The Detroit Tigers quietly added an intriguing arm to their pitching depth on Thursday, agreeing to a minor-league deal with right-hander Cole Waites, who will also receive an invite to Spring Training.
The news was first reported by Ari Alexander, and it’s a move that gives Detroit a classic low-risk, high-upside bullpen flier.
Waites, 27, has thrown just 8 big-league innings, but the raw stuff has always been the selling point. Before injuries derailed his progress, including missing the entire 2024 season after Tommy John surgery, Waites was mowing down hitters in the minors with a 14.9 K/9. When healthy, the fastball explodes at the top of the zone, and the slider has flashed as a true swing-and-miss weapon.
Originally drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 18th round of the 2019 MLB Draft, Waites has appeared in 10 MLB games with a 6.75 ERA, though that number comes from a small sample size. Now fully recovered and looking to reset his career path, he’ll head into Lakeland this spring with a chance to impress a Tigers front office that continues to stockpile bullpen arms.
For a team that has excelled at developing relievers in recent seasons, Waites is exactly the type of profile worth taking a chance on.
If the stuff returns with anything close to its pre-injury form?
Detroit might have just found another diamond in the rough.
One Response
Pull over over I’ve got to puke. Can we just make moves like this without the “might have found” or “classic low risk high upside” moniker attached? Let’s not continue to send the fan base on an even more debilitating downward spiral. The front office would garner more respect with an out and out lie followed by action than this controlled dissemination.