Detroit Tigers: Top 20 prospects going into the 2020 season

Alex Faedo, RHP, Double-A in 2019

In 2014, the Detroit Tigers took a flyer on Alex Faedo coming out of high school, selecting him fortieth round. Ultimately, Faedo was set on going to school at the University of Florida, where he would become a dominant starting pitcher. The Tigers would not wait too long again in 2017, selecting him with their first pick in the 2017 MLB First-Year Amateur Draft.

Now twenty-four-years old, Faedo was a part of the dominant Double-A Erie pitching staff in 2019 that is full of starting pitching prospects. Faedo is 6-foot-5, weighing in at 230-pounds and has seemingly regressed from the dominant starting pitcher he was in college. He is still a starter, but that could change by the time he reaches the big leagues.

Faedo has developed more, getting better after some struggles in the minor leagues. In 2019, Faedo would make twenty-two starts with the Double-A Erie pitching staff. He would pitch to a 6-7 record with a 3.90 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP.

Throughout 115.1 innings pitched, Faedo gave up 104 hits, fifty earned runs while walking twenty-five, and striking out 134. His 10.5 K/9 was solid, and his revamped pitching allowed him to get back to the dominant pitcher he was, but a long term starting pitcher still may be a little iffy. Faedo features a slow windup with a little bit of a jerky follow through to his delivery.

He throws from the three-quarters arm slot where he features a three-pitch mix as a fastball, slider, and change-up. His fastball that comes in around 92-93mph with great arm-side run that makes it an excellent pitch for Faedo.

His slider comes in closer to 83-86mph, which is his bread and butter offspeed pitcher over his change-up. The change-up comes in around 86-87 with some arm-side tail and sink, making it a good pitch inside to right-handers.

However, in 2019, Faedo struggled for a bit and seemingly became more of a two-pitch mix guy, which was not ideal for a starting pitcher. He has less power in his fastball than initially expected when he was drafted in 2017. The mold of him being a starter may dwindle to being a solid relief pitcher in all likelihood.

MLB Expectation: As mentioned above, Faedo was drafted to be a top-flight starting pitching prospect, but as a two-pitch guy, that may be hard. If Faedo can lock in three pitches and feel comfortable with all three and see good results from all three, he may have a shot to stick in a rotation, but there is nothing wrong with Faedo becoming a bullpen arm with a sharp slider that carves up hitters. Faedo could very well become a three-pitch reliever who focuses on his fastball and slider to get hitters out for the Detroit Tigers.