The Detroit Tigers will get the first few 2016 Spring Training games kicked off on Monday. While the regular Major League Baseball starting rotation will not be very active, the early top-five will feature some interesting names in the Old English D.
The sixth-ranked prospect of the Tigers, Kevin Ziomek, will start the annual exhibition game against the Florida Southern Mocs, a college team.
The left-hander was picked up by Detroit in the second round of the 2013 MLB Draft out of Vanderbilt University. The 23-year-old pitched for the Class-A Advanced Lakeland Flying Tigers in 2015 and went 9-11 with a 3.43 ERA, 1.138 WHIP and a 4.21 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 27 starts, which the lefty threw two complete games. Across 154.2 innings, Ziomek struck out 143 batters and gave up 59 earned runs.
Matt Boyd, who will try to make the fifth spot in the big league rotation, will pitcher against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday in the Grapefruit League opener. It will be a home game for the Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Boyd, a 25-year-old drafted in the sixth round of the 2013 MLB Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays, pitched 10 starts down the stretch for the Tigers last season. In 50.2 innings, the left-hander went 1-4 with a 6.57 ERA, while giving up 56 hits, 12 home runs, 19 walks and 37 earned runs.
Detroit will head to Bradenton, Florida and Tampa, Florida on Wednesday for games against the Pirates and New York Yankees, which is a split-squad event. As a matter of fact, Omar Vizquel will manage the game in Tampa, while Brad Ausmus will manage in Bradenton. Buck Farmer and Mike Pelfrey will toe the slab in the split-squad games.
Farmer, a fifth round pick by the Tigers in the 2013 MLB Draft, went 0-4 with a 7.36 ERA across 14 games (five starts) last season at the big league level. The 25-year-old gave up 53 hits, 10 home runs and 17 walks in 40.1 innings pitched, while picking up 24 strikeouts.
In 2015, Pelfrey went 6-11 with a 4.26 ERA across 30 games started in 164.2 innings pitched with the Minnesota Twins. The ninth overall pick in the 2005 MLB Draft by the New York Mets was signed by the Tigers to a two-year, $16 million deal through the 2017 season.
The Tigers will play the Atlanta Braves on Thursday, but the starting pitcher for that game has not been named. Look for Shane Greene to get the start in that contest.
The current starting big league rotation features Justin Verlander, Jordan Zimmerman, Anibal Sanchez, Pelfrey and Daniel Norris. Besides Pelfrey, those pitchers will get time on the mound after the first or second week of Spring Training games.