Detroit – The Colorado Rockies, the worst pitching team in baseball last season in most categories (including ERA, WHIP, strikeouts and opponent batting average), are tapping into some of the Tigers’ pitching mojo this offseason.
On Tuesday, the club hired Gabe Ribas as its assistant pitching coach. For the last five seasons, Ribas was the Tigers’ pitching coordinator. And, not coincidentally, on Wednesday the Rockies selected the Tigers’ No. 30-ranked prospect, 6-8, 300-pound right-hander RJ Petit, with the first pick in the Rule 5 draft.
Petit, 26, was drafted in the 14th round in 2021 and, under the mentorship of Ribas, steadily ascended through the system, finally getting to Triple-A last year. Between Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo, pitching out of the bullpen, Petit posted a 2.44 ERA with a 1.06 WHIP, striking out 79 hitters in 66.1 innings.
His calling card is a slider, which was effective against right-handed and left-handed hitters. He throws a mid-90s fastball, which plays up because of his size and extension, as well as a changeup.
The Tigers added five prospects to the 40-man roster last month to protect them from this draft; Petit was not among them.
“There’s a few factors,” general manager Jeff Greenberg said Tuesday, speaking in general terms about the players they protected. “Do you think the player is going to get taken or not? And if they do, what is the probability they will stick?”
Teams have to keep Rule 5 picks on the big-league roster for a full season or offer them back to their original team.
“The third factor is the roster calculus,” Greenberg said. “Do we have the space? For each of the players (added to the roster), we like each of them for a bunch of reasons and we think they have a chance to impact this organization in 2026 and beyond.”
The prospects the Tigers added to the 40-man roster were left-handed pitcher Jake Miller, catchers Thayron Liranzo and Eduardo Valencia, infielder Hao-Yu Lee and utility player Trei Cruz.
Miller was an interesting case. He jumped three levels in the 2024 but ended up having Tommy John surgery in June. He won’t be ready for competition until later in 2026. But that makes him more desirable to teams in a Rule 5 draft because they could stash him on the injured list for most, if not all, of the season.
The Tigers, for the third year in a row, opted not to make a pick in the Major League Rule 5 draft. They were quite active, though, in the Triple-A portion of the draft, selecting four right-handed pitchers: Luke Taggert from the Rockies, Jan Caraballo from the Giants, John Stankiewicz from the Twins and Yandy Gomez from the Angels.
They also had four minor league players selected by other teams in the Triple-A draft: Outfielder Austin Murr to the Phillies, catcher Archer Brookman to the Braves, right-handed pitcher Travis Kuhn to the Blue Jays and infielder Danny Serretti to the Diamondbacks.
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