It’s been a relatively sluggish start to the Detroit Tigers Major League offseason. With billions of dollars being handed out to free agents, the Tigers have signed two pitchers and made a trade. President of Baseball Operations, Scott Harris, made note that much of this upcoming 2023 season would be earmarked for younger players. Two of those younger players who could have a role in the 2023 season, Wilmer Flores and Kerry Carpenter were named the Tigers Minor League player and pitcher of the year for 2022.
According to Detroit Tigers Player Development Twitter,
Congratulations to Kerry Carpenter and Wilmer Flores, the @tigers‘ 2022 Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year!
@roadtodetroit via Twitter
Carpenter and Flores’ named 2022 Minor League players of the year
Both had great Minor League campaigns, leading to Carpenter making his debut with the big club in August and did look as though he belonged. Flores made five starts in A-ball before being promoted to AA Erie and pitching the rest of the season for the SeaWolves. He was also included as part of our 40-man roster construction article.
Kerry Carpenter’s 2022 Minor League season
Carpenter spent the first part of 2022 at AA Erie, where he hit 22 home runs in 262 plate appearances. He continued to press the door open to Triple-A and was promoted there for 35 games. In those games, he had a 12.1% walk rate, eight home runs, and 176 wRC+. All of this led to his aforementioned promotion to the show in August, where he had a .342 xwoBA, six home runs, and a 126 wRC+. He did not seem overmatched and provided great pop from the left side in a minuscule 113 at-bats.
Wilmer Flores’s 2022 Minor League season
Flores, for his part, did enough in 2022 to earn protection from the Rule-5 draft in December. Starting the season in A-ball, he posted a 16.02 k/9, a 1.83 ERA, and a 1.86 FIP earning himself a promotion to AA Erie. In 83.2 innings in Erie, Flores continued to pitch well, posting a 10.22 K/9, 3.01 ERA, and a 3.50 FIP. He will need some seasoning in AAA before the jump to the Majors but could press the club later in 2023 to make an appearance in Motown.
