...
By Jackson Roberts
Contributing Sports Writer
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Pitching has been the theme of the offseason for the Detroit Tigers so far.
Outside of second baseman Gleyber Torres accepting his qualifying offer, every major league free agent the Tigers have signed thus far has been a pitcher, headlined by future Hall of Fame candidate Kenley Jansen. And Detroit has also been adding several minor-league depth arms, including an intriguing one from the San Francisco Giants organization.
Cole Waites, a 27-year-old right-hander who pitched in 10 games for the Giants from 2022 to 2023, returned from Tommy John surgery to make five Triple-A appearances at the end of this past season. He's a relative unknown at this point, because the injury absence was so long, but the Tigers were willing to take a shot on him.
Read More on MLB
...
According to the transactions log on his official roster page, Waites signed a minor-league deal with the Tigers on Tuesday. He was assigned to Triple-A Toledo, but will have a chance to compete for a major league job when the Tigers head to Florida in February.
Waites has allowed six earned runs on 12 hits in his eight career innings at the major league level. Working out of the bullpen for Triple-A Sacramento at the end of the year, though, he did not allow a run in 4 2/3 innings, striking out three batters and walking two.
Before the injury, Waites routinely sat at about 96 mph with his fastball and could dial it up to 99 at times. He's mainly a two-pitch pitcher, using his fastball 68% of the time and his slider 31% of the time during his major league outings in 2023.
The Tigers don't fully know what they're getting in Waites, but pitchers often come back throwing harder after Tommy John these days, so it should be exciting to find that out during spring training.
More MLB: Yankees Release 30-Year-Old Righty; MLB Career Could Be Over
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines