Detroit Tigers promote prospect Reese Olson, will start Friday vs. White Sox for MLB debut

The Detroit Tigers, desperate for starting pitching, turned to prospect Reese Olson in Triple-A Toledo to fill a void in the rotation.

Olson, a right-hander, has been promoted to the Tigers to replace injured ace Eduardo Rodriguez, who is on the injured list with a ruptured pulley in his left index finger. The 23-year-old is scheduled to start Friday against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.

It will be his MLB debut.

"He's really made some adjustments in how he's using his pitches," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. "The right-on-right changeup has been good. The breaking ball has been good. The fastball has gotten better. He's been able to mix his pitches a ton and get a ton of success."

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Olson is the Tigers' No. 11 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. He has a 6.38 ERA with 22 walks and 47 strikeouts across 36⅔ innings in 10 starts for Triple-A Toledo in the 2023 season.

In his past three starts, Olson owns a 1.26 ERA with six walks and 22 strikeouts across 14⅓ innings. He has been using his changeup — considered the best pitch in his arsenal — against both right-handed and left-handed hitters.

Recently, Olson appears to have improved his deception and tunneling with all of his pitches, as well as his pitch selection. He throws five pitches: four-seam fastball, sinker, changeup, slider and curveball.

"First-pitch strikes need to be really key," Hinch said. "He's got multiple things he can go to that are not fastballs, that's key. He's been able to pitch to a game plan and get to two strikes. Once he gets to two strikes, really throughout his whole minor-league career, he's been able to put hitters away. That's shown up a little bit more in his last couple of starts in Triple-A."

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The Tigers, under former general manager Al Avila, acquired Olson from the Milwaukee Brewers for left-hander Daniel Norris at the 2021 trade deadline.

In the 2022 season, Olson set the Double-A Erie record with 168 strikeouts, but opponents tagged fastballs inside the strike zone for damage, which led to an underwhelming 4.14 ERA across 119⅔ innings.

The Tigers' starting rotation features Olson, Michael Lorenzen, Matthew Boyd, Alex Faedo and Joey Wentz. Olson joined the Tigers in the clubhouse at Comerica Park before Wednesday's game.

"It's always fun to have someone make their debut," Lorenzen said. "I played catch with him a couple times (in spring training), and his stuff is electric. He has good feel for it, so that's the biggest thing. The difference between here versus the minor leagues is having feel for your stuff. And he has feel for it, and it's really good, too."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.