Should Detroit Tigers call up MLB’s No. 2 prospect Kevin McGonigle?
On “Days of Roar,” Evan Petzold invites Chris Brown of “Tigers Minor League Report” to debate when the Tigers should call up their No. 1 prospect.
When asked before a game against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday, Aug. 24 what the Detroit Tigers are doing to help him pitch more effectively, reliever Rafael Montero dug into his locker and fished out an old baseball.
The ball was worn with dirt and sweat but was otherwise pretty normal, with one noticeable adjustment: a wide line marked in permanent ink surrounding the ball, painted through a four-seam rotation.
“They’ve been helping me with my fastball, because I lost a little bit of pop,” he said. “But we’ve been getting it back with a grip adjustment.”
The Tigers acquired Montero on July 30 from the Atlanta Braves in a trade for minor league infielder Jim Jarvis right before the trade deadline. The trade puzzled many fans and analysts, with our Tigers insider grading it a “D” immediately after.
That’s because Montero has been one of the least-effective relievers in baseball between 2023-25, posting a 5.04 combined ERA over 151â…” innings pitched in the last seasons. Before he got traded to the Tigers (his third team of 2025 after starting the season with the Houston Astros), only 10 qualified relievers had a higher ERA in the same stretch.
So it makes a lot of sense that the Tigers are focusing on fixing his fastball, a reliable staple during his best season in 2022 that has turned into his worst pitch by Statcast’s run value in 2025.
In an era where teams spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on software, machines and infrastructure to get the best out of their pitchers, the Tigers may have found a solution with something you could get with five dollars on your next run to the store.
“They gave me a ball like this to keep my fingers in place for perfect rotation, and it’s been helping me a lot,” he said while showing off his fastball grip along the ball’s drawn-on line.
Montero has yet to regain the form that made him a key piece of a World Series-winning bullpen for the Astros in 2022. And though his performance in Detroit has been mixed so far, there are signs of him trending in a positive direction.
The righty has pitched to a 4.70 ERA in 7â…” innings pitched over six games since arriving in Detroit, pitching in three multi-inning outings and putting up zeroes in four of his appearances. The fastball was the feature of his most recent outing against the Royals on Sunday, when he threw it 58% of the time during a scoreless ninth inning.
He registered three called strikes and two whiffs on the pitch with the Royals offense making contact only once, a weak flyout to left field from Royals center fielder Kyle Isbel to end the inning. It was Montero’s third-straight appearance in which he didn’t allow a run or hit.
There are a couple caveats to Montero’s performance, however. For one, he walked two batters in the ninth on Sunday, once again showing his struggles in consistently throwing strikes. For another, the Tigers are giving Montero plenty of rest (averaging more than three days between appearances) and are mostly saving him for low-leverage situations — the one exception when he pitched in the final two innings of the Tigers’ extra-inning win against the Minnesota Twins on Aug. 14.
But that winning performance also demonstrated something else Montero brings to the Tigers: experience in high-pressure situations.
Celebrate 125 years of Detroit Tigers history with our new book!
Montero was nails for the Astros in the 2022 playoffs, pitching to a 1.93 ERA in 9â…“ innings over 10 games as the eighth-inning man for the World Series winners. That performance included four appearances in the World Series, where he gave up just two hits and one run to a high-powered Philadelphia Phillies offense.
If Montero can somehow regain that form, he could be a useful arm in a postseason bullpen for Detroit.
“I’m keeping it positive. I already have a little bit of playoff experience, so I’ll be here to help the team,” he said.
You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com