CDT

Twins third baseman Miguel Sano is launching an official rehab assignment, per a club announcement. He’ll open at the High-A level, with planned stops at the next two rungs on the ladder before MLB activation, MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park was among those to report. Sano has been working back from an injury to his Achilles that healed much more slowly than anticipated. The hope now is that the issue is behind him, but the Twins want to get Sano plenty of reps before bringing him back to the big-league roster. Sano, who’ll turn 26 on May 11th, is looking to bounce back after a highly disappointing 2018 campaign. No doubt the Minnesota organization would like to see him put in some of the work he was prevented from undertaking this spring.

More from the game’s central divisions …

The Reds received some unwelcome news on starter Alex Wood, as manager David Bell told reporters including Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter link) that the southpaw recently suffered a setback while trying to work through the back problems that have sidelined him to date. Wood has yet to appear with his new organization, which had hoped he’d be one of three new veteran starters to bolster the rotation. An examination has been scheduled for Wednesday, at which time more on Wood’s outlook may be known. The 28-year-old is earning $9.65MM in his final season of arbitration eligibility after defeating the Reds in an arb hearing.
Health issues are creating problems in the Tigers rotation, which means GM Al Avila is weighing the options for filling in. As Chris McCosky of the Detroit News writes, the top Detroit baseball decisionmaker doesn’t see much of interest in free agency; he says the front office will “have to keep our eye on the waiver wire and on guys in the minor leagues who have opt-out clauses.” With nothing doing there at the moment, the Tigers are looking internally. Ryan Carpenter and Kyle Funkhouser both are under consideration, with the team also pondering the possibility of utilizing Blaine Hardy in a swingman role once he’s activated from the IL.
It’s awfully tempting to wonder whether one of the Tigers’ blue-chip pitching prospects could instead get the call, particularly after ace-in-the-making Casey Mize spun a rare complete-game no-hitter this evening. Whether that’ll be a possibility at some point remains to be seen, but it’s worth bearing in mind that there are some notable roster considerations that counsel against a quick promotion even beyond service-time considerations. As Avila tells McCosky, the organization anticipates a need to add something like ten prospects to the 40-man roster in advance of this winter’s Rule 5 draft. The club is obviously keeping a close eye on the downstream effects of its decisions.

AL Central Notes: Mize, Carrasco, Soler

By Steve Adams and Jeff Todd | April 25, 2019 at 8:44pm CDT

The Tigers announced Thursday that top pitching prospect Casey Mize has been promoted to Double-A Erie. Mize, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft, tore through an early assignment to Class-A Advanced, posting a comical 0.35 ERA with a 25-to-1 K/BB ratio in 26 innings of work prior to the promotion. The former Auburn ace, clearly miles ahead of the competition he faced at that first stop, looks to be on a relatively fast track to the big leagues. The 21-year-old (22 on May 1) totaled 128 1/3 innings between college ball and the minor leagues last season, so he may not even be on all that aggressive of an innings cap (although surely the Tigers will exercise some degree of caution as pertains to his workload). Widely regarded as one of the game’s best overall prospects, Mize could put himself in the conversation for a big league promotion this summer or in early 2020, at the latest, assuming things go smoothly in Double-A and Triple-A.

Tigers Sign Casey Mize

By Steve Adams | June 25, 2018 at 12:30pm CDT

The Tigers announced today that they’ve signed No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize. He’ll be introduced today at a press conference. Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports (via Twitter) that the former Auburn ace received a $7.5MM signing bonus. That’s a new record bonus for the current draft structure, though it still checks in south of the full slot value of $8,096,300. Mize was advised by and is now represented by the Bledsoe Agency.

Mize, 21, was the consensus top talent in the 2018 draft class. He topped pre-draft rankings from Baseball America, MLB.com, Fangraphs and ESPN, and virtually every mock draft leading up to the draft itself had projected that the Tigers would select him. He’ll instantly become one of the game’s top pitching prospects (and top overall prospects) and will give the Tigers a potential fast-moving, high-end pitching talent to add to their minor league ranks.

In his junior season at Auburn, Mize pitched to a 3.30 ERA with a ridiculous 156-to-16 K/BB ratio in 114 2/3 innings of work. He works with a fastball that reaches 97 mph but sits more in the 93-95 mph range and draws exceptional reviews for his ability to command that pitch as well as a splitter that both MLB.com and Baseball America rate as a 70-grade pitch (on the 20-80 scale). Mize also began throwing a cut fastball this year — another pitch that has quickly earned plus ratings — and throws a slider as well.

The rebuilding Tigers have begun to amass an impressive collection of arms that could be in the Majors by 2019 and certainly by early 2020. Detroit has selected a pitcher with its top pick in each of the past four drafts, and those arms — Alex Faedo (2017), Matt Manning (2016) and Beau Burrows (2015) — are widely ranked as the organization’s Nos. 2-4 prospects. Their top prospect, prior to signing Mize, is right-hander Franklin Perez — another highly touted arm whom the Tigers acquired from the Astros as the centerpiece to last summer’s Justin Verlander blockbuster. With Mize now joining that quartet, and Michael Fulmer and Matthew Boyd controlled for four years beyond the current season, the Tigers have the makings of an impressive up-and-coming pitching staff on which their fans and front office can dream.

Tigers Select Casey Mize With First Overall Draft Pick

By Jeff Todd | June 4, 2018 at 6:11pm CDT

The Tigers have selected right-hander Casey Mize with the first overall pick of the 2018 Rule 4 amateur draft. The 21-year-old hurler just wrapped up his junior year at Auburn University.

Mize was not even drafted out of high school, so it has been a meteoric rise over his three years in college. Then again, he hasn’t exactly needed to streak up the draft boards over the months leading up to the draft. Instead, Mize planted himself at the top early on and has remained a clear consensus 1-1 option ever since.

Now a polished starter who’s said to possess three swing-and-miss offerings, Mize just turned in a massive season for Auburn. In 16 outings, he threw 109 2/3 innings of 2.95 ERA ball, racking up a whopping 151 strikeouts while issuing only a dozen walks.

The expectation is that Mize will move quickly through the Detroit farm. He’s certainly an interesting addition to a system that features several promising starters among its best-graded prospects. If all goes as hoped, perhaps the rebuilding organization won’t have to wait long for the arrival of a wave of pitching talent at the MLB level.

AL Central Notes: Tomlin, Zimmermann, Draft

By Steve Adams | April 30, 2018 at 12:10pm CDT

Right-hander Josh Tomlin could be approaching a crossroads in his career with the Indians, writes Zack Meisel of The Athletic (subscription link). The 33-year-old has made four starts this season and surrendered at least five runs in each of them, totaling 19 earned runs in 17 2/3 innings of work out of the rotation. Tomlin’s starts have too often put a tax on the bullpen, Meisel writes, and haven’t given a struggling Indians lineup the ability to compete to keep the game close. Injuries to Danny Salazar and Ryan Merritt have preserved Tomlin’s spot for now, but his road won’t get any easier moving forward, as his next start is set to come at Yankee Stadium. Tomlin, it should be noted, has had plenty of sustained success in the big leagues and posted excellent K/BB numbers in 2016-17 while making 55 largely serviceable starts in the Cleveland rotation. However, Meisel posits that one of Adam Plutko, Shane Bieber or veteran Alexi Ogando could be looked at as an alternative sooner rather than later if Tomlin isn’t able to return to form.

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