Manning looking like pitcher he was in MiLB

DETROIT – This is the Matt Manning that Tigers fans remember hearing about on his way up the farm system, or maybe watching in the Futures Game, or catching a glimpse of in Spring Training. It took about a dozen starts for the Tigers' rookie to find himself.

When Manning found himself in trouble in the second inning of Friday night's 2-1 win over Toronto, facing runners at first and second with nobody out, he retired the bottom third of the Blue Jays' lineup in order without a ball leaving the infield. When he had a 3-1 count on catcher Reese McGuire with Bo Bichette looming on deck, Manning spotted back-to-back fastballs for the strikeout.

“I didn’t want to leave anything over the plate,” Manning said. “We had an open base, so I didn’t have to put anything in the middle, so I tried to really just hit the corner, and I did.”

When Toronto threatened Manning an inning later, plating a run when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. fought off a fastball for an RBI double, Manning again escaped with a strikeout, spotting back-to-back fastballs on the outside corner to Corey Dickerson, the last one a 96 mph sinker that Dickerson swung through.

For a pitcher who averaged roughly 11 strikeouts per nine innings in his Minor League career, it’s surprising that Manning’s five strikeouts over six innings Friday marked his most of any big league start. Part of that might be workload; the 23-year-old right-hander hasn’t pitched past six innings yet. But another part has been a relatively low total of swings and misses; his whiff and strikeout rates are both in the lowest one percent of Major League pitchers, according to Statcast, while his chase rate is in the bottom 17 percent.

But with his average fastball velocity and swing-and-miss rates slowly improving, and his feel for his sinker improving as well, the strikeout rate might be next to follow.

“His delivery’s cleaning up. His conviction has been very good his last few outings,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He knows what he wants to do. He’s executing. He has no fear. It doesn’t look like he’s trying to place the ball anymore. He’s relying on his delivery to execute the pitch.

“Matt is a terrific pitcher; we’ve always known that. I just preach patience with him, and it’s starting to pay off because of the comfortable confidence that he’s demonstrating start to start.”

The tick up in velocity has been noticeable. Manning’s four-seam fastball averaged 93.4 miles per hour in June, dropped to 93.1 mph in July, but will finish August averaging 94.1 mph for the month. His sinker averaged 94.0 mph for August, up from 93.3 mph in July. Just as important for the sinker, his swing-and-miss rate with it jumped from 10.3 percent in July to 18.2 percent in August, his highest rate on any pitch for the month.

The jump has moved Manning’s fastball velocity to the top half of big league pitchers for the season.

Five of Manning’s 10 swings and misses Friday came on his sinker. Four more came on the slider, a pitch that has been hit hard at times this season but also has one of his better swing-and-miss rates -- 20.7 percent in July, 17.4 percent in August.

“I really wanted to get the ball inside and kind of own that part of the plate,” Manning said. “I think I did, and that helped my slider and my changeup get to the outside.”

Dingler returns to action
Dillon Dingler, the Tigers’ No. 4 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, began a rehab assignment Saturday with Low-A Lakeland after missing three weeks with a fractured left index finger.

Dingler is expected to get back up to game speed in Lakeland, then report to Double-A Erie, where he had been playing since mid-June. He fractured his finger when he was crossed up on a pitch.

With Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene having been promoted to Triple-A Toledo, Dingler is the highest-ranked prospect for Erie, where he has a .201 average, three home runs and 17 RBIs.