Foley's arsenal ticking up after time off in Grapefruit League

LAKELAND, Fla. -- On a warm, windy Sunday afternoon, when balls were flying out of Joker Marchant Stadium, Jason Foley continued to impress. Not that the Tigers’ hard-throwing reliever really needs to at this point.

Two days after throwing a 100.4 mph sinker for a called third strike, Foley entered Sunday’s 4-4 tie against the O’s with one out and did more of the same, spotting a 98.4 mph sinker at the knees for another strikeout. He followed that by retiring a left-handed hitter, Colton Cowser, with flyout to left.

“I feel great,” Foley said. “Body feels good. Arm feels good.”

An eight-day gap between appearances had created a little bit of intrigue on that, but both Foley and the Tigers say he was fine, just getting a break in the middle of the Grapefruit League schedule. Two effective outings in three days, featuring good command and velocity, seem to back that up.

Foley’s velocity continues to play up across his arsenal, including an average 97.9 mph fastball Sunday and a changeup he threw at 92.1 mph. The changeup is particularly important for him against left-handed hitters like Cowser, who fouled off the one changeup he saw but couldn’t square up the 98.1 mph fastball that followed.

Foley has also been working on a four-seam fastball as a way to change hitters’ eye level away from his usual sinker-slider combination down in the zone. He threw a four-seamer on occasion in 2022 but gave up a .353 batting average off it. He shelved it last year.

"I haven’t executed them terrifically in the real games yet,” Foley said, “but I think it’s just a nice mixup, nice elevation change for me to get lefties off the sinker and maybe jam them up and away or up and in.”

A look at Foley’s Statcast page provides a fascinating dichotomy: a hard-throwing reliever who relies largely on soft contact. His 97.2 mph average fastball velocity ranked in the top seven percent of MLB players, but so did his 56.6 percent ground-ball rate. His chase rate ranked in the top 12 percent, but his 17.9 percent whiff rate ranked among the bottom three percent of MLB hurlers.

The 28-year-old is not going to become a big swing-and-miss pitcher, but with a lower hard-hit rate he has a chance to further boost his effectiveness. He’ll spend the final week of Grapefruit League play further honing his arsenal, but also he'll get back-to-back outings at some point later in the week to get ready for a typical regular-season usage, whatever the inning.

Kreidler rakes
The aforementioned conditions helped lead to five home runs between the two clubs, the last of them a game-tying opposite-field homer from Ryan Kreidler. He has made an impression throughout camp with his defensive work, including several highlight stops, but he’s also batting .321 (9-for-28) with two homers, five RBIs, eight walks and 10 strikeouts.

He won’t unseat Javier Báez at shortstop for the Opening Day roster, but he has put himself in very good position for a call as the next shortstop up.

“He’s been pretty diligent with his game planning,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s been very good at getting some pretty good pitches to not trying to do too much, therefore getting more out of it. He’s been fun to watch evolve throughout this spring. He’s kept his head down. He’s done his work. He’s trying to make a push to make an impression. We know we can rely on him in so many different ways, and the more that he produces with the bat, the better chance he’ll get.”

Quick hits
• Kenta Maeda threw splitters or sliders for 50 of his 74 pitches Sunday against the O’s and had success with both, aside from two of Kyle Stowers’ three home runs. He drew 14 swinging strikes combined from the two offerings.

• Parker Meadows continues to put his speed to work offensively, stealing second base to set up the Tigers’ first run Sunday, then getting a hustle double on a line drive to right-center when the O’s didn’t charge the ball. Meadows hit a sprint speed of 29.7 feet per second on the latter.