Inside the Article:
On Friday night the Detroit Tigers had a chance to move within a game of the Minnesota Twins for first place in the American League Central with a win and a Twins loss. The Tigers would lose to the White Sox 12-3 and the Twins lost as well 3-1 to the Blue Jays, a missed opportunity for the Tigers who still sit two games back of the Twins. Joey Wentz made his tenth start of the season for Detroit and he did not look good as he took the loss, bringing his record to 1-5 on the season; which raised the question is it time for him to be sent down and maybe call up another pitcher, someone like Reese Olson?
Key Points:
- Detroit Tigers had a chance with a win and a Twins loss to move within a game of first place in the AL Central.
- Tigers lost 12-3 to the White Sox.
- Twins lost to the Blue Jays 3-1.
- Tigers remain two games back of Twins.
- Joey Wentz made his tenth start of the season for the Tigers.
- Wentz took the loss and dropped to 1-5.
Joey Wentz by the numbers
This season to this point Wentz has pitched 42.2 innings and his numbers aren’t great. He has a 7.81 ERA, a 1.9 HR/9, a 3.4 BB/9, a 7.4 K/9, a 1.65 WHIP, a 5.51 FIP, and has recorded 35 strikeouts. Wentz has had a few decent starts this year with his best coming back on April 14th against the Giants, a game in which he went 5.2 innings giving up one run on six hits, he did not factor into the decision of that game as the Tigers walked it off in the 11th inning.
Looking back over his last three starts including last night they have not been good as he has combined pitched 8.2 innings giving up 14 runs on 22 hits. Last season Wentz didn’t pitch this bad; he was 2-2 with a 3.03 ERA in seven starts posting a 1.10 WHIP, a 3.54 FIP, a 0.6 HR/9, and a 7.4 K/9. Sending him down to AAA may help him figure his stuff out and work on whatever his issues are.
Reese Olson by the numbers
Olson ironically made a start last night for the Tigers AAA affiliate the Toledo Mud Hens as they took on the Rochester Red Wings. Olson has made back-to-back solid starts combing to go ten innings giving up just one run on five hits; he also combined in those two games and has walked only two and struck out 19. So far this season Olson has made ten starts and is 2-3, his ERA is a little high with a 6.38 but that was due to a tough start to his season and is still lower than Wentz’s yes I am aware it’s AAA and not the big leagues but it can’t be much worse than what we’ve seen as of late. Olson has pitched 36.2 innings, and has posted a 1.75 WHIP, a 5.4 BB/9, and an 11.5 K/9, solid numbers, and his pitching as of late may have warranted a call-up.
Detroit Tigers’ big picture
At the end of the day, that spot in the Detroit Tigers rotation currently held by Wentz is just waiting for Matt Manning or Tarik Skubal to come back which will hopefully be soon. This season has been talked about as an evaluation year for Scott Harris to see what he has and what he can add to build for the future so why not call up Olson and see what you have in him for a few starts before one of the two mentioned above makes their return.
