8:15pm: The Tigers announced Alexander as the starter for tomorrow’s second game. A 40-man roster move will be announced tomorrow.
8:11pm: Tonight’s game between the Tigers and White Sox has been postponed due to rain, which could impact the team’s decision with Alexander, McCosky tweets.
7:58pm: The Tigers will select the contract of lefty Tyler Alexander tomorrow, reports Chris McCosky of the Detroit News. He’ll be the 26th man of tomorrow’s doubleheader against the White Sox and start Game 2 of that twin bill.
Alexander, 24, was a second-round pick out of Texas Christian University back in 2015. He’s had a rough start to the season due largely to troubles with the long ball, as evidenced by an unsightly 6.23 ERA. Alexander, however, has a pristine 87-to-18 K/BB ratio in 73 2/3 innings (10.6 K/9, 2.2 BB/9) and has a 3.67 ERA through 34 1/3 innings over the course of his past six starts. He’ll get the nod over many of the club’s more heralded pitching prospects, but because he’ll serve as the 26th man, his promotion will be a one-off appearance anyhow. His addition to the 40-man roster should put Alexander in line to make some additional appearances for an injury-depleted Tigers pitching staff later in the season.
Alexander’s standing within the Tigers’ prospect rankings has slipped as the team’s system has improved over the course of its rebuild. He was once considered to be among the organization’s more promising overall prospects but has taken a bit of a backseat with the arrival of new arms and some diminished results of his own in recent seasons. Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs mentioned him in their overview of Detroit’s system heading into the season, writing that Alexander “throws strikes and eats innings and is a good bet to at least be a sixth starter type of depth arm.”
