CLEVELAND — When José Cisnero turned the corner, his friends burst with excitement. He went around the Detroit Tigers‘ clubhouse at Progressive Field and chatted up his teammates.
He has close bonds with Gregory Soto, Michael Fulmer, Joe Jiménez and several others.
With Cisnero’s emergence in the clubhouse, manager A.J. Hinch officially gets another trusted weapon in the bullpen. The veteran right-hander, a high-leverage reliever last season, is set to make his 2022 debut this weekend against the Cleveland Guardians.
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“I feel like I’m home,” Cisnero said Thursday, with Tigers bilingual media coordinator Carlos Guillen interpreting. “These group of guys are my second family. It’s nice to be here around them, and I’m glad to be in my second home.”
Cisnero hasn’t pitched for the Tigers this year because of two injuries: a right shoulder strain he suffered in spring training and a swollen Achilles tendon suffered on his first rehab assignment with Triple-A Toledo.
The 33-year-old woke up Thursday morning in St. Paul, Minnesota, where the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate is playing, took a taxi to the airport and flew directly to Cleveland. He will be reinstated from the injured list after Thursday’s game.
“He’s a reliable strike thrower, which means he’ll probably walk the first hitter now that I said that,” Hinch said. “But he’s been able to get lefties and righties out. He’s been a durable guy up until bad luck this spring. He’s a commanding presence in our bullpen and around our team. We had him pitching in winning games, which speaks to what he can do an opposing lineup.”
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Cisnero joins one of the best bullpens in baseball, ranking third in MLB with a 3.06 ERA. At the forefront of the success is Soto (2.59 ERA), Fulmer (1.89), Jiménez (3.48), Alex Lange (2.38) and Andrew Chafin (2.30).
The Tigers will ease Cisnero into a heavy workload.
He isn’t likely to pitch two games in a row, three of four days or two innings in one game. Those opportunities won’t happen until August, since the Tigers put Cisnero through a makeshift version of spring training throughout his rehab.
“I’ll remember that it’s April for him, even though we’re in July,” Hinch said. “The better he pitches, the more leverage he’ll get. … I’ll pay attention to it, but it doesn’t mean that I’ll create a soft landing for him. It might be bases loaded, one out. When I bring him in, he’s got to get outs.”
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Cisnero appeared in five games for Toledo during his latest rehab assignment, posting a 3.86 ERA with zero walks and five strikeouts in 4⅔ innings. He completed his final rehab outing Tuesday.
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“When I was back there, some of my teammates sent me text messages saying they needed me back and wanted me here,” Cisnero said. “I wanted to be here, competing with them and helping them win more games. It was nice to receive all those text messages from them.”
In 2021, Cisnero pitched in 67 games for the Tigers.
He had a 3.65 ERA with 31 walks and 62 strikeouts over 61⅓ innings. His season ended early, though, after he blew a save and gave up four runs Sept. 12 against the Tampa Bay Rays. The next day, the Tigers put him on the injured list with a right elbow laceration.
“What I leaned from this (injury) experience and my past experience is not to focus on the bad side of things,” Cisnero said. “I look for the positive things and try to get healthy. Not thinking about the injury itself, just focusing on being healthy so I can be back.”
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Since Cisnero is on the 60-day injured list, the Tigers will need to make roster moves to the 26-man and 40-man rosters. From the 26-man roster, he will take Elvin Rodriguez’s spot after Thursday’s start.
Then, Cisnero will finally debut.
“I feel good,” Cisnero said. “What I bring to my teammates is what I’ve shown so far with my skills and my talent. I’ll do my best to help them win games. If you want specifics, we will see what I got when I get on the mound.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.