Any conversation about the young pitching in Detroit begins with Mize, Skubal and Manning. As it should. The Tigers are going nowhere without them.
When do we start talking about Lange?
Alex Lange, that is, the 25-year-old righty acquired in the Nick Castellanos trade who's starting to live up to his first-round pedigree. Lange delivered his second impressive relief performance in his second big-league outing in the Tigers' 6-3 win over the Astros on Wednesday. He was summoned from Toledo last week.
"He's got some of the best stuff (in our bullpen)," A.J. Hinch said.
With the Tigers protecting a 6-2 lead and eyeing an improbable sweep in Houston, Hinch called on Lange to get the club through the seventh. He gave up a single to the first batter he faced, but retired the next three in order with two strikeouts. He threw his fastball in the 95-96 range and got all three outs with his slider.
Don't be surprised if he's back in the spotlight this weekend in Oakland.
"Lange was the right guy at the right time," said Hinch. "He showed up and threw some nasty stuff, so he probably earned himself another leverage inning here pretty soon."
This could be a big find for the Tigers, who are searching for the right mix of arms in the bullpen. Lange was a starter in college and in the minors with the Cubs, who drafted him 30th overall in 2017. He's been exclusively a reliever since being traded to the Tigers, where he's regained the velocity he lost toward the end of his time in college.
"They might have found an underutilized talent with Lange, whose embrace of a bullpen role could give the Tigers a young reliever to pair with their highly-touted young rotation," says MLB Pipeline.
And Hinch might have found the late-inning trio he needs out of the bullpen, pairing Lange with 26-year-old Gregory Soto and 25-year-old Bryan Garcia to nail down the final nine outs of a dominant series in Houston.
