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Now that we get Statcast data from Triple-A, Single-A, and spring training games, it’s a lot easily to find notable details in pitching performances. Even when things go poorly in early outings as pitchers and hitters shake off the winter rust, you can still get a nice baseline on pitchers’ velocity and movement profiles, and then track that progress though camp. Sometimes it means something, sometimes it doesn’t. You still have to command your stuff to handle major league hitters unless you’re just absolutely gifted with raw velocity or movement.
So, we’re through three Grapefruit League games at this point. Pitching hasn’t been particularly impressive, but if we look deeper into pitchers’ stuff, there are some interesting points to note on numerous guys in Tigers spring training camp. These are just going to be quick hits to get some ideas of what to look for as camp progresses.
Remember this is literally just the beginning of camp. There was really nothing much to say about brief appearances from Brant Hurter, Bryan Sammons, Konnor Pilkington, Tanner Rainey, Jack Little, Burch Smith, or Brenan Hanifee. No big changes are apparent after the offseason, so it’s just a matter of how well they use what they’ve got.
We haven’t even seen Framber Valdez, Justin Verlander, Casey Mize, Troy Melton, Will Vest, Kenley Jansen, Kyle Finnegan, or Tyler Holton yet. Wednesday’s split squad action should see several more spring debuts. Again, we’re just getting warmed up here.
Tarik Skubal
There wasn’t much to report from the two-time and reigning AL Cy Young award winner. He looked great in his two innings of work against the Twins on Sunday. Velocity was good on the fastballs and the induced vertical break was at the top of his range on the fourseam fastball, and he continues to reduce horizontal movement. Got whiffs on three of the four changeups he threw. Light work.
Jack Flaherty
Jack Flaherty looked very Jack Flaherty-like in his outing on Monday against the Orioles. He wasn’t particularly sharp but everything looks good under the hood. His fourseam velocity was up a tick over his average last year. Hopefully that’s a good sign as he tries to find his way back to his dominant 2024 form after a shaky 2025 season.
Drew Anderson
The Tigers offseason free agent pickup looked pretty good in following Skubal on Sunday. He sat 95.3 mph with his fourseam fastball though the vertical movement was a little off on average at 16 inches of IBV, whereas he’s usually around 18. The kick change looked good. The curve and slider still look pretty average, but that will do. Right now Anderson is going to start the season in the bullpen, but the Tigers will keep him stretched out in camp. He certainly wouldn’t be the first pitcher to figure it out in Korea and return an effective major league pitcher, and the stuff looked the part in his first outing.
Keider Montero
Montero got the start in the Grapefruit League opener on Saturday, and his command wasn’t particularly sharp against a lineup with Aaron Judge and several other regulars in the mix. He did average 96.3 mph with both his fourseamer and sinker, well above his 93.8 mph average fastball last year. However, the induced vertical break on the fourseam remains really pedestrian at 16 inches, and he left a couple up over the plate that went for a single and a double in the first inning, and then Spencer Jones blasted another fourseamer into orbit in the second inning.
It’s good to see the velo in terms of where he might sit in shorter outings in the bullpen, but unless he can get more ride on the fourseam he’s probably better off using the sinker more and just mixing the two up fairly evenly. That might be tricky given that his command is pretty average, but if his fastballs were just a bit less hittable everything else would play up nicely. Still a work in progress.
The spin rates on his breaking stuff remain elite, particularly with the knuckle curve, while the slider continues to have average depth but sweeps horizontally a good amount. It still feels like that pitch would do better if it dove more and wasn’t so distinguishable from his knuckle curve.
Cole Waites
The 27-year-old right-hander was drafted by the Giants and finally released last year, so he’s well known to Scott Harris. As a prospect, Waites scraped triple digits with an explosive fastball that drew 70 grades, but he never had a particularly good breaking ball, and like many hard-throwing relief prospects, his high effort delivery left him with poor command.
His return from September 2023 Tommy John surgery didn’t go particularly well in 2025. He wasn’t able to get back on the mound regularly until the end of the season, but he did average 95.7 mph at the Triple-A level. So far this spring the velocity is nowhere in evidence as he’s sitting around 92 mph. The big fastball was always his calling card and ticket to the major leagues, so until he recovers a lot of velo there isn’t much to talk about here. Maybe they’re rebuilding him up slowly, maybe he’s cooked. This is a longer term project.
Dylan Smith
Right-hander Dylan Smith is a former interest starting prospect turned reliever who has battled some injuries the past few years. He showed some potential in a brief 2025 major league debut before a shoulder strain shut him down after the All-Star break.
On Sunday against the Orioles, Smith came in at the end of the game against a minor league lineup. Still he averaged 19 inches of IVB, two more than his 2025 average, and it showed as the Orioles whiffed on all five fourseamers he threw in his inning of work. His sweeper is still pretty average and he’s going to need consistency back-footing it through dangerous territory against left-handed hitters. However, he doesn’t need to lean on the breaking ball too much either. He’ll be very effective with the fastball sitting 94-95 and getting that much ride on it. More of that, please.
Tyler Mattison
This 27-year-old right-hander has become a bit of a mirage over the past few seasons. Once a pretty good relief prospect with a dominant fastball who seemed pretty close to the major leagues, Mattison has gone through Tommy John surgery and a shaky return to action in 2025. He’s still in the same spot as a pitcher that could help the bullpen and give them a different look if he can stay healthy and get back to peak form. The Tigers released him from the 40-man roster at year’s end, but the two parties always intended to agree on a minor league deal and he’s back in the fold.
Mattison throws from a really high overhand arm slot with freakishly high spin rates (2600-2700 rpms), producing huge active spin and 19-20 inches of induced vertical break. His slider and changeup come out of the same slot, dropping steeply in either direction. He hasn’t really ever had precision fastball command, but pre-injury he was often 95-97 mph and pretty unhittable at times. The unique arm slot and stuff would be a really nice addition to the relief mix, but it’s mainly a question of staying healthy and getting back into a groove.
His velocity was still only around 93 mph in his first outing, so we’ll see if he can build that up. The stuff is still really good and Mattison is still a guy worth keeping an eye on. It wouldn’t take that much of a bump in command and velo to turn him into a legitimate setup caliber reliever.