Detroit Tigers’ Scott Harris on bullpen market at trade deadline
Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris talks July 31, 2025, about his evaluation of the bullpen market at the trade deadline.
Tigers reliever Rafael Montero earned his first save with Detroit in a tight 4-3 win against the Twins.Despite struggling this season with a 5.70 ERA, Montero showcased his potential by throwing 14 of 16 pitches for strikes in the high-pressure situation.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Detroit Tigers clung to a one-run lead against the Minnesota Twins in the bottom of the 11th inning, one out away from escape and one pitch away from victory.
On the mound stood right-handed reliever Rafael Montero, experiencing his first big moment since joining the Tigers from the Atlanta Braves at the July 31 trade deadline.
Manager A.J. Hinch trusted him to finish the job.
“I made the choice with Montero because he can miss some bats,” Hinch said Thursday, Aug. 14, after a 4-3 win at Target Field. “The velocity has been good. He’s starting to settle in. He’s been in big moments. So I went with him.”
With two strikes on Royce Lewis, Montero threw a slider for the first time in the seven-pitch battle. Lewis checked his swing — too far. After Montero raised his arm to signal the strikeout, the first-base umpire confirmed it.
Ballgame.
It was a personal win for Montero.
“This is a big shot of trust in myself,” Montero said in Spanish after Thursday’s win, interpreted by a team employee. “I started the season pretty bad, and we’ve been working to get better and better.”
Montero owns a 5.52 ERA, a 14.4% walk rate and a 22.3% strikeout rate in the 2025 season, spanning 44 innings in 43 games. The 34-year-old grades as one of MLB’s worst pitchers — and not just this year. From 2023-25, he has posted a 5.11 ERA across 149â…” innings in 152 games, with his ERA ranking 171st among 179 qualified relievers during that span.
The 11-year veteran hasn’t experienced consistent success since 2022, when he registered a 2.37 ERA with 14 saves and helped the Houston Astros win a World Series championship.
It has been downhill since.
“I’d love for him to step up and take some innings, and a night like tonight can propel that,” Hinch said. “Settling in on a new team is really important to give us another weapon whenever Will (Vest) is down, or when (Kyle) Finnegan is down, or we don’t have Tommy (Kahnle) or some of the guys in the bullpen.”
After the trade, Hinch challenged Montero to earn his opportunities. In his first three games, he allowed four runs on four hits and four walks with one strikeout over 4â…“ innings.
In his fourth game, Montero turned back the clock by stepping up in the biggest moment of Thursday’s game.
He felt calm.
“Being nervous and feeling nervous in situations like this, in leverage like this, that’s so many years ago,” Montero said. “Nowadays, it’s just go out and perform. Most of the time, situations like this is when I perform better, so the moment makes me that way.”
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Before the Lewis strikeout, Montero retired Byron Buxton (lineout), Ryan Jeffers (strikeout) and Luke Keaschall (groundout) for the first three of his four outs against the Twins.
Montero threw 14 of 16 pitches for strikes.
That’s an elite strike rate for any pitcher, but especially one with the wildness of Montero, who has been defined by missing the strike zone and issuing walks.
“We’re working on a daily basis, especially with the fastball,” Montero said. “It used to be cutting at the end, naturally, but here, we’re working on keeping it straight and getting rise, just to make it not a cutter like it was turning into.”
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His four-pitch mix features a four-seam fastball that averages 95.2 mph and a splitter with a 34.7% whiff rate, unlocking an above-average 28.3% whiff rate that ranks in the 73rd percentile.
When he’s in the strike zone, he can be effective.
That just rarely happens.
“He can get balls on the ground,” Hinch said. “He can get swing and miss. And he’s calm under pressure. Those are good traits to get the ball later in the game.”
Montero isn’t a stranger to the big moments.
He has pitched in 15 postseason games, including four of six games in the 2022 World Series.
One night won’t erase Montero’s rough season — or the two years of struggle that came before — but in Thursday’s 4-3 win over the Twins, he looked like a bullpen weapon.
The Tigers need more performances like this.
“Since I got here, the very first thing I said is that I’m ready to be used at any time,” said Montero, who owns a 4.78 ERA across more than 500 innings in his 364-game career. “I’m ready to be used at any moment of the game. My goal is to help this team to win and keep winning and go as far as we can.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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