You can add one more name to the ring for the fifth starter spot in the Detroit Tigers’ opening day rotation. As reported earlier by Chris McCosky of the Detroit News, Alex Wilson asked Tigers brass to compete for a spot in the rotation during spring training. The starting rotation already seemed set entering spring training, with Michael Fulmer, Jordan Zimmerman, Mike Fiers, Matthew Boyd, and Daniel Norris. However, with Norris’s injury history and his inconsistency (along with Boyd’s own inconsistency), there have been rumblings that Norris could lose the job in spring training.
The possible canditates that could potentiality replace Norris in the rotation are a couple of guys that have spot-started for the Tigers in the past in Buck Farmer and Chad Bell, as well as newly acquired Ryan Caprenter. You can now add Alex Wilson’s name to that list. If indeed Wilson wins the battle for the fifth starter, it will cripple what is already a shaky-at-best bullpen.
Alex Wilson has started only one game in the majors (2015 with the Tigers), however, he came up through the Boston Red Sox farm system as a starting pitcher. During his 69 career minor league starts he has accumulated a 3.81 ERA, with a WHIP of 1.30, and 408 carrer strikeouts over 444.1 innings pitched.
At the very least for new manager Ron Gardenhire, he has a lot of options to give the ball to every fifth day. The question is are they going to be good enough to rely on?
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