{"id":608152,"date":"2026-03-05T18:06:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T18:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/608152\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T18:06:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T18:06:19","slug":"detroit-tigers-announce-first-stunning-decision-of-spring-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/608152\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Tigers Announce First \u2018Stunning\u2019 Decision of Spring Training"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Tigers<\/a> made a surprising roster move on Wednesday involving one of their young arms.<\/p>\n

Right-hander Keider Montero<\/a> was optioned to Triple-A Toledo shortly after delivering an impressive performance on the mound.<\/p>\n

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What made the move stand out even more? The announcement came just minutes after Montero tossed three scoreless innings with two strikeouts during a 2-1 exhibition victory over Panama.<\/p>\n

The timing caught many observers off guard.<\/p>\n

\"Keider<\/p>\n

Keider Montero Tigers optioned<\/p>\n

Why the Tigers Made the Move<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters from the Dominican Republic, Tigers manager A. J. Hinch<\/a> explained that the decision had less to do with Montero\u2019s performance and more to do with the team\u2019s long-term pitching plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to protect our rotation,\u201d Hinch said via the Detroit Free Press. <\/a>\u201cFor him, defining the role where we feel like he can help us the most was going to be, at some point, our rotation. Whether that\u2019s getting that sixth starter or, God forbid, anything else happens. He\u2019s equipped to handle that. But the only way to do that is get him going and building him as a starter.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In other words, the Tigers want Montero stretched out as a starter rather than working in relief, even if that means beginning the season in Toledo.<\/p>\n

Opening Day Bullpen Spot Wasn\u2019t There<\/p>\n

Hinch added that once it became clear Montero wouldn\u2019t crack the Opening Day bullpen, the organization chose development over keeping him in a limited role.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe determined that he wasn\u2019t going to initially make our team out of the bullpen and given our rotation has been set since day one, we decided to option him, given that we\u2019re not going to see him in person for what could be a few weeks,\u201d Hinch explained.<\/p>\n

Montero\u2019s Early Major League Numbers<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old Venezuelan right-hander debuted in 2024 and has already logged valuable big-league experience.<\/p>\n

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Career MLB stats so far:<\/p>\n

In 2025 alone, Montero made 20 appearances (12 starts) and posted a 4.37 ERA over 90.2 innings.<\/p>\n

What This Means Moving Forward<\/p>\n

Rather than using Montero as a short-term bullpen arm, Detroit appears focused on preserving him as rotation depth.<\/p>\n

If injuries strike or the team needs a sixth starter during the long MLB season, Montero could quickly become one of the first pitchers called upon from Toledo.<\/p>\n

For now, though, the Tigers are prioritizing development\u2014even if the timing of the announcement made it feel like a shocker.<\/p>\n

The post Detroit Tigers Announce First \u2018Stunning\u2019 Decision of Spring Training<\/a> appeared first on Detroit Sports Nation<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Tigers made a surprising roster move on Wednesday involving one of their young arms. Right-hander Keider…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2386],"tags":[2082,5,147,17171,53,2583,79055,6671,4,2099,594,3774],"class_list":["post-608152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-detroit-tigers","tag-a-j-hinch","tag-baseball","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-free-press","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-detroittigers","tag-impressive-performance","tag-keider-montero","tag-mlb","tag-scoreless-innings","tag-tigers","tag-toledo"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116177900975907933","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}