With more ride on fastball, Wentz surging towards bullpen

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The long, slow trudge from the mound back to the dugout seemed like an inevitable ending to Joey Wentz’s outings by the end of last season. It was a microcosm of the slog that the year became for the lanky left-hander, who struggled to recapture the sneaky good arsenal he showed near the end of 2022.

As he walked off the mound at Joker Marchant Stadium on Saturday, having completed two strong scoreless innings of relief in the Tigers’ 8-5 win over the Pirates, the walk was subtly, justifiably more confident. So was the stuff, from a power fastball to some sharp breaking balls.

It was a good display of certainty for a pitcher whose situation has anything but certainty. What could’ve been a demoralizing scenario for Wentz, trying to win a bullpen spot in a make-or-break camp after pitching his way out of the rotation last year, has become a positive for him.

“He knows exactly what's at stake this spring,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “And today was his best outing. … He's kept his head down, just doing his work and making a strong case.”

Wentz struggled to a 3-13 record and 6.90 ERA in 25 outings last year, including 19 starts. The numbers on Wentz’s fastball, both in metrics and results, told the story. While his average velocity of 93.4 miles per hour was a tick harder than in his limited action in 2022 (92.4), opponents actually hit it harder than he threw it, averaging 93.6 mph in exit velocity. That was the seventh-highest average exit velo among Major League pitchers with at least 100 four-seam fastballs put in play. Just 15 MLB pitchers gave up more homers on four-seamers last year than Wentz’s 13.

Statcast uses a metric called Run Value to measure the impact of a pitch. Wentz’s fastball measured at minus-23, tied with Adam Wainwright’s sinker for lowest on any pitch in baseball.

“It didn’t have much life on it,” Wentz said of his fastball.

It was, as Tigers pitchers call it, a dead-zone fastball: Not much vertical break, and not much difference from his other pitches.

With shorter outings, Wentz had two goals for his arsenal going into this camp: Add ride to the fastball, and make a different profile from the rest of his arsenal.

“For me, the biggest thing is going to be vertical break,” Wentz said.

To do that, Wentz tweaked the spin direction by adjusting his release. The movement now comes from a higher angle than last year, when he was more inside the ball than on top of it.

More relevant, of course, are the reactions from hitters. Wentz drew five called strikes and no balls in play out of 16 fastballs over his two scoreless innings against the Astros on Feb. 26. Four days later, he threw 17 fastballs out of 32 pitches in two scoreless innings against the Phillies and drew four called strikes and three swings and misses. His fastball in both outings averaged 94.4 miles per hour.

Saturday was more of the same. Wentz’s fastball averaged 94.7 mph in his two innings against the Pirates, topping out at 96 on a broken-bat groundout from Liover Peguero. More encouraging for Wentz, his fastballs consistently sat at 12-13 inches of vertical break induced, right around the range he wants. The heaters set up a changeup that induced three whiffs on four swings, including his lone strikeout.

No Statcast data was available from North Port, where Wentz gave up a run on a hit and a walk to the Braves in one inning on Tuesday.

Wentz has put himself squarely in consideration for a multi-inning relief role, a group that includes Alex Faedo, Beau Brieske and Mason Englert. Unlike the others, Wentz is out of Minor League options. If he doesn’t make the Opening Day roster, Detroit has to move him or place him on waivers in hopes of outrighting him to Triple-A Toledo. So while Faedo and/or Brieske could be used for starting depth in Toledo, Wentz is pretty much reliever-or-bust.

With seven innings of one-run ball and seven strikeouts, he’s making his case.

“He's not leaving anything in the reserve tank for later in the game, or second or third time through [the lineup],” Hinch said. “Come in, give us your best stuff as much as you can for the short stint we're bringing you in. Today simulated exactly what we would ask out of him and he did his part.”