The Detroit Tigers are in need of starting pitching help. The unfortunate news of Casey Mize departing for the season to undergo Tommy John surgery hurts, and now Eduardo Rodríguez is out indefinitely. The Tigers have gotten support from unlikely places, and the bullpen is one of them.
However, one of the Detroit Tigers bullpen arms, Wily Peralta, may need to have his role switched up to help the team eat up some starts. For this reason, looking to stretch him out to join the rotation is something the team needs to do to help them for the rest of the season.
It’s going to be a long summer if Beau Brieske and Alex Faedo are the team’s number two and three guys. While Faedo has been an absolute stud for the Tigers, no one would have expected this kind of performance, nor can they expect it to hold up for the whole summer.
Peralta’s been stellar when called upon, and the team needs someone who can start games and eat-up innings. He was initially a starter at the beginning of his career but had transitioned to a relief role until 2021, when he was a starter. It might be time to have him take that role once again.
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The Detroit Tigers need to stretch out Wily Peralta to be a starter.
Even though he started for the Tigers in 2021, he’s made just one start in 2022, with his other 15 appearances coming out of the bullpen. When manager A.J. Hinch calls on Peralta, he’s been exceptional; pitching to a 1.42 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP over 25.1 innings of work.
While he’s only got 22 strikeouts, he’s been effective on the bump. He’s induced weak contact and been able to keep runs off the board, which is all that the Tigers can ask from the right-handed veteran pitcher. While his latest outings have all been one or two innings, the team needs to start stretching him out.
Now, stretching him out to throw six to seven innings is highly unlikely, at least not in the near future. But if the Tigers can work with the 33-year-old pitcher to try and get him back into the four-inning range, throwing him every fifth day, they may be able to do something.
Peralta’s shown success and if it means that the Tigers have to use him in a two-times through the order role, so be out. If he gets outs, he gets outs. If it results in a few three-inning outings working him up to speed with the bullpen taking over, so be it.
The Tigers are not contending; at this point, they are simply looking to be competitive and start playing better baseball. If the team has to use the “opener” strategy while they begin to piece back together a starting rotation, so be it. Things like that will help them get back to playing better baseball.
Getting Peralta back into the rotation is not some sure-fire fix or going to be the turnaround point for this time, but it will benefit them immensely. Little things like this can help the Tigers start working through this horrendous performance they have shown so far.
With Rodríguez heading to the restricted list and Mize long gone, the Tigers need pitchers to eat up innings, and Peralta is the perfect guy for the job.
