Detroit Tigers: Alex Faedo and Matt Manning shut down for 2020 season

The Detroit Tigers announced that two of their prospect pitchers are being shut down with arm issues.

General Manager (GM) of the Detroit Tigers, Al Avila, held a press conference on Thursday to make some announcements regarding some prospects. The last time Avila held a press conference about prospects, it was the infamous announcement that Casey Mize, Isaac Paredes, and Tarik Skubal were being called up.

This time, however, the news was not historic, nor was it pleasant. Avila told the media that Alex Faedo and Matt Manning were going to be shut down for the season. It was then noted that the two had slight strains in their forearms.

While the idea is to sit these two pitchers down with hopes that it will work out better for them in the long run, time will tell. Faedo is currently ranked as the tenth best prospect in the organization, with Matt Manning being ranked even higher at no.3 on the Tigers top thirty prospect list.

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Alex Faedo has not had the easiest road through the Detroit Tigers system.

When the Detroit Tigers selected Alex Faedo, he was noted to be a superior starting pitcher from the University of Florida.

But his time with the Tigers has not always been smooth sailing for him. He struggled to get things going as an “ace” type of starter.

He was 18th overall selection in the 2017 First-Year Amateur Player Draft, and while with the Double-A Erie Seawolves, he had almost had a set back as a starter. Over the past two years in 2018 and 2019, Faedo only made starts, no relief appearances.

At one point it was considered that Faedo would become more of an offspeed focused pitcher.

While struggling with his fastball, Faedo almost became more of an offspeed-first pitcher, which likely would have seen him enter the bullpen instead of making starts.

Faedo was unable to take part in this summer’s Summer Camp due to COVID-19 issues, which might have contributed to the forearm strain. Faedo’s time off the mound while dealing with the COVID-19 issues he had may have made it harder to get ramped up, resulting in his forearm strain.

It seems like Faedo playing catch-up got the best of him, as a caution his 2020 season has been ended.

Matt Manning seemed to have gotten caught up in the possibility of being called up to the Detroit Tigers roster in 2020, landing him with an injury.

The Detroit Tigers gave Matt Manning a few chances throughout Summer Camp in 2020, and it seemed like he was a bit caught up in the idea of being called up. One of his intrasquad outings saw him struggling to find the zone, leaving fastballs up and yanking a few.

While it could have been a singular bad outing, Avila said that Manning was “doing too much” out on the mound, which might be part of the idea that he was looking for a call-up. Manning was the ninth overall selection of the 2016 First-Year Amateur Draft and has been noted as one of the top prospects.

Given his 11-5 record, 2.56 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, and 148 strikeouts over 133.2 innings pitched during the 2019 season, yeah, he’s good. Manning made the jump to Double-A Erie Seawolves in 2019 but has spent his 2020 year at the alternate training site in Toledo.

While Mize and Skubal have been called up and each gotten to make their debuts, but Manning will have to wait long after his 2020 season has been ended. Avila noted that losing these two means that there will be two spots in the 60-man Player Pool that need to be filled, hopefully with other prospects in the organization.

The Detroit Tigers may be missing out on two top-flight pitching prospects for the remainder of the 2020 season, but two other prospects may get a chance to get some work in at the alternate training site.