The Detroit Tigers won’t bring back starting pitcher Casey Mize anytime soon, as the team has paused his latest rehab stint.
As much as A.J. Hinch may not want to call it a setback, Mize was on track to make his return to the majors sometime relatively soon. Instead, he’s been sent back to Lakeland.
Mize’s rehab program has been dialed back a bit, as the young right-handed pitcher experienced some discomfort in a recent rehab start. He was scheduled to pitch again this week in Triple-A Toledo.
“We’re going to slow him down a little bit,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said Saturday. “We’re treating the symptoms. He still doesn’t quite feel like he can let go full throttle in bullpens or competition, so we need to dial it back a little bit.”
Hinch refused to use the words “shut down” to describe Mize’s injury, knowing how much that would worry the Tigers fanbase. Mize suffered an elbow injury after just two starts this season, and given their perilous position in the AL Central, it makes sense to take things slow with one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball.
A.J. Hinch: Tigers starter Casey Mize not shut down
“We’re going to be very, very slow with this,” Hinch said. “We’re not going to work backwards from any sort of timeline that he wants to meet or we want to meet. We got to treat the symptoms. The fact that he’s not letting it go and not feeling 100%, we’re not going to let him pitch.”
As much as it may pain Detroit baseball fans, the team is making the right call with Mize. A season that started with so much promise for the Tigers has quickly devolved into a downright mess.
Detroit was considered an outside the box Wild Card threat before the year. So much for that.