Lakeland, Fla. — Let’s talk about two pitchers who, as we sit here just days away from the first official pitcher-catcher workout, are going to be counted on to play pivotal roles in the Tigers’ bullpen this season.
Start with lefty Tyler Alexander.
Imagine trying to navigate through a big-league season the way he had to last year, unable to consistently execute his best two pitches. Whenever he threw his cutter and changeup correctly, whenever he fully extended and pronated, his forearm and elbow throbbed. When he altered his delivery to compensate for the pain, he was unable to locate the pitches where he needed to.
For a guy who has made his living working the margins of the strike zone, rightly earning the nickname Todd the Painter with his precise command, he lived way too much in the middle of the plate last season. It was not a formula for success.
And his most statistically effective pitch, his slider, with which he’s limited hitters to 10 hits in 81 at-bats the last two years, well…
“I hate it,” Alexander said Friday after throwing a bullpen session on the backfields at TigerTown. “It’s like the most awkward pitch for me to throw because it’s the most manipulated pitch out front in terms of wrist manipulation. It’s a pitch that, when it’s good, it’s really good. But for me it is my fourth-best pitch, so I don’t want to get hurt on it.”
So, for most of the year, Alexander had to lean heavily on his 90-mph four-seam and two-seam fastballs. Still, he soldiered through 27 appearances, 17 starts, and logged the third-most innings (101) on the team.
“A lot of it stemmed from where my arm was last year,” he said. “I think coming into spring last year not healthy and just trying to battle through, and then finally having to rehab for a while and sitting in Florida. When I did come back from rehab, I started throwing a lot better.
“I am hoping with the way I prepared this offseason and how I feel now, things are going to be a lot different.”
Things are going to be different in one very tangible aspect: Alexander’s role should be more clearly defined. He may make the occasional spot start, but he is expected to be working out of the bullpen. He is presently the only lefty reliever on the 40-man roster, though the Tigers have invited four lefties to camp (Chasen Shreve, Zach Logue, Adam Wolf and Miguel Del Pozo).
“I haven’t had that talk with AJ (Hinch, manager) yet,” Alexander said. “But we have a lot of healthy starters right now, so I can’t really predict what he’s going to have me do … But if I were to guess, they will probably build me up to three innings in camp and then see where we’re at.”
Alexander started last season in the rotation and was put on the injured list after four rough starts (12 earned runs in 12.1 innings). He came back in mid-June and posted his most effective stretch of the season, allowing three runs in 21 innings, all out of the bullpen. He limited hitters to a .237 batting average and a .565 OPS.
He finished the year with 13 starts (5.19 ERA), with four quality starts, including a masterful seven innings of two-hit shutout work against the Orioles.
Alexander has statistically been at his best over his career out of the bullpen (a 3.64 ERA vs. 4.73 as a starter) and, as he said, he feels as healthy now as he has in a couple of years. He’s changed his grip on the cutter which has allowed him to throw it more comfortably and consistently. And with more velocity and hopefully a tighter break.
“Yeah, I am not sure what the movement profile is on it right now,” he said. “But I think it’s harder. It feels good.”
His offseason was busy. He not only looked to clean up his mechanics but he also revised his arm care routine. Always, though, as reinforced by pitching coach Chris Fetter before the end of last season, he worked to squeeze another mph or two of velocity out of his left arm.
“Everyone wants me to throw harder,” Alexander said with a laugh. “Every year they want me to throw harder. So I did some stuff with my lower half. Fett and I talked about lead leg block — which is the leg that lands, try to keep it more stable. I’ve done some stuff with my hips, a little rotation stuff, different things to try to throw harder.”
Seeing any results?
“I give it everything I got and it’s 86 mph,” he said, again with a chuckle. “Throw a hitter in there and I might hit low 90s.”
Don’t let his self-deprecation fool you. Alexander is a craftsman. He relies on movement, sequencing and location. He doesn’t overpower hitters, he keeps them off-balance. He keeps batted balls off hitters’ barrels. Even as he struggled much of last season, his hard-hit rate against was better than league average (38.1%).
“What’s most important to me is I’m healthy,” he said. “I feel healthy and I wasn’t healthy last year.”
Don’t sleep on his importance to this pitching staff, either. He is entering his age-28 season and, believe it or not, will be one of the deans of the bullpen. Both he and Jose Cisnero are in their fifth season with the Tigers.
Alexander’s versatility and the length he can bring out of the ‘pen, will be vital, especially this year when all five projected starting pitchers are coming back from either injury or reduced workloads in 2022.
The leverage void
Last year, right-hander Jason Foley more or less stepped in to fill the role Kyle Funkhouser performed so effectively in 2021 — that sturdy, hard-throwing, ground-ball inducing workhorse who could be used in any and all situations.
This year, Foley has a chance to fill a bigger role. The Tigers have traded away three of their late-inning leverage relievers from a year ago (Michael Fulmer, Joe Jimenez and Gregory Soto) and lost another in free agency (Andrew Chafin, signed by Arizona on Saturday).
Opportunity knocks for Foley.
“If that’s what happens, great,” Foley said. “Wherever AJ wants me, wherever I’m needed to help us win. That’s the most important thing.”
But, as we’ve seen the last few winters, leverage relievers are starting get paid commensurate with their value to a team. And Foley, with his 96-97 mph power sinker and improving slider, has the tools to handle those situations.
“We had a bunch of guys who were getting those innings before me,” Foley said. “But the few times I was able to get those spots, I was fine. I feel like I held my own. I think I can certainly pitch those innings. But again, whatever happens, happens. Whatever AJ thinks is best for the team is cool with me.”
There is another level Foley can get to and will need to get to in order to secure a late-inning spot. He throws strikes (4.3% walk rate) and had a 57.5% ground ball rate last season. But he didn’t induce much chase (28%) or swings-and-misses (16.7%) and had a low strikeout rate (16.8%).
He also was hit relatively hard with an average exit velocity on balls put in play of 90.7 mph, which ranked in the bottom 5 percentile in baseball, and a 42.5% hard-hit rate. Half of the runners he inherited last season, 14 of 28, scored.
He’s got work to do.
“I’ve made a pretty big emphasis on my offspeed stuff this offseason,” he said. “I’m trying to get command of my slider, get it sharper and more consistent. That’s kind of the name of the game. If you can mix up two or three pitches so the hitters don’t really know what’s coming, that’s going to help you a lot.
“To have more command of the slider and be able to throw it behind in the count and then work my changeup more against left-handed hitters is going to be key.”
Foley’s slider had a tendency to pop out of his hand and get a little loopy. The average velocity of the pitch last year was 85.6 mph. He’s working to make that pitch a little firmer and hopefully a little tighter, more in the profile of the slider Fulmer threw so effectively last year.
“There is a correlation between the velocity of a slider and its effectiveness,” he said. “So I am trying to throw it harder. It has more depth than Fulmer’s, but it’s still slower. I just need to keep it down and away to righties.”
He only threw 66 changeups last season and all of them to left-handed hitters. Later in the year he started to use a four-seam fastball more often, though he never seemed comfortable with it.
“I fell into the trap of not having feel for my offspeed and relying on sinkers alone too often,” Foley said. “It is a good pitch, but big-league hitters are good enough to where if they know it’s coming, they are going to hit it.
“The trend these days is to be close to 50-50 between fastball and offspeed. The closer I can get to those numbers, the more effective I can be.”
Going into camp, Foley, Cisnero and Alex Lange have the inside track on the late-inning roles. Though certainly nothing is etched in stone. Right-handers Will Vest, Rule 5 draftee Mason Englert and non-roster fireballer Trey Wingenter will be fighting for leverage spots, as well.
The back end of the Tigers’ bullpen was a defined area of strength last year. Entering camp this year, it’s an area of question marks. Foley has the stuff to provide at least one answer.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky