Detroit Tigers Reliever Making Sure He's Fully Recovered From Injury Before Returning

The Detroit Tigers have a reliable backend reliever on their team, but it will require them to wait for him to become fully healthy.

May 12, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Alex Lange (55) pitches in the eighth inning against the Houston Astros at Comerica Park. | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

The Detroit Tigers will need some help in the backend of the bullpen, but that could require them to wait for one of their players to fully rehab his injury.

Alex Lange has been solid for the Tigers. He has not been an All-Star, but he has put up some very respectable seasons.

In 2022 and 2023 combined, the right-hander made 138 appearances, threw 129.1 innings, struck out 161 batters and owned a 3.55 ERA. Along with that, he recorded 26 saves two years ago while finishing 45 games.

After the 2023 season, the Tigers thought they found someone to be a reliable closer for them. However, Lange struggled last season.

He made 21 appearances in the Major Leagues last year, and he pitched better than his numbers suggest. In those games, the LSU product allowed nine runs in 18.2 innings. When taking a closer look, though, Lange allowed eight of those nine earned runs in 1.2 innings pitched. The other 17 innings saw the former first-round pick allow just one earned run while striking out 20 batters.

Still, the Tigers saw a need to send Lange down to the minors because of his inability to throw strikes.

In total, he walked 17 batters, which gave him almost one walk per inning. Because he was always working from behind, hitters were able to take advantage of him a little bit. He allowed a high average exit velocity and a hard-hit percentage of 52%.

With Triple-A Toledo, Lange started seeing some success.

He walked just one batter in 8.2 innings pitched, which is a massive improvement from his numbers in the bigs. Unfortunately, the hard-throwing righty had to get lat surgery in June, which shut him down the entire season.

That injury has put him on the 60-day IL to begin 2025, as well. This means the earliest he can make his season debut is the end of May.

The 29-year-old is not in any rush to return, and he wants to do it right.

"My goal is to get 100% ready whenever that happens," he said while speaking with Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. "I have no other time restrictions other than get healthy, come back helping the boys and take the ball every day. That's my goal. That's my mentality."

Getting back to full health is his top priority.

Lange would rather play it safe than try to come back too soon and get hurt again.

The righty has the potential to be very valuable at the backend of the bullpen.

Last year, despite the struggles in the zone, Lange had a high 33.3% whiff rate.

If he can cut down on the walks, he has a chance to make a big impact at the MLB level when fully healthy.