Detroit Tigers Will Try to Unlock Veteran Reliever’s Former Self

The Detroit Tigers missed out on the top bat on the market in Eugenio Suarez, who was instead acquired by the Seattle Mariners.

In his stead, Detroit has decided to add to their bullpen, which continues to be relied upon without a top end rotation.

Like last season, the Tigers have really only been able to rely on Tarik Skubal. Casey Mize was an All-Star and Jack Flaherty has over 100 innings, but it's still still not the strong point of the team.

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The bullpen, however, continues to take on a massive workload. Along with closer Will Vest, who has a 2.53 ERA and 16 saves, the Tigers bullpen has five pitchers with more than 43 innings pitched and all but one have put up better than league average numbers.

Detroit has looked to make the bullpen even stronger, this time by adding reliever Paul Sewald from the Cleveland Guardians.

But, it comes with risk. The Guardians put him on the 15-day injured list on July 15 (retroactive to July 12) with a right shoulder strain. After the trade, the Tigers moved Sewald to the 60-day injured list, per MLB.com. That means Sewald won't be able to help Detroit until September.

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This could be why the Tigers only had to give the Guardians future considerations in the deal.

When Sewald returns, Detroit will try to tap into what he was with the Mariners a few years ago when he broke through. He hasn't pitched enough this season for a definitive answer, but it looks like he could still have great stuff.

In his 18 games pitched this season, Sewald has recorded a 4.70 ERA and two saves in 15.1 innings of work.

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Detroit hopes Sewald can reclaim what he was with Seattle, starting in 2021 when he broke out at 31 years old.

In 2021, he recorded a 3.06 ERA in 64.2 innings with 11 saves in a closer by committee for Seattle. In 2022, he took over the role and recorded 20 saves with a 2.67 ERA.

In 2023, Sewald saved 21 games for Seattle before a surprising deadline deal sent him to Arizona, where he took a step backward. In his walk year in 2024, he regressed to having a 4.31 ERA.

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Going back to 2023, Sewald was in the 94th percentile in terms of exit velocity, and 95th percentile in both strikeout and hard-hit percentage. In limited work this season, The hard hit percentage is a tick up at 32.5 percent, but both the average exit velocity (87.3 mph), strikeout percentage (29 percent) and even whiff percentage (30.8 percent) are around his former numbers, per Baseball Savant.

If he rehabs his injury and Detroit is able to sprinkle some of its bullpen magic on him, the new Tiger could be a huge part of their bullpen during the stretch run and into October.

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