Detroit Tigers send Matt Manning to Triple-A; Casey Mize, Reese Olson make MLB roster

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Matt Manning won't be getting on the Chicago-bound plane next week.

The Detroit Tigers optioned Manning, one of three pitchers competing for two spots in the starting rotation, to Triple-A Toledo. The Tigers made the decision Thursday night and delivered the news Friday morning.

Casey Mize and Reese Olson won the pitching competition to join Tarik Skubal, Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty in the five-man rotation as part of the 26-man roster for Opening Day on Thursday against the Chicago White Sox.

"This news is hard to deliver, it's harder to receive," manager A.J. Hinch said Friday morning. "He's vowed to go and do his part in Triple-A, but he wasn't happy. No player is at this point when their expectations weren't met."

Skubal is scheduled to start Thursday's Opening Day against the White Sox, followed by Maeda on March 30 and Flaherty on March 31 to complete the three-game series at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Mize, Olson and Skubal are lined up to pitch April 1-3, facing the New York Mets at Citi Field. Mize, who turns 27 on May 1, is returning from elbow surgery and back surgery, but he isn't expected to face any innings restrictions.

"It's more about where Casey is and where Reese is than necessarily negative on Matt," Hinch said. "Obviously we need to hold our stuff, he needs to control damage a little bit better, but he did a lot of good things."

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Manning, 26, posted a 3.38 ERA with seven walks and 19 strikeouts across 16 innings in five games during spring training. Six of eight hits allowed were home runs, a point of emphasis when the Tigers informed Manning he would begin the season in Toledo's rotation.

"Controlling damage," Hinch said. "He did give up a lot of homers. I think, when you talk about holding your stuff and your best shapes and your best locations, and even outside the box score, those are things that we looked into."

But Manning, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2016 draft, has been the best version of himself — mixing two slider shapes and developing a new changeup — in spring training after incorporating lessons learned in the offseason from the pitching coaches. The Tigers helped him tweak his mechanics to get the most out of his fastball, and throughout spring games, his fastball missed bats at an above-average clip for the first time since his minor league years. A better fastball led to better results with his sliders, changeup and curveball.

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Manning, whose fastball averaged 95.5 mph in his first start and 94.3 mph in his final start, walked back-to-back batters in the fifth inning to finish Thursday's start against the Mets in Lakeland.

"I had some frustration at the end," Manning said Friday morning, less than an hour before learning he was getting optioned. "It's just the feelings of giving up eight hits and six homers, and throwing really good pitches, and then hanging one, I was frustrated taking that into the fifth inning."

The Tigers expect Manning to help them win games at some point in 2024, just not at the onset of the season. For now, the Tigers want him to continue learning how to best utilize his pitch repertoire at the Triple-A level.

"He's the odd man out to start," Hinch said. "The competition continues as we get into April."

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Mize, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft, logged a 2.35 ERA with nine walks and 14 strikeouts across 15⅓ innings in five games. He gave up 10 hits, no home runs. Mize, who hasn't pitched in MLB since April 2022 because of injuries, has locked in his fastball command over the past few games.

His slider and splitter have been inconsistent, but he is throwing the best fastball of his professional career with increased velocity at 95 mph, as well as more ride. Most impressive is the way Mize has held his velocity while building up innings.

"He's still rounding into form with the secondary pitches," Hinch said, "but he — of anybody in our camp, 65-player wide — took this spring as a complete competition, and that was very notable in his work. ... He quickly showed that he was ready to be an option for us by how he came into camp. I thought that was certainly worth rewarding."

Mize reached back to hit 97.7 mph for a called third strike in the fifth inning with his 70th and final pitch in Wednesday's start against the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers. His fastball averaged 94.8 mph.

"Being able to go get that tells me that I'll always have that in my back pocket," Mize said Wednesday. "Runner on first there, but even in tougher situations, I can get some velocity and still execute a pitch at a high level. It definitely feels good."

Olson, 24, registered a 3.68 ERA with four walks and 14 strikeouts across 14⅔ innings in five games. He gave up 11 hits and one home run. The Tigers were impressed with his ability to handle right-handed and left-handed hitters with secondary pitches.

What Olson showed in spring training was a continuation of his dominant five starts in September, with a 1.44 ERA, nine walks and 25 strikeouts across 31⅓ innings for the Tigers.

"Coming into spring, I had a better feel for everything," Olson said Sunday, when asked about his slider, changeup and curveball. "Some days last year, I would have one and then the other two would be for show, but in most of my outings this spring, I've had pretty good feel for all three."

Last season, Olson generated almost all of his swings and misses with his slider and changeup. He threw both secondary pitches to lefties and righties. A lot of right-handed pitchers are limited to throwing sliders to righties and changeups to lefties.

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"He can attack so many different game plans with so many different weapons," Hinch said. "He gets in-zone miss. He can throw any pitch in any count. He can be unpredictable. He's really good."

Olson, whom the Tigers acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers as a lower-level prospect at the 2021 trade deadline, is scheduled to pitch a simulated game Sunday on the TigerTown backfields; Mize will start Tuesday's spring training finale against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

After that, Olson and Mize will shift their focus on the Mets in New York.

"When we talk about the competition, we have to decide who we feel like won it," Hinch said. "We felt like Casey and Reese did a tick better, but it's not an indictment on Matt. It's more of a strength that we have."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers send Matt Manning to Triple-A; Casey Mize makes roster