Detroit Tigers Former Top Prospect Throws Another Great Spring Training Outing

The Detroit Tigers may soon have some very tough decisions on their hand when it comes to who is going to be in the starting rotation to begin the season.

In Saturday afternoon's 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, the Tigers gave up just one hit as a team. In a strong pitching performance for the staff as a whole, it was the outing for the starter - right-hander Casey Mize - which stood out the most.

In three innings pitched, Mize did not give up a hit or run, walking just one batter and striking out two over 35 pitches, 19 of which were for strikes.

It was Mize's second strong performance of the spring in as many starts with now no runs given up in a total of five innings pitched with five strikeouts.

For the spring, he now sports a WHIP of 0.600.

This was always going to be a critical spring for the 2018 No. 1 overall pick.

Mize has shown flashes through his first four years in the big leagues, but to this point, he has yet to come close to putting it all together.

In 2024 - Mize's first season since returning from Tommy John surgery - he continued to be up and down, posting an ERA of 4.49 in 22 appearances on the year with a record of 2-6.

After the team brought back fellow right-hander Jack Flaherty via a lucrative free agent contract as well as the inevitable arrival of current top prospect Jackson Jobe, Mize's days in Detroit's rotation were going to be numbered if he did not prove himself in camp.

While five solid innings in the spring likely are not enough to separate Mize from the rest of the pack, he has put himself into a better position than he was in heading into the start of camp.

The top-three in the rotation are essentially locks with Tarik Skubal, Flaherty and Reese Olson, but beyond that, there is a battle between several names to fill out the back end of the unit.

Jobe is under a close microscope and will secure a spot at some point this season.

Beyond him, the real two favorites to secure a role have become Mize and last year's free agent signing Kenta Maeda, who has been solid himself thus far to begin spring.

Keider Montero and Matt Manning have outside shots as well, though it's really come down to three names battling for two spots in Jobe, Mize and Maeda.

If Mize continues to look the way he has throughout the rest of camp, it will be hard for the Tigers to not give the former top prospect a shot at the beginning of the year.

There's still a few weeks left for things to work themselves out, but with a battle which has started to really take shape, Mize is doing a nice job of at least putting himself in a good position to have a chance to earn a role.

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