Detroit Tigers Second Ace Has Not Been Who Fans Expected So Far This Season

The Detroit Tigers entered the year with one of the best rotations in baseball, but who the second best pitcher is has been a surprise.

May 4, 2025; Anaheim, California, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Reese Olson (45) throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning at Angel Stadium. | Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images

The Detroit Tigers are off to an incredible start and are one of the best teams in all of baseball, and a massive part of the reason why has been the pitching staff.

Entering the year with as much potential as any other rotation in all of baseball, expectations were high to get strong performances from the starters.

They responded with a historic April in which they posted a 2.80 ERA collectively, the team's best mark in a single month in over 40 years since 1984.

Of course, the Tigers knew defending American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal was going to come out to play this season and be the best pitcher on the team. The emergence of Casey Mize at the back end has also been one of the stories of the year, but it's the No. 3 starter who has stepped into the role of the team's second ace.

After Detroit brought back Jack Flaherty on a lucrative contract, the expectation was for him to step right back into last year's role of excelling behind Skubal.

Flaherty has not been horrible by any means, but 25-year-old Reese Olson has been incredible.

After two not so great starts to begin the season, Olson has dominated opposing hitting since.

In his last five starts, he has given up a total of seven runs, including three scoreless efforts and has posted an ERA of 2.25 and WHIP of 1.11, striking out 30 in 28 innings pitched.

Behind only Mize, Olson is second on the team in wins with four of them already, seemingly getting better with each and every start.

If Olson can continue to be the dominant force in the middle of the rotation that he has shown so far this season, it raises the ceiling immensely for the Tigers.

Detroit has a special rotation with anyone capable of throwing a gem on any given day, and now stepping into his own, Olson is finding himself right at the center of things.