Former Detroit Tigers Top Prospect Amongst Team’s Latest Round of Cuts

A former top 10 pick of the Detroit Tigers was optioned to Triple-A as part of the team's most recent wave of cuts.

Detroit Tigers pitcher Matt Manning hands the ball to bench coach George Lombard during the fourth inning of a Grapefruit League game at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla. on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Tigers announced their next round of cuts at spring training, and there is one recognizable name that sticks out.

Matt Manning, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft out of Sheldon High School in Sacramento, California, has been optioned to Triple-A Toledo and will be partaking in minor league camp for the remainder of the spring.

Along with him, the team optioned fellow right-handed pitchers Chase Lee, Tyler Mattison and Tyler Owens to Triple-A Toledo.

Two more right-handed pitchers, Ryan Miller and Ricky Vanasco, were assigned to minor league camp as well.

Following this round of cuts, the Tigers now have 51 players still participating at Major League camp.

Manning has yet to live up to the billing as a top 10 pick, making 50 starts for Detroit and throwing 254 innings with a 4.43 ERA and 178 strikeouts.

Staying healthy has been an issue for him throughout his career, as he made only five starts in 2024 and 18 as a rookie in 2021 is his career high. Even in the minor leagues he reached the 20-start plateau only twice and did it a third time with 25 starts between Toledo and the Tigers in 2021.

He was competing for a spot in the Major League rotation this year at spring training, but did himself no favors with how poorly he performed during Grapefruit League games.

Manning made three appearances in exhibition games, throwing 6.0 innings. He surrendered 10 hits and struggled with his control, walking eight. That resulted in eight earned runs being charged to him and an ugly 12.00 ERA being recorded.

His underwhelming performance, coupled with the emergence of several other pitchers vying for a spot on the Opening Day roster, was enough for him to get cut despite there being several weeks remaining in camp.

It was the right move for Detroit to make, as they can focus on the players who have been performing at a high level, giving them as many chances as possible to prove themselves.

Manning was essentially beat out by Casey Mize, Kenta Maeda, Keider Montero and star prospect Jackson Jobe for a spot behind reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, free agent signing Jack Flaherty and Reese Olson.

Should he ever get healthy, veteran free agent addition Alex Cobb is also going to be in the mix ahead of Manning.

A top 100 prospect from 2017-2021, he has his work cut out for him to regain a spot in the Major League rotation in the near future.