Through the first few weeks of the season, the Detroit Tigers have been one of the better surprises in baseball. Detroit was viewed as a fringe contender before the season, especially after they went out and signed players like Gleyber Torres and Jack Flaherty, but not many outside of the city expected them to be where they are right now.
At the time of writing this, the Tigers are 25-13 and just dismantled the Colorado Rockies, 11-1. That's good for the second-best record in baseball, just one game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.
To make matters better for the Tigers, they have multiple prospects in the farm system who could come up and make an impact this season. While top prospects like Jackson Jobe are struggling a bit, there are other pitchers in Triple-A who are awaiting the call to the big leagues and one of them sticks out above the rest.
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Tyler Owens is going to find a spot in the Tigers' bullpen this month
Tyler Owens is a reliever who works out of the Tigers' Triple-A bullpen. He's made 12 appearances in the minor leagues while allowing seven earned runs over 14 innings. But he's also been in the big leagues for a bit this season, tossing two scoreless innings in the process.
The idea here is that Owens is only going to get better over the next month. He has the ability to compete at the highest level right now, but there's not spot for him on the roster. That's likely to change before June 1st.
Owens has an excellent fastball with a solid slider and splitter to pair with it. His command is a bit of an issue at the moment, but he's looked better over the last two seasons.
The Tigers are going to be competitive this season. There's a chance they take a huge risk and pursue a star reliever like Ryan Helsley ahead of the trade deadline, but that just wouldn't fit the way the team operates. Instead, a player like Owens is likely to get a chance. If Owens can dominate the minor leagues for a week or two, he may find himself back on the big league roster before June.