Detroit Tigers: Patience will be vital as the prospects start to debut

After the organization finally opted to promote Isaac Paredes, Casey Mize, and Tarik Skubal, it’s time for Detroit Tigers fans to proceed with patience.

It’s that old saying, be careful what you wish for.  The vast majority of Detroit Tigers fans had been wearing thin on patience watching the likes of Matthew Boyd, Ivan Nova, and Michael Fulmer head out to the mound only to be greeted by a bunch of hitters salivating waiting for their next plate appearance.

Just days ago, Detroit Tigers general manager, Al Avila mentioned Casey Mize wasn’t ready to be recalled.  Avila stated that the 23-year old right-hander needed some more time to be stretched out, and the organization did not want to throw him into the fire.

What a difference a couple of days make.

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The Tigers placed Ivan Nova on the Injured List after his most recent start, leaving two open spots in the starting rotation.  Spencer Turnbull and Matt Boyd, despite how bad he pitches, will maintain two places in Detroit’s rotation followed by Fulmer in an ‘opener’ role, he continues to split with Daniel Norris or Tyler Alexander.  Both Norris and Alexander have proven to be more effective coming out of the bullpen in relief rather than starting the ballgame.

Instead of just recalling phenom Mize, the Detroit Tigers decided to give we the fans something more to look forward too by allowing Skubal also to join the rotation.

Patience will be the key here, folks.

It’s unrealistic to expect these young guns to join the Tigers and start throwing complete-game shutouts.  Anyone who thinks Mize has the potential to join this rotation and suddenly throw a no-hitter in his first start as he did when he first joined the Erie Seawolves last season is living a fairytale.

Mize has tremendous stuff and has the potential to immediately be the teams’ second-best starting pitcher behind Turnbull.  If the Tigers can get five solid innings from Mize, maybe allowing two or three runs Wednesday against the White Sox lineup, it will be a widely successful debut.  Mize owns a mid-90s fastball to go with his devastating splitter.  He’s a four-pitch pitcher, and that will be to his benefit trying to navigate through an MLB lineup.

Tarik Skubal, on the other hand, really relies on his above-average fastball that tops out in the high 90s and will reach triple-digits at times.  The rest of Skubal’s repertoire is not as nearly as polished as Mize.  Skubal needs to work on his secondary pitches, so he doesn’t just rely on his heater.  In the big leagues, a starting pitcher that relies on just a fastball won’t see long-term success.  Once professional hitters start to time that heater, zeroing in on one area of the plate, hunting it, things begin to unravel quickly for the hurdler.

Skubal was drafted in the ninth round by the Detroit Tigers in 2018 after missing two seasons due to various arm injuries during his time with Seattle University.  It’s a chance that may pay off for the organization for years to come if the hard-throwing left-hander can remain healthy.  He went 2-3 for Erie last season, throwing 42.1 innings striking out a whopping 82 batters and producing a stellar 2.13 ERA and 1.106 WHIP.

After moving Jeimer Candelario to first base on a full-time basis after losing C.J. Cron to season-ending knee surgery, it left a hole at third base.  Detroit hadn’t seen much offensive production from Dawel Lugo, leaving a guy like Harold Castro as the only other option but seemingly prefer to use Castro all over the diamond and not just in one position allowing for the promotion of Paredes.

Isaac Paredes hit a robust .282 with 13 home runs and 66 RBI’s compiling 135 hits on 478 at-bats in Double-A Erie last season.  He will get every opportunity to stick in Detroit if he proves he can perform at the plate.

These are three of the Tigers top-ten prospects; they will all make their Major League debut in consecutive days.  We need to be patient as fans.  If the losses continue to mount, and I expect they will when considering the schedule over the next couple of weeks, let’s look at this as a growing period.

It’s the perfect time to get a glimpse of Detroit’s future, and who knows, maybe the organization will catch lightning in a bottle and return to their winning ways after recalling this trio.