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Detroit Tigers: The Jake Rogers Saga Begins, For Now

By Tyler Kotila

ANAHEIM, CA - JULY 30: Jake Rogers #34 of the Detroit Tigers gets his second hit of the game agaisnt the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the eighth inning at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on July 30, 2019 in Anaheim, California. Angels won 6-1. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CA - JULY 30: Jake Rogers #34 of the Detroit Tigers gets his second hit of the game agaisnt the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the eighth inning at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on July 30, 2019 in Anaheim, California. Angels won 6-1. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images) /
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The Detroit Tigers promoted catcher Jake Rogers to the big league roster recently, sparking the latest MLB journey. The “Jake Rogers Saga” begins as he starts his career with the big league club.

The Detroit Tigers made some moves at the deadline, as well as some roster moves. Amongst the moves was a promotion for Tigers catching prospect Jake Rogers who finally got to make his debut in the big leagues. Bobby Wilson was optioned to Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, and Rogers was flown out to the Tigers series against the Los Angeles Angels where he made his debut.

He has only played in two games, but Rogers had collected three hits in six at-bats, leaving him with a .500 average. Not to mention, Rogers earned himself his first long ball in his second game in the MLB. Rogers has taken his time getting to the major leagues as he took a long time to finally develop his hitting, but his defense has been there for quite some time.

Back in the spring, I released a piece about the Tigers catching prospects and what to expect as the season continued. As expected from that point, his hitting has been his slowest developing tool which has proven to be the barrier between him and the big leagues.

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In terms of defense, he has not seen anyone test his arm yet in the big leagues. Angels two-way phenom, Shohei Ohtani, swiped a bag on a pitch in the dirt but Rogers has not had anyone attempt to swipe a bag to show off his cannon.

The way things stand, Rogers will become a defensive-minded catcher, which whom the Tigers will hope to bring his hitting around and maintain it as one of his tools rather than settling for career .220 averages. Rogers quickly has developed a similar defensive skillset of Willson Contreras, Yadier Molina, or James McCann when it comes to throwing runners out on the base paths.

Another plus of Rogers being with the big league club is his acclimation for the Detroit Tigers pitching staff, some of these guys may be gone by the end of the year, or end of the rebuild but Rogers can get familiar with pitch-calling in the big leagues.

The hope would be that pitchers will enjoy throwing to Rogers because of his game-calling ability as well as pitch framing abilities to steal a strike here and there. The vision in this scenario would be that Rogers develops into a catcher like Martin Maldonado with the Houston Astros. Jeff Luhnow, the GM of the Astros made sure to acquire Maldonado again this season so that the Astros pitching staff was better off, the staff raved about Maldonado’s ability to receive the ball and call a game prompting Luhnow to go get him.

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There’s just no telling what could happen as time goes on, Rogers could forget how to hit and be sent back down just like that. He could get sent back down either way; he could stay and become a true developing talent in the Detroit Tigers lineup. Only time will be the indicator no matter how fans look at it, but Rogers is being given a chance to prove himself with the Tigers right now, and he needs to capitalize on it.

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