With the debut of Casey Mize, the Detroit Tigers have started to groom a vital piece of their surge back to respectability.
There was no huge media coverage and there were not fans lined up around the block to buy tickets to the game. The performance itself wasn’t all that spectacular and will go down in the stat-book as a no-decision for the pitcher. The message sent was, the Detroit Tigers care about the future and want to start preparing now. The message received was, Casey Mize is going to be a great pitcher.
The longevity of the start was not there, working through 4 1/3 innings while throwing 73 pitches. The story the stat-line tells is one of a pitcher who scattered seven hits over the course of his outing while giving up three earned runs and striking out seven.
Mize will possess an earned run average of 6.23 the next time he takes the mound, and even though that ERA may go up before coming down, one thing is for certain. Casey Mize has big-league stuff and is ready to take on big-league hitters.
Mize is the top-rated pitching prospect in the Detroit Tigers system and the eighth top prospect in all of baseball. He was selected first overall in the 2018 draft and raced through the minor league system.
Had there been a Triple-A this year, he most likely would have started there. Though as it is, he skipped that step on the ladder in his ascent to the top.
Odds are, the Tigers are going to be careful with Mize, as they should. The Tigers are going nowhere this year and most likely will still be rebuilding a year from now as well. There are a few glimmers of hope on the pitching staff, though nothing worth writing home about.
That is until Mize gets his feet underneath him. After three strong years at Auburn, he was deserving of the number one pick in the draft. After a strong campaign in the minors, he was deserving of a call up to the majors.
Now, we can put the speculation behind us and begin to experience the results.