Detroit Tigers: Prospect Joey Wentz has his season end before it starts

Detroit Tigers pitching prospect Joey Wentz will need to undergo Tommy John Surgery, which will have him missing the 2020 season.

The 2020 baseball season is being postponed, which is not an ideal situation, but the Detroit Tigers got some more negative news regarding one of their pitching prospects. Joey Wentz is having some arm issues that will require him to miss the 2020 season, even with it being postponed.

The left-hander is fresh to the organization, coming over to the Tigers at the 2019 trade deadline in the Shane Greene trade. Wentz was a top four-arm in the Atlanta Braves system who came over with Travis Demeritte in the trade.

Wentz is a 6-foot-5, 210-pound left-hander was poised for a productive and developmental season with the Tigers, but will now be stuck off the field. Statistically, he was not incredibly great with the Braves, but since coming to the Tigers, he has been able to see his numbers increase drastically.

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After coming to the Tigers, in five starts, he was 2-0 with a 2.10 ERA, a 0.94 WHIP, and thirty-seven punch outs over 25.2 innings pitched.

In total, Wentz made twenty-five starts in 2019 with a 4.41 ERA, a 1.24 WHIP, and 137 punchouts in 128.2 innings pitched.

Wentz is a three-pitch mix starter who projects to be a mid-rotational guy when he makes the big leagues. This Tommy John Surgery could play an essential factor in this being that he may not come back to full form and end up faltering.

No one wants to see that he had an excellent shot to be a future rotation guy for the Tigers, but that could be in jeopardy, contingent on how his recovery goes.

The Tigers have a ton of young pitcher arms like Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning, Franklin Perez, and Alex Faedo. Not all of these guys are going to pan out, that’s obvious, but losing one of them to Tommy John Surgery, leaving a question mark by his name sucks.

Hopefully, Wentz can recover speedily and get back on the mound and tossing sooner rather than later.  If Wentz can return to his previous form, the hope would be suitable for him, providing no more injuries linger around.

In the past, he had an oblique injury that was lingering around that kept him on the shelf for some time. So hopefully, the Tommy John Surgery goes smoothly, and he can avoid any further issues with his arm.

Wentz may have just lost his 2020 season, but hopefully, with a speedy recovery, he can return to the mound as soon as possible for the Detroit Tigers.