The Tigers announced that right-hander Brendan White has been recalled to the active roster, with fellow righty Garrett Hill optioned out in a corresponding move. White was already on the 40-man roster but will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
White, 24, was a 26th round selection of the Tigers in 2019. He made some Rookie ball appearances that year but then the minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic in 2020. He has since jumped up the minor league ladder one rung per year. He spent 2021 in High-A, tossing 101 1/3 innings over 18 starts and eight relief appearances with a 4.17 ERA. He moved up to Double-A last year and was also moved to the bullpen on a permanent basis. He tossed 67 1/3 innings over 48 appearances last year with a 2.67 ERA, 27.1% strikeout rate, 6.3% walk rate and 56% ground ball rate.
Since that move to full-time relief work seemed to suit him so well, the Tigers added him to their 40-man roster in November to prevent him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. He has spent all of this year in Triple-A so far, logging 32 frames over 25 appearances. His ERA has jumped to 4.78 but that seems to be inflated by a .466 batting average on balls in play. His 29.3% strikeout rate, 6.8% walk rate and 52.2% ground ball rate are all similar to last year’s numbers and each one is better than average.
White will now get a chance to jump to the major leagues and join a beleaguered Detroit bullpen. The club used seven pitchers on Sunday’s game, using Will Vest as an opener in front of bulk guy Joey Wentz before five different relievers were later deployed. Yesterday, the club went with a bullpen game as each of Mason Englert, Hill, and Tyler Alexander tossed at least 2 2/3 innings before Alex Lange closed it out. With that heavy usage, they’ve decided to get a fresh arm by swapping White in for Hill.