The Tigers are moving Keider Montero to the bullpen for at least the next two series, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (link via Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press). That’ll open a rotation spot for Justin Verlander, who’ll be reinstated from the 60-day injured list to start against the White Sox on Sunday.
Montero said he’s on board with the move despite holding a rotation spot since the second week of the season. The Venezuelan right-hander has pitched pretty well, working to a 3.61 earned run average through 72 1/3 innings. Montero has a modest 16.7% strikeout rate but has gotten a lot of free outs by inducing harmless contact. Among qualified pitchers, only Chase Burns and Parker Messick have gotten more infield pop-ups.
That at least partially explains why hitters have a putrid .225 average on balls in play against Montero. He attacks the strike zone and has mostly kept the Tigers competitive in every start. Montero hasn’t allowed more than four runs in any of his 13 appearances. He’s coming off 6 1/3 scoreless frames with four strikeouts to beat Minnesota last Thursday.
Montero nevertheless was the sensible choice to push from the rotation, at least temporarily. He has experience pitching in a swing role, as he only started 12 of 20 appearances in the regular season last year. He came out of the bullpen three more times in the postseason. Hinch didn’t commit to keeping Montero in a relief role beyond this week, but he’ll presumably make at least one outing out of the bullpen during either the ongoing series in Houston or their weekend set against Chicago.
Jack Flaherty went on the IL over the weekend and is out until at least the final few days of June. Framber Valdez is on the mound against his former team tonight at Daikin Park. Casey Mize will come off the injured list to start tomorrow’s matinee series finale. After an off day on Thursday, Detroit will run Tarik Skubal and Troy Melton against the Sox before activating Verlander. Melton would’ve been the only other member of the rotation who might’ve been in consideration for a relief spot.
The second-year righty has pitched excellently in three of his first four starts since returning from a season-opening elbow issue. He was scratched from yesterday’s scheduled start in Houston with low back tightness but is expected to avoid the injured list. Drew Anderson led a short notice bullpen game in a 9-3 victory.
Verlander has missed the past two and a half months with a left hip injury. His return to Detroit has thus far consisted of one start, in which he allowed five runs across 3 2/3 innings in a loss to the Diamondbacks. Verlander has made a pair of starts with Triple-A Toledo over the past couple weeks. He threw 5 2/3 innings and 86 pitches on Wednesday. It’ll be 11 days between game appearances, but Verlander tossed a four-inning simulated game yesterday without issue.
Detroit will need to demote a pitcher tomorrow to activate Mize. They’ll also need to drop an arm from the MLB roster on Sunday. Detroit’s 40-man roster is at capacity, so they’ll likely need to designate someone for assignment at the end of the week to reinstate Verlander. Reliever Burch Smith would be their only potential candidate for a move to the 60-day injured list.
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