After missing two starts with a right hamstring injury, right-handed starter Casey Mize made his return to the mound today for the Detroit Tigers and didn’t miss a beat. The 2018 first-overall draft pick went five strong innings, with six strikeouts and generating a 34% chase rate on his pitches in his first start off the injured list. The depth of the Tigers’ starting pitching is the reason to believe this team has what it takes to win it all.
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Casey Mize Returns to Mound After IL Stint
Although Mize’s advanced numbers don’t jump off the page, his pitch mix can fool hitters. He has a wicked splitter and a slurve with insane movement. While his fastball velocity only tops out at 95 mph, hitters are only hitting .186 against it, making it his second-best pitch. Mize’s best pitch is his slider, which has held hitters to a .111 batting average. Between 2024 and 2025, Mize lowered his usage of his fastball and increased the usage of his splitter and slurve. In 2024, opponents were 0-for-15 against his slurve, but the movement of his splitter this season is what has hitters swinging and missing. Opponents last season batted .286 against Mize’s splitter, but that number is now down to .229 with an expected batting average of .175.
Something to Look Out For
One problem Mize has had throughout his career is generating strikeouts, averaging less than one strikeout per inning since making his major league debut in 2020. His 21% strikeout rate this season puts him in the bottom half of pitchers, but it is his 5% walk rate that has helped his cause. In his last 36 innings pitched this season, Mize has walked just four batters and struck out 29. While production like this can work in the regular season, we have seen similar pitchers struggle with not having enough swing-and-miss. Kodai Senga of the New York Mets is a perfect example of this last season, albeit coming off an injury, but he had difficulty putting away batters without a signature “putaway pitch”. For Mize, that could be his offspeed, but only time will tell to see how hitters adjust to him in October.
What’s Next for Mize?
The larger question at hand is the usage rate of Mize throughout the rest of this season. In his big league career so far, Mize has maxed out at 150 innings pitched, which occurred back in 2021. Mize has dealt with elbow injuries in the past that hindered his 2023 season, and he has already experienced one hamstring injury this season. With the Tigers poised to make a deep playoff run, one can only begin to wonder what this means for the workload of one of their best starters this season.
