Five summers ago, Jason Foley was an undrafted pitcher from a small school, playing summer ball in Connecticut.
His upper-90s fastball caught the eye of a Tigers scout. The organization began taking a deeper look. Foley had a 5.68 ERA as a junior at Sacred Heart. But the more the Tigers saw of Foley’s stuff, the more they could not help but wonder: How did this guy go undrafted?
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And so began a great baseball story. Not long after Foley got past the disappointment of going undrafted, the Tigers offered him a contract and he signed a deal with a professional club.
“I didn’t really expect anything of the sort, any team to reach out,” Foley said. “When they did, it was a pretty unreal experience. Everything happened super quick, and thankfully we were able to work out a deal and sign a contract in a couple of days.”
Foley’s climb through the system, though, did not come without further fits and starts. He posted a 1.55 ERA at Class A West Michigan before struggling to the tune of a 6.14 ERA with High-A Lakeland in 2017. He missed all of 2018 because of Tommy John surgery, then spent the entirety of 2019 back in High A. Foley was excited about his second year back from Tommy John surgery, typically when pitchers really start to feel like themselves again. Then the pandemic hit, and Foley spent all of that year at home and at the Tigers’ alternate training site.
Foley was only a minicamp invitee in spring training this year, but he had already made noise in the previous fall’s instructional league, growing from a thrower whose fastball can reach triple digits into a more refined pitcher with a wicked two-seam and a suitable changeup. Foley threw two scoreless innings with the big-league team in spring training, then got shut down in COVID-19 protocols. He still began the 2021 season at Triple A — a big jump from High A in 2019 — and was a pitcher the Tigers thought could help them this season.
“Relievers come from anywhere,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “There is no set track and one-size-fits-all development track. He’s in his mid-20s, he throws hard, he seemingly can control the moment. … But the stuff is real. You see that kind of impact and it opens some eyes, and when the opportunity comes about, you want to see if you can catch something.”
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Foley posted a 3.60 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 10 innings at Triple-A Toledo, again showing promising stuff but barely scratching the surface of what the Tigers hope he can do with his command and secondary pitches.
After Michael Fulmer went to the injured list Sunday with soreness in his right shoulder, the Tigers sought another power right-handed arm. And that meant calling Foley and placing him on the 40-man roster.
Foley made his debut Sunday against the White Sox. College teammate Zack Short — whom the Tigers optioned to Triple A on Saturday — was able to stay in Chicago an extra day and see his friend pitch. Foley pitched the sixth inning of a 3-0 loss, and despite hitting two of his first three batters with pitches, he escaped the frame without giving up a run. His fastball topped out at 99.5 mph.
And regardless of what happens from here, it’s already a decent return on investment for a pitcher who was once plucked from nowhere.
“It’s incredible,” Foley said. “Tough to put into words. You work for this your whole life. Especially the last five years, it’s been a pretty crazy journey up here, but obviously super stoked I’m here now.”
Moving on from JaCoby Jones
What an odd few years it has been for JaCoby Jones. There have been terrifying slumps and stretches of star ability. He began the 2019 season hitting .148 through 25 games, then had a torrid stretch when he hit .337 with six home runs from late May through most of June.
Jones was among the Tigers’ most productive hitters in 2021, but for the second consecutive year, his season ended prematurely when he was hit by a pitch near his wrist.
Jones entered the season at a crossroads. He is now 29 and has almost 1,200 MLB plate appearances. Despite flashes of talent, he is a .212 career hitter with a .275 on-base percentage. The Tigers’ new coaching staff challenged Jones in spring training, asking for better defensive preparation and trying to coax his talent to the surface. But after he hit .170 in 36 games this season (and then hit .205 with 18 strikeouts after a demotion to Triple A), the Tigers have finally decided to move on. Jones was designated for assignment Sunday, clearing space on the 40-man roster for Foley.
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“I don’t think you can really sum it up into one part,” Hinch said. “JaCoby has had an influence in a lot of different areas. He’s played well. He’s also struggled. And hasn’t found consistency over the course of his career. He’s got talent. He’s got impact ability. He can do things on both sides of the ball. You root for him, he’s a good guy, but it hasn’t all come together for him consistently over the last few years.”
Teams tell you how they feel about players more with actions than with words, so Jones’ DFA was a sign the Tigers seem ready to give opportunities to younger players. Although the Tigers don’t exactly have a sure bet to become an everyday outfielder, Derek Hill, Akil Baddoo and eventually Daz Cameron all present similar upside and will get more at-bats with Jones off the roster.
Jones, whose salary this season is $2.65 million, could have just enough talent to draw interest from other teams. But if he clears waivers, it’s still possible he could return to the Tigers system and remain in Toledo.
Either way, it’s another reminder of how the Tigers under Hinch value production over potential. And with Jones at age 29, it’s also a referendum on the up-and-down, infuriating and exciting experiment that his career has been.
“If there’s opportunity for him elsewhere then we’ll find it, and if not then he’s got to go back to the drawing board and continue to try to fight the good fight and find that consistency,” Hinch said. “That is what separates guys from being established guys and guys from being interesting but not yet bona fide everyday guys.”
Michael Fulmer, Spencer Turnbull and the injury bug
Just as things begin to feel normal — full-capacity crowds at stadiums, maskless faces in dugouts, a sense of humanity restored to the game — we feel another reminder of the pandemic season and its aftershock. Across baseball, injuries are mounting. The Tigers have not been spared, with two of their best pitchers, Spencer Turnbull and Michael Fulmer, now on the 10-day injured list.
“It’s a reality check, and I think it’s going around in 30 clubhouses, that (injuries) can happen at any given point with guys,” Hinch said. “We always have to keep in the back of our mind that this is a very unique season coming off of the pandemic, and subtle injuries, whether it’s soft tissue or whether it’s structural, are going to happen over the course of a regular season. I think all of us around the league are somewhat paranoid over what’s possible at the back end of this season for our arms.”
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Turnbull left his outing last week with a right forearm strain. Hinch said Sunday that the prognosis for Turnbull remains optimistic. Hinch said Turnbull’s injury is muscular in nature, with no structural damage in his forearm. Turnbull will get another look from team doctors when the Tigers return to Detroit on Monday.
“He does have inflammation he’s got to deal with, but we were very happy with the initial diagnosis,” Hinch said, adding that “all signs are positive so far.”
Fulmer’s injury was more mysterious. He’s a former starter adjusting to a heavy bullpen workload, and the Tigers planned to give him two days of rest last week in Milwaukee. A load management decision turned into Fulmer dealing with vague “arm fatigue.” The Tigers gave Fulmer more time to rest in Chicago, but by Saturday, Fulmer was reporting discomfort in his shoulder. Given Fulmer’s injury history and the strains of an odd season, the Tigers placed him on the injured list. The exact outlook for Fulmer isn’t yet clear.
“We almost have to react this way in order to protect him and protect us and give him a little blow,” Hinch said. “That’s really what we view this as. He’s going to go through and get tested and see the doctors and all that. We had nothing to be alarmed about at the beginning of the week, and now we’re putting him on the injured list at the end of the week. That’s a tough turn of events.”
Eric Haase is a boss
We’ll hopefully have much more on Eric Haase coming soon, but man, he has been fun to watch over the past few games. Haase — a Michigan native and graduate of Dearborn Divine Child — entered Sunday with seven home runs in 18 games. A few fun notes on the catcher:
• Haase has three multi-homer games already this season, which ties the Tigers’ rookie record. The only other Tigers rookie with three multi-HR games in a season was Matt Nokes in 1987.
• Haase’s barrel rate and sweet-spot percentage are likely unsustainable, but right now, they are off the charts. He is barreling up balls 19 percent of the time and making contact on the sweet spot 45.2 percent of the time. Haase ranks among the top 15 hitters in baseball in both categories. Translation: He’s making good, powerful contact at a tremendous rate.
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• It seemed funny when Haase began playing left field in spring training. But the catcher was also scouted as a third baseman out of high school, and his athleticism isn’t a problem. MLB Statcast likes Haase’s average sprint speed in the 74th percentile among MLB players.
On the farm
• If you’re among those hoping to see Matt Manning in Detroit soon … well, you might want to settle in and get patient. Manning continues to struggle in Triple A, with a 9.23 ERA and 11 home runs allowed in 26 1/3 innings. With Manning’s secondary pitches noticeably off-kilter, opponents are averaging 12.3 hits per nine innings against him. He’s going to need time to rediscover his curveball, hone his changeup or another third pitch and, at this point, regain the confidence to attack hitters in the strike zone.
• The diverging narratives between 2020 draftees Spencer Torkelson and Dillon Dingler are a bit overblown. Although Torkelson struggled early on, he’s begun to find his swing. And while Dingler has indeed been highly impressive, their two stat lines aren’t so far apart. Torkelson: .250/.409/.440, four home runs. Dingler: .298/.402/.596, seven home runs.
• The Tigers are beginning to look wise for their decision to not carry Renato Núñez on the MLB roster. He is hitting just .203 in Triple A. Christin Stewart, meanwhile, is hitting .169.
• Jacob Robson indeed deserves a shoutout for hitting .424 in Double-A Erie. Robson has long been a steady performer in the minors despite not really being viewed as an MLB player by the Tigers. Robson is still grinding for an opportunity. But before you go clamoring for Robson to the big leagues, consider this: His batting average on balls in play is currently .605. And that’s not a typo.
(Top photo: Mark Brown / Getty Images)