While we hope for strong moves, the hunt for depth continues with two more minor league signings.
While the big name free agents and trades draw the headlines, a lowkey piece of the offseason that sometimes produces major impacts on the next season is how teams go about building up their depth. Consistently good teams, regardless of payroll level, find useful players every season to bring to camp and stash at the Triple-A level. The Detroit Tigers have been very quiet at the major league level this offseason, but what they are doing is stocking up their minor league supporting cast. Considering their recent success finding and developing useful pitchers in particular, it’s worth taking a closer look at the group they’re assembling.
Brenan Hanifee, Sean Guenther, and Bryan Sammons weren’t on many radars until late in the 2024 season when all three became useful contributors for the Tigers down the stretch in different roles. Tyler Holton, Jason Foley, Will Vest, and Beau Brieske were all Tigers’ projects who didn’t come with a pedigree. The pitching coaches, at least, have built up quite a track record over the past few years.
On Sunday, the Tigers picked up RHP Jordan Balazovic. The 25-year-old looked like a mid-rotation starter in the making back in 2018-2019 when he was dominating the lower levels. While he’s continued to improve, he hasn’t found that breakthrough in command that would make him a major league regular. There is pretty decent potential here if Chris Fetter and company can tune him up a bit.
After reaching Triple-A in 2022, Balazovic got a short look at the major leagues briefly the Twins in 2023 after converting to relief work. It wasn’t a very auspicious debut and in July of 2024 he was released, signing with the KBO Doosan Bears, where he moved back into a starting role. He made 11 starts for the Bears, striking out 27.6 percent of hitters faced, which is solid enough for that league, but continued to issue too many walks. He posted a 4.19 ERA with a 3.59 FIP, which doesn’t convert too well to MLB numbers. We’ll guess the Tigers move him back to the bullpen with the Mud Hens and try to simplify things for him.
Balazovic is a tall, lanky pitcher who stands 6’5” with a nice loose arm. He sits 94-95 mph with the fourseamer with a little extra available, backing it with a pretty good slider. His fading changeup remains too firm in the high 80’s, but it’s usable, while his overhand curve might be rarely seen in a relief role.
Here was his major league debut against the Tigers back in 2023. I like this pickup. Balazovic has quality stuff in his primary pitches and could turn into a pretty good reliever with the Tigers’ coaching staff.
On Saturday, the Tigers added a pair of veteran left-handers on minor league deals as well.
33-year-old Dietrich Enns was was drafted by the New York Yankees in the ninth round out of Central Michigan in 2012. He briefly reached the majors back in 2017 for a few appearances with the Minnesota Twins , and he made nine relief appearances for the Rays in 2021. From there, Enns spent two years in Japan pitching for the Saitama Seibu Lions, and then moved to Korea for the 2024 season to pitch for the LG Twins.
Enns threw 167 2⁄3 innings in 2024, with a 4.19 ERA, for the Twins. The last real data available is a few years old, but Enns averaged 94.2 mph in 2021 and his fastball was effective. He’s just never been able to find a good breaking ball or changeup, using a cutter instead. We’ll see if the Lions or Twins were able to give him a better secondary pitch during his time overseas.
Here’s a look at a good start from his Lions years.
The other lefty signed to a minor league deal was Matt Gage. The 31-year-old was drafted by the San Francisco Giants back in 2014. Armed with a solid fastball, Gage is another one who never really found a good swing and miss secondary offering early in his career. He never made the majors and pitched in 2019 in Mexico before the Arizona Diamondbacks picked him up. He bounced around the minor leagues, reaching the major leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2022 for a cup of coffee. He was with the Astros in 2023, mostly at the Triple-A level, but he again was effective in a short look of 6 2⁄3 innings of major league work.
He spent 2024 at the Triple-A level with both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets , so there continues to be interest in trying to get that next level of performance out of him. Lefties have a long half-life, of course.
Gage appears to throw a lot of cutters and sliders, mixing in fourseamers and sinkers as well. He looks pretty capable of racking up some whiffs and keeping the ball in the park when he’s on, but consistent command has remained a problem considering his less than overpowering stuff by major league standards. His delivery will remind you a bit of Tyler Holton, and a fairly deep mix of pitches that don’t individually stand out may also remind you of Tyler Holton. If Gage had that level of precision, he could be pretty useful. We’ll see if the Tigers have a plan for him that works and can take his game to another level.
Non 40-man pitching depth
The Tigers have yet to do much in terms of position players even at the minor league level. In terms of prospects, they still have SS Ryan Kreidler. Akil Baddoo and infielder Eddys Leonard were both designated back in November but re-signed on minor league deals with the Tigers. They also added catcher Ben Serven recently to improve their catching depth, but otherwise there haven’t been any new faces added to the mix.
On the pitching side, they have signed several other arms, and they also were able to bring back RHP Wilmer Flores and RHP Brendan White back on minor league deals. Either or both of those could prove helpful. Flores was arguably the Tigers top prospect two years ago but command issues and then some shoulder trouble this year have really sidelined him to the point that the Tigers didn’t protect him from the Rule 5 draft. We’re happy to keep him and see if he can finally take the next step.
The raw stuff has never been in question and he still averaged 96 mph at the Triple-A level and was scraping 100 mph coming out of spring training before the shoulder injury took him out of action from mid-May until late August. Flores has huge extension to the plate and he retains a nasty wipeout curveball and a solid low 90’s cutter. There’s plenty of potential if he can put the injuries behind him.
Brendan White likewise has plenty good enough stuff to pitch out of the Tigers bullpen, but he too struggled with injury this season. White reached the majors in 2023 and while a 5.09 ERA in 40 2⁄3 innings wasn’t a very auspicious debut, his peripherals were actually pretty solid. White can rip low to mid-80’s sliders in there close to 3000 rpms, and was averaging 94.4 mph in 2023 with a riding fastball with pretty good IVB when he was dialed in. There’s still plenty to work with and White just turned 26 years old. If he can get his arm right the Tigers may yet turn him into a pretty effective setup man.
Another long-time farm hand the Tigers signed back on a minor league deal was RHP Wilkel Hernandez. He’s still just 25 years old despite coming over to Detroit in the Ian Kinsler trade with the Angels following the 2017 season. Hernandez has remained a fairly durable starting pitcher with a solid riding fastball and an average curveball. He’s slowly moved through the minors getting better and better to match each new level, but has never been able to make a real leap. He does throw plenty of strikes generally, but needs a bump in velo and better command of his curveball to even make it as a reliever. Presumably he’ll start the year in Triple-A for the first time, but as he’ll turn 26 in April, time is quickly running out for Hernandez to break through.
RHP Ryan Miller was signed to a minor league deal early last week after the 28-year-old spent the 2024 season with the Los Angeles Angels. He leans heavily on his mid-80’s slider in relief, backing it up with a 93-94 mph sinker. Miller has a interesting drop and drive style delivery, releasing the ball from a low release point, but hasn’t quite made the most of it by commanding his running sinker up in the zone effectively. It’s a funky angle, but not really optimized with the actual pitches he throws.
Miller has some ability to get weak contact on the ground, but he just hasn’t been able to get enough whiffs and avoid the occasional hanger. His command of his breaking stuff in particular needs to improve, but he is talented and provides an interesting look if they can help him repeat his somewhat funky delivery more consistently.
Of all these pitchers, perhaps the most likely to seize a regular role is LHP Bailey Horn, who the Tigers claimed off waivers back in November from the Boston Red Sox . Horn will turn 27 years old in January, and was originally drafted back in 2020 in the fifth round by the Chicago White Sox . Command was always his issues in the minors. He has good stuff, but despite quality strikeout rates, he’s continued to allow more walks than you’d like to see and has been hurt more by the long ball as the competition has gotten tougher.
Horn tossed 18 innings of relief for the Red Sox in 2024 in his major league debut and he took a beating, giving up a 6.50 ERA with a 7.00 FIP. Horn has a high spin (2846 rpms) sweeper that should be a really effect lead offering for him but like the rest of his pitches he needs to improve his command in order to make the whole package work. He also features a solid 95 mph fourseamer that rides decently but plays down because his extension is sub-par. That too should be a more effective pitch that it’s been so far for him.
There’s a lot to like here, but the Tigers will have to get his command right and find an approach that helps him repeat better in order to get the most out of him. He looks like a guy who needs to simplify what he’s throwing rather than trying to mix in curveballs and cutters on top of the standard sweeper-fourseam approach. Still, for a waiver claim this is a pretty good arm to land in a left-hander. He’s got some gas and he can really spin the baseball.