Detroit’s Starting Rotation: 0-100 Real Quick

The infamous injury bug has owned a summer home in the Detroit Tigers starting rotation for a few years now. Picking on invaluable pieces to the core of their roster. The most harmful being Tarik Skubal’s inability to give the Tigers a full season without some sort of heart attack. Even a flurry of Tommy John surgeries has plagued Comerica. Most notably, the Casey Mize surgery in June of 2022. In 2024, however, the Tigers look to put all of that behind them and give the American League one of the best rotations in the game.

Detroit finds itself in an unfamiliar situation. Not only do they have enough solid starters that they can be excited about, they might have too many. There are 6 notable names that seem to be in position to take starts for them this season.

The phenom-to-be Tarik Skubal, the first overall pick Casey Mize, the experienced Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty, first rounder Matt Manning, and the young hopeful Reese Olson. However, manager AJ Hinch claims that Detroit won’t be utilizing a 6-man rotation, and they won’t be running tandem starters. That leaves one of these guys and all of the minor league guys who look good enough to be given some sort of a shot out of luck.

It seems as if Skubal, Maeda, and Flaherty are already set in stone pieces of the rotation. That leaves Mize, Manning, and Olson up in the air as to which one is going to be wearing a Toledo Mud Hens uniform to start the season. It is a pleasant but unexpected situation that all 6 guys have performed well and stayed healthy thru the spring. This is something we aren’t used to here in Detroit.

It is slightly surprising that there is a total no-go on the 6-man rotation to at least start the season. It seems as if a little extra rest would be extremely beneficial for all of these guys given their injury history, and maybe see if anyone isn’t quite up to speed with a fresh MLB season. The last thing this team needs is another Tommy John surgery or extended IL stint.

All of these guys bring something different to the table, and we would be lucky to have all of them continue to stay healthy and excel this season. If I had to pick between the two problems of not having enough good starters and having too many, I’m going to take the position the Tigers are currently in every single time.

By: Goldie (@xGoldie5 on X)

Photos courtesy of Getty Images and MLB