Detroit — You look at right-hander Brendan White’s body of work at Triple-A Toledo throughout May and early June and it’s a bit of a head-scratcher.
“He’s got really good stuff and he’s had a really weird year,” manager AJ Hinch said. “But his stuff plays.”
White, the Tigers’ No. 27-ranked prospect who was called up Tuesday, has been on-point over his last six outings, allowing one earned run with 12 strikeouts and two walks over 7.2 innings. But from May 7, he’s had a 7.41 ERA and a .592 batting average on balls put in play against him.
“There’s more to it than the raw statistics,” Hinch said.
His strikeout and walk numbers are still impressive — 12 strikeouts and 2.8 walks per nine innings. And there’s been no falloff with his eclectic mix of pitches, featuring heavy 93-mph four-seam and two-seam fastballs with two variations of sliders (high-spin gyro slider and a sweeper).
So what’s with the elevated numbers?
“It was a tough month,” White said. “I was going through it a little bit, messing around with different sequences, implementing different pitch types and trying to figure out where everything plays together and how it all ties in.”
The 3,000-rpm slider is still his primary secondary pitch that he throws off his fastball and sinker. The trick, though, was finding ways to best implement a split-fingered pitch with the others to disguise or get hitters off his primary weapons.
“Toward the end of May and recently I started to piece together how I really want to pitch and how I want to get guys out with these different tools,” he said. “It was just finding that balance. How the pitches best play, when they best play and knowing what pitch to put where.
“I learned a good bit, so it was good to go through that.”
White was up earlier this season, serving as the 27th man for a doubleheader in April. He didn’t get into a game.
“It’s rare to have a guy debut and already have a service day in the big leagues and already been sent down,” Hinch said. “I told him, ‘This time I’m going to get you into a game.’”
That’s almost assured. The Tigers’ bullpen has been working overtime with two bullpen starts over the last week and with starters going longer than five innings just twice in the last 11 games.
“For Brendan, pure stuff-wise, he can be really effective,” Hinch said. “We’re going to keep hammering home the same thing we’ve been pounding these guys with all year – strike one is super key. Getting to leverage is super key.
“He’s got wipeout stuff. The strikeouts will come as a product of getting count leverage — probably to an extreme for him. His intensity is notable. We have to make sure that doesn’t work against him.”
White replaces right-hander Garrett Hill, who was optioned to Toledo after throwing 52 pitches in 2.2 innings Monday. Hill, in his two appearances, walked five hitters in 4.2 innings.
“Last year we saw him a little more aggressive and a lot more convicted,” Hinch said of Hill. “He sprayed it a little but not a lot. That’s flipped a little bit this year where he’s spraying it quite a bit and not pitching with the same freedom and conviction that he normally does.”
Báez progress?
When Javier Báez stayed on a tough curveball from Charlie Morton and drove it to the track in center field Monday — the ball leaving his bat with an exit velocity of 108 mph and traveling 394 feet — Hinch wanted to let him know that was an encouraging swing.
Then he saw the pained expression on Báez’s face after the ball was caught and thought better of it.
“Sometimes you need to get results,” Hinch said. “Where Javy is right now, he didn’t want a lot of encouragement after he lined out to center. I kept that evaluation to myself until after he got a hit. Then I went up to him, ‘By the way, that was a good swing on that line out, too.’”
Baez struck out twice Monday, chasing breaking balls out of the dirt both times. But he also put together three powerful swings. He hit a 107.6-mph bullet single in the sixth inning and doubled down the right field line (97 mph) and scored in the eighth.
He’s been grinding, taking rounds and rounds of early batting practice nearly every day, despite being in the lineup every day, trying to break out of the ground-ball rut he’s been in for the last few weeks. He’s produced three hits and an RBI in the two previous games.
“Just reading him, I know it’s incrementally getting better for him,” Hinch said.
Around the horn
The Tigers worked out one of the top high school hitting prospects in the draft before the game Tuesday. Max Clark, ranked as the No. 5 best prospect in the draft according to MLB Pipeline, is a left-handed hitting outfielder from Franklin, Indiana.
… The next round of rehab starts are set for starting pitchers Matt Manning and Tarik Skubal. Both will be with Toledo at Lehigh Valley. Skubal will start Thursday and Manning Friday.
… Right-hander Beau Brieske, who has been on a slow ramp back from right ulnar nerve entrapment, had his rehab assignment moved to Toledo, as well. He was scheduled to pitch an inning out of the bullpen Tuesday.
… Lefty starter Eduardo Rodriguez (pulley rupture in his left index finger) is still not throwing off a mound, but the intensity of his throwing program has been accelerated.
… Right-hander Alex Faedo (middle finger) started his throwing program on Tuesday.
Braves at Tigers
▶ First pitch: 1:10 p.m. Wednesday at Comerica Park, Detroit
▶ TV/radio: Bally Sports Detroit, 97.1 FM
Scouting report
▶ RHP AJ Smith-Shawver (0-0, 0.00), Braves: This will the 20-year-old rookie’s third appearance and second start. He went 5.1 innings against the Nationals and was charged with two unearned runs. He’s allowed just three hits in 7.2 innings. He’s thrown primarily a four-seam fastball (93-94 mph) and a slider.
▶ RHP Michael Lorenzen (2-3, 3.75), Tigers: Because he has so many good weapons at his disposal, it’s easy to overlook his most effective one. His four-seam fastball, which he throws with an average velocity rate of 95 mph, is holding hitters to a .145 average and a .210 slugging percentage. His average spin rate on the pitch, 2,487 rpm, is in the top 11 percentile in baseball.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky