Detroit Tigers: A look at picks from rounds 2-5 of the 2021 MLB Draft

Round 4, Pick 104: Tyler Mattison – RHP, Bryant (NCAA)

The choice of Smith seemed to start a chain reaction. When the Detroit Tigers were on the clock again in round four, they opted to go with Tyler Mattison of Bryant University. The selection of Mattison may have shocked some who likely thought the team was going to address hitting holes in the organization.

However, the Tigers opted to load up on pitchers, and Mattison helped with that. The right-handed pitcher is a 6-foot-4, 235-pound unit on the mound. He was lights out for Bryant this past season making 13 starts where his statistics were absurdly good.

Mattison logged 80.1 total innings where he pitched to a 2.46 ERA, a 0.88 WHIP, and collected 95 total punchouts. He is no Sam Bachman, who was selected ninth by the Los Angeles Angels, but Mattison has some good velocity.

The righty works up to 97 mph and works the low- to mid-90s on his fastball. He also shows a cutter to pair with the fastball. Mattison can throw a changeup and curveball to try and fool hitters when it comes to traditional offspeed.

It seems like the change piece is more advanced than the curveball, but it seems like work is needed on the secondary stuff for him to be a truly dominant pitcher on the bump. Looking at the rankings, it seems like Mattison would have been taken much higher if he had more of an established secondary.

The selection of Mattison appears to be that of excitement about the fastball and velocity. He’s a big and hard-throwing right-hander who should attract even more buzz and interest if he can iron out his pitch repertoire.

Having hard-throwing pitchers, starter-bound or relievers is always a plus for any organization, so adding an arm like Mattison is great. Injury risk can be higher for some of these flamethrowers, so having a number of them bodes well for the odds of one (or more) of them making it as future big-leaguers.