Who is River Hamilton? LSU commit picked by Detroit Tigers in 2025 MLB Draft
MLB draft expert Tyler Jennings from Just Baseball breaks down what fans need to know about pitcher River Hamilton.
Detroit Tigers right-hander Reese Olson is throwing for the first time in his recovery from a right shoulder strain.
He has already been ruled out for the regular season.
The Tigers and Olson are hoping for a postseason return, even if his workload is limited to a few innings per game. If he returns, he won’t be used as a full-time starter.
“Everyone here thinks that we’re going to make a deep run, and we know we can,” Olson said Sunday, Sept. 7, before the series finale against the Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park, “so I’m doing everything I can to give myself the best chance to play again this year.”
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The 26-year-old has been playing catch off flat ground since Friday, Sept. 5, doing so in the outfield at Comerica Park. He is playing catch every other day at a maximum distance of 75 feet. Eventually, he will be scheduled to play catch every day.
The return-to-play procession takes more than four weeks.
“Still in the early stages,” Olson said.
It’s unclear how deep of a run the Tigers would have to make for Olson to be activated from the injured list; it could be ALCS or the World Series. Here are the three important dates to know: The ALDS begins Oct. 4 (four weeks after he started playing catch), the ALCS begins Oct. 12 (five weeks), and the World Series begins Oct. 24 (seven weeks).
“We’re all going to put our heads together and make the best decision,” Olson said. “Everyone is doing everything we can to give myself the best opportunity.”
Before the shoulder injury, Olson registered a 3.15 ERA with 25 walks and 65 strikeouts across 68â…” innings in 13 starts. (He owns a 3.60 ERA in his three-year MLB career, spanning 284â…” innings.)
Olson hasn’t pitched for the Tigers since July 24.
But he’s finally throwing again in hopes of an October return for the 2025 postseason.
“A lot of excitement,” Olson said. “After getting hurt again, doing all the work again, to get back to the point where I’m able to play catch, I’m happy to be at the point where I’m actually doing baseball activity again. Not doing any baseball activities sucks, especially with where the team is at. I’m definitely happy.”
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José Urquidy injury update
Right-hander José Urquidy continues to advance closer to joining the Tigers. The 30-year-old, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, completed the ninth game of his rehab assignment Saturday, Sept. 6, with Triple-A Toledo.
In Saturday’s game, Urquidy retired all nine batters he faced in three scoreless innings with three strikeouts, doing so on 39 pitches.
He threw 71.8% of his pitches for strikes, generating a 21.1% whiff rate on 19 swings. His fastball averaged 92.4 mph, topping out at 94.2 mph. The only negative: He surrendered an average exit velocity of 100 mph on six balls in play.
“The velo spike was good,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said Sunday, Sept. 7, evaluating Urquidy’s latest performance. “The changeup was a little bit better. He’s continuing to be pretty efficient. That’s a pretty good number for three innings. I like what I see, and we like what we see.”
Urquidy, a five-year MLB veteran, has a 3.57 ERA with three walks and 15 strikeouts across 17â…” innings in nine games (eight starts) during his rehab assignment, appearing in four games for Low-A Lakeland and five games for Toledo.
He hasn’t thrown more than three innings in any game.
He has maxed out at 47 pitches.
Urquidy is scheduled to pitch Tuesday, Sept. 9, or Wednesday, Sept. 10, for Toledo, ruling him out of the Tigers’ upcoming three-game series against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
“Maybe not all the way three innings,” Hinch said. “We’ll shorten a little bit of the rest. He won’t factor in New York. Whether he does later, we’re just going series by series. I don’t know where or when or if, but I know he’s trending in the right direction, which is great.”
Urquidy hasn’t pitched in MLB since September 2023.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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