Everyone expected Tarik Skubal to come back after his Cy Young-winning season and do more of the same (which is to say, dominate), but the rest of the rotation was a bit more of a wild card. Jack Flaherty was going to be solid after the Tigers’ pitching staff rebuilt him last season and he won a World Series with the Dodgers, but Reese Olson, Casey Mize, and Jackson Jobe all came with asterisks — recent injury, history of poor performance, and rookie status, respectively.
However, with Detroit now four turns through the rotation, it doesn’t seem like an exaggeration to say that the Tigers’ rotation is one of the best in baseball. Skubal, Mize, Flaherty, and Jobe all sport ERAs under 3.00, and Olson put up his best start against the Royals last week (five scoreless innings in the opener).
Still, Royals color commentator Rex Hudler had the audacity to make a completely unfounded and incorrect assessment of the rotation during Mize’s start in the third game. He said, “These guys have a really good young team. They’re talented, they can hit and defend. Their weakness might be starting pitching.”
The next morning, after the clip went viral on social media, Tigers PR set the record straight. Theirs is “the only team in baseball with four starting pitchers carrying sub-3.00 ERAs.”
Royals announcer Rex Hudler calls Tigers’ starting pitching their “weakness,” immediately gets roasted
If anything, Hudler got things completely backwards. The Tigers are talented and the hitting has been a lot better this year than anyone might’ve expected, but Detroit’s pitching is undeniably the best thing about their roster. Skubal, Mize, Flaherty, and Jobe have been stunningly effective, with Mize especially continuing to defy expectations and reiterate that Detroit’s pitching coaches really know what they’re doing.
Mize, who was pitching when Hudler made that comment, had kept the Royals to three hits (all singles) in six innings. His only misstep of the day was a single solo homer given up to Freddie Fermin in the seventh, but he stayed in to close out the inning without further issue and complete his longest start since July 29, 2021.
There are fair criticisms to make of the current Tigers squad — their outfield depth is basically nonexistent, Kenta Maeda and Javy Báez’s continued presences on the roster are daily reminders of some of the front office’s most recent failures, and Colt Keith is looking pretty bad right now — but taking a shot at the starting pitching couldn’t be more laughable.
