Matt Manning was taking it on the chin in Triple-A, struggling like he’d never struggled before. The big leagues drifted a little further away with each blow. His arm felt good, but the numbers were the numbers. And the numbers were ugly. Manning lives in an apartment in Detroit, because this is where he expected to pitch this season. Instead he was commuting to Toledo.
Prior to his last start for the Mud Hens, Manning called a friend who lives in the building next to him. He wanted to get his mind off things before driving to the ballpark. He called Tarik Skubal.
“I knew they were home and I didn’t want to stay in my apartment alone, so I was like, let’s see what he’s doing,” Manning said Tuesday. “I just went over there and we didn’t even talk about baseball that much. We just talked about what was going on (in life). It just calmed me down. Seeing a familiar face gives you ease of mind and got me to where I needed to be.”
That night, Manning made his best start of the season. On Thursday in Los Angeles, he’ll make his big-league debut. A.J. Hinch welcomed him to the team on Tuesday in Kansas City where the Tigers wrap up a three-game series Wednesday afternoon.
“I think he was in some ways relieved,” Hinch said. “He didn’t say that to me, but he’s not happy with how his year (was going) and he didn’t want to be written off. The fact that he’s getting this opportunity, he seemed genuinely thankful.”
Related
Now it’s on to business. The Tigers are turning to Manning because injuries have piled up in their rotation. Matthew Boyd and Spencer Turnbull are on the shelf. Their bullpen is taxed. They need dependable innings from their top pitching prospect, like the six innings he delivered last Wednesday when he yielded two runs and struck out eight. And kept the ball in the yard.
Home runs have been Manning’s bugaboo this season. He allowed 11 in his first six starts -- after allowing six in 24 starts in Double-A in 2019 -- which is the biggest reason he arrives in the majors with an ERA over 8.00. It wasn’t for lack of stuff. Manning struck out more than a batter per inning and limited the walks. It was for lack of strategy.
“I learned that you can’t always out-stuff people, out-velo them,” Manning said. “I think I really learned to pitch toward the end of it, inside and out. The adversity I went through and overcoming it is going to make me a better pitching coming out the other end.”
Specifically, Manning said he learned the importance of “landing my breaking balls, being a little more fine toward the edges and knowing when to expand the zone.” He learned the difference between strikes and quality strikes.
“Those are things you get away with in the lower levels,” he said. “The Triple-A hitters are real. They made me pay for it and made me better.”
Related
Manning’s arm – and his success in the lower levels – made him one of the top 20 prospects in baseball and the No. 3 right-handed pitching prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. It’s the lessons he learned in Triple-A that position him for success in the majors.
He showed what he can do against big-league hitters in one dominant inning against the Phillies this spring when he retired Jean Segura, Bryce Harper and Didi Gregorius in order, blowing away Harper with three straight heaters.
“I always knew my stuff was good,” Manning said. “Wasn’t getting the results I wanted to (this season), but it’s just a matter of attacking guys and going at them as hard as I can. I know my stuff plays here.”
Attacking guys, with a plan. Going at them, with precision. That’s what Manning picked up in Toledo, the same thing Skubal and Casey Mize have picked up in Detroit. Now they’re here together, ready to make their mark.
“I’m just so comfortable around those guys,” Manning said. “They’re the people I want to be around. Knowing that they wanted me here as bad as I wanted to be here, it’s just a good feeling all the way around.”
“Obviously,” said Hinch, “we have visions in the future of those three being very stable parts of our rotation.”
It’s already begun for Skubal and Mize. It begins Thursday against the Angels for Manning.
"Now I’m fighting to stay," he said. "I’m fighting for my life every time. The team’s been struggling for some arms recently, so I want to do it for them. I want to eat up as many innings as I can and get this team as many wins as possible."