Troy Melton back and better than before, but not according to him

Last season was a baseball baptism for Troy Melton. He started the year in Double-A and finished it pitching in the longest winner-take-all elimination game in MLB postseason history.

Along the way, he gave up a grand slam in his big-league debut, survived some rumors at the trade deadline, dominated in a temporary role as a reliever, and eventually started Game 1 of the ALDS in an environment that might have unnerved even a veteran. Melton was steely in Seattle in a 3-2 win for the Tigers.

Melton described the ride like this: "Now you’re in Triple-A, now you're in the major leagues, now you’re relieving, now you’re in a playoff chase, now you’re in the playoffs, and it’s just like, 'Oh!' It all happened really fast, and I was just trying to go out there and compete."

This season has posed another test, mental as much as physical. Melton was gearing up to win a spot in the Tigers' rotation in spring training when they suddenly added Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander: "They’re trying to win as many games as possible and they signed two really good pitchers," he said. "That’s part of baseball. As a young player, you just keep your head down and try to contribute as much as you can, when you can."

Then, Melton wound up on the 60-day injured list with inflammation in his elbow and would spend the next two months rehabbing in Lakeland: "That was the only hard part, really, was getting hurt and not being able to do anything to help anybody." And help was badly needed in Detroit as the Tigers got off to a slow start amid an onslaught of injuries. At various points of his rehab, Melton was joined by three All-Stars from last season in Javy Baez, Gleyber Torres and Zack McKinstry.

"Regardless of the situation, I wanted to be back," Melton said. "That’s not fun at all. I would have rather been in Double-A throwing baseballs than being hurt. You try to take the struggles of the team out of it. When you’re not in it, not really feeling the ebbs and flows of the season, you just hear second-hand from guys what the feeling is. Obviously it wasn’t going the way we wanted for a good while there while I was hurt. It was tough seeing a lot of injuries to the pitching staff."

Down in Lakeland, Melton would get in his rehab and arm work in the morning and be done by the early afternoon. If he was lucky, the Tigers would have a day game and he'd get to watch a few innings on TV with the other guys at the facility. Otherwise, he'd spent the rest of the day killing time -- his girlfriend came to stay with him for a while -- and waiting for the Tigers game to start.

"Night games I was just sitting there in my living room watching baseball -- a lot of Benetti, a lot of Dirks," he said with a laugh. "It could have been a lot worse. It wasn’t, like, a miserable experience or anything. At the time, it was playoff hockey season and I’m a big Ducks fan (Melton is from SoCal), so I was watching a lot of hockey games, too. Hockey and baseball, that’s what got me through it."

Melton made it back to the bigs in late May and immediately pitched the reeling Tigers to a win. He went seven innings in his second start and eight in his third, matching the number of seven-inning outings this season by Detroit's other starters not named Skubal. He has a 2.56 ERA through six starts, picking up where he left off last season (2.76 ERA).

This is why the Tigers protected him at last year's deadline. Melton was a popular ask in trade talks as the Tigers shopped for help. By all accounts, Scott Harris drew a line at Melton's name (and others') and didn't budge. It felt like a careful decision at the time, and looks like a prudent one in hindsight.

Melton, at the time, was about a week into his big-league career. He knew his name was popping up in rumors, but he wasn't fretting about getting traded: "Honestly, I was just happy to be here."

"I see things, and I I heard that, maybe, some different stuff, but I didn’t worry about it at all," he said. "It is what it is. But if all that’s true and they drew a line at me, that’s awesome. Obviously it’s nice to be appreciated and wanted on a team, so if that’s the truth, that’s super cool."

To the eye, Melton looks even better this year than last. He's allowing less hard contact and issuing fewer walks, while inducing more ground balls and more chase. Those are all good signs, even if the whiffs are down. But Melton hasn't loved the way he's pitched so far. Asked where he thinks he's better now than he was a year ago, Melton said, "Honestly I’m pretty critical of myself, so I can tell you some things I’m not doing as well."

"I’m not getting ahead of hitters like I would like right now," he said. "My first-pitch strike percentage is way, way, way down, especially for me. I’m usually pretty high in that department. You want to be at 70 percent."

Melton checks in at 51.2 percent, down from 67.2 percent last year. To put that into perspective, among the 140 MLB pitchers who've thrown at least 50 innings this season, Melton's mark this year would rank dead last; last year's mark would be tied for 10th with Phillies ace Zach Wheeler.

"And then execution with two strikes, I feel like that could be a lot better," Melton said. "It’s weird because I feel like I’m throwing pretty well, but there’s a lot of things I could be doing a lot better, too. I guess it’s nice to know that I can have success not doing things that I know I can do, and once I clean those things up it will look a lot better, which is exciting.

"A lot of things have just been reinforced in terms of what I need to do to be successful and mentally what I need to be thinking to get guys out. I’m probably more confident now, and I have more of a plan, and I know what I’m doing a little bit more."

One tweak to Melton's arsenal, at least so far, has been an uptick in cutters. In five games, he's almost matched the number he threw all of last season. And why not: batters are hitting .071 against it this year, compared to .368 last. Melton has turned to it often after falling behind in the count, looking for weak contact in the zone: "It’s been a pitch that’s gotten me out of some trouble," he said.

Mostly, Melton is just rearing back and firing from his 6'4 frame. He's settled into a rotation with Skubal, Valdez, Casey Mize and Keider Montero that has the lowest ERA in the majors in June. Their collective goal, said Melton, is to "set the tone each game that we’re going to be aggressive and we’re going to be throwing strikes and competing every single pitch." This is how the Tigers can claw back into the race: one start at a time.

"It definitely can be contagious," Melton said.

Especially, he added with a grin, when he faces the same team the day after Skubal, as he did last Saturday in a win over the White Sox, "because they might lack that little mental edge where they’re drained from facing the best guy in the world the day before, and then I get to follow him."

The Tigers expect Jack Flaherty back in the near future, and are holding out hope that they'll see Verlander at some point in the second half. Either way, this rotation looks poised to make a push.

"We definitely have the horses," said Melton. "We’ve proven that, and we added Framber. We were a playoff team without him and then we added one of the best left-handed starters in baseball. It’s just a matter of being consistent and winning the games. This month has gone a lot better for us and we want to continue to keep that rolling.

"It’s not ‘crunch time’ because it’s not September or August yet, but we have to win some games here or we’re not going to have that crunch time. We definitely have the pieces, we have the players. It's just a matter of doing it, at this point."