Tigers at Rangers: July 2-5

The Den
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Game one tonight @8:05

On deck: Texas Rangers

:play_button: Series: Three games at Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas

:play_button: First pitch: Thursday — 8:05 p.m.; Saturday — 4:05 p.m.; Sunday — 3:30 p.m.

:play_button: TV/radio: Thursday, Saturday — Detroit Sports Net, 97.1; Sunday — Peacock, 97.1.

:play_button: Probables: Thursday — LHP Framber Valdez (4-5, 4.05) vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi (8-7, 3.95); Saturday — RHP Jack Flaherty (1-8, 4.97) vs. RHP Kumar Rocker (2-6, 3.83); Sunday — RHP Casey Mize (3-5, 2.63) vs. TBA.

Scouting report

:play_button: Valdez, Tigers: Facing his former team the Astros twice in 11 days didn’t work out too well for him. After allowing just one unearned run in Houston, he got banged around for eight hits and four runs at Comerica Park. Consistency has been elusive for him in his first season in Detroit. The opponent OPS of .702 is the highest against him since 2019. His 22.5% fly ball rate is a career high, as is the 18.5% of the balls hitters are pulling in the air. He’s not been able to command the bottom of the strike zone with his sinker as well as he has throughout his career.

:play_button: Eovaldi, Rangers: The 36-year-old is on a run of three straight quality starts, blanking the Blue Jays in Toronto over seven innings in his last one. His splitter is as diabolical as ever. Statcast put a plus-11 run value on it, which is in the top 100 percentile in the game. Opponents are hitting .180 against it with a 34.9% whiff and 31% strikeout rate. His four-seam fastball and cutter help him get to the splitter.ur* hits in 19.1 innings. They combined to strike out 26 and walk one.

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Another day, another gem from a Tigers starting pitcher.

This time, it was Troy Melton taking a bow. Melton went 6.1 innings and allowed just two hits and a walk, while striking out seven. He also gave the Tigers a 35th consecutive game in which a starting pitcher allowed four earned runs or fewer. That’s a franchise record. Here’s how Tigers starters have done during that stretch:

  • Jack Flaherty: Five starts, 3.04 ERA
  • Ty Madden: One start, 5.40 ERA
  • Troy Melton: Seven starts, 2.05 ERA
  • Casey Mize: Four starts, 2.95 ERA
  • Keider Montero: Seven starts, 2.82 ERA
  • Tarik Skubal: Four starts, 4.03 ERA
  • Framber Valdez: Seven starts, 3.32 ERA

Detroit Tigers Tickets: Buy tickets to see the Detroit Tigers this season.

Tigers starters had a major league-best 3.17 ERA in June, and they were absolutely ridiculous during the three games at Yankee Stadium. Mize, Skubal and Melton allowed one earned run on four hits in 19.1 innings. They combined to strike out 26 and walk one.

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Interesting article on Valdez and the ABS impact on his pitching.

# Is Framber Valdez’s first season with Tigers being spoiled by ABS system?

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If there is anybody in baseball that would be in favor of abolishing the ABS challenge system, it might be Tigers lefty Framber Valdez.

For the last eight seasons, he’s made a very good living dominating hitters at the bottom of the strike zone with a power sinker and a mix of cutter-sliders, curveballs and changeups. In 2021, he was getting hitters to hit the ball on the ground 70% of the time. His career ground ball rate is 60.6%.

Then along comes this ABS technology, which clearly defines where the bottom rail of the strike zone is. Which inhibits Valdez’s ability to get hitters to chase pitches at or below that line and, consequently, forces him to throw his pitches higher than he’s had to before.

“It has pushed me to stay a little higher in the zone,” Valdez said Wednesday through interpreter Carlos Guillen. “They have hard evidence now that those pitches are outside the zone. It has pushed me to make adjustments to keep my pitches higher than what I’m used to.”

The evidence is pretty clear. Valdez, who will start the series opener in Texas on Thursday, has a career-low 51.7% ground-ball rate and career-high 22.5% fly ball rate this season. Hitters are pulling the ball in the air at a 18.5% clip, by far the highest percentage in his career. Pulled balls in the air generally equate to damage, and that is supported by opponents’ .702 OPS against him.

“I have to throw my pitches up,” Valdez said. “Back in the day, I’d throw a pitch that crossed at the edge of the zone. Now they can challenge. It’s for my sinker, but also my changeup and curveball. I try to pitch it up a little bit and it ends up hanging and that’s when they do damage.”

The run values on all his pitches are down from his norm, especially the sinker.

“I think the threat of the ABS is the problem,” manager AJ Hinch said. “You end up elevating your pitches inside the box a little more. You end up pitching to the edges because any of those calls can be overturned.”

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Valdez lost a lot of strikes at the bottom of the zone last season because the Houston Astros’ catchers collectively graded out near the bottom in baseball in pitch framing. Now this year, he has two of best pitch-framing catchers in the game — Dillon Dingler and Jake Rogers — and the ABS is stealing strikes from him.

“If you elevate your sightline and you are a sinker-baller, you are going to start bringing the ball into an area where hitters can get underneath it,” Hinch said. “Command and getting in good counts is huge for Framber. He can’t pitch on the margins and be outside the zone. Because if hitters don’t chase, then it’s 1-0, 2-0, 3-0. It’s a vicious cycle.

“It’s not fully an ABS problem with him. It’s still about

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It’s such a shame that our hitting was so bad for so long and that our bullpen fell flat on its face. Our starting rotation is 100% a championship type of rotation.

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A rare off day on a Friday.

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I didn’t even realize that until you said something. Thanks for the heads up.

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World cup in Dallas?

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Was this not foreseeable when we gave him 38 million a year?

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There was discussion on this potential impact on pitchers overall, so, yes, it should have been. At the same point prior to last year ABS was only in the minors so hard to comp MiLB pitchers/catchers use of ABS to the MLB players.
If that makes sense

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That’s what I thought but no

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https://x.com/DetroitTigersPR/status/2072757690011467829?s=20

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Kevin McGonigle (3B)
Dillon Dingler (C)
Kerry Carpenter (RF)
Riley Greene (LF)
Colt Keith (DH)
Spencer Torkelson (1B)
Zach McKinstry (SS)
James Outman (CF)
Hao-Yu Lee (2B)

Framber Valdez (LHP)

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Valdez having another poopy game

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I’m dropping his ass from my fantasy team tomorrow. I’ve had enough of his stank.

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I hope they trade him. Frees up money to sign mize and Skubal

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We would be lucky to get a bag of marbles back in a trade for him and we would probably have to eat a bunch of salary.

He’s the worst pitcher on our staff.

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And a Harris guy

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Bases loaded need a clutch hit

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Nick Offerman Laughing GIF

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Oooo i have an idea.

Lets sit the guy that just hit s HR bomb for a guy with a .200 avg and .580 OPS.

GENIUS!

Burn this whole team to the ground.