Pitching was the theme for Week 8 in the Detroit Tigers minor league recap as a few familiar names had strong starts and both Trei Cruz and Colt Keith continue to provide the offense for the SeaWolves.
Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens: 1-5 vs. Rochester 23-28 IL West
The Mud Hens have lost three in a row, following a loss on the road to Indianapolis on Memorial Day. But during this past two weeks, Parker Meadows continues to be steady. He’s 13-for-45 (.289/.353/.578) with an OPS of .931. Catcher Donnie Sands has also been picking it up as of late, batting .317 over the same stretch.
Parker Meadows cracks a 410-foot home run to put Toledo up 3-0 in the 3rd inning. It’s his 6th home run of the season, and his 3rd off a left-handed pitcher. pic.twitter.com/Sl7p1Vr3fy
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) May 29, 2023
Pitching wise, Reese Olson had another quality start against Rochester, who featured a who’s of who of former Detroit Tigers players and prospects like Gerson Moreno, Derek Hill and Anthony Castro. Over his last two starts, he has allowed one run over five hits and has struck out 19 over 10 innings of work. This comes at the right time with the recent news of Eduardo Rodriguez hitting the IL.
Tigers No. 11 prospect Reese Olson struck out 10 over 5 innings of 1-run ball for @MudHens tonight.
First 7 starts: 9.67 ERA
Last 3 starts: 14.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 6 BB, 22 K pic.twitter.com/NGDrn11z0M— Jason Beck (@beckjason) May 27, 2023
Double-A Erie SeaWolves: 4-2 vs Somerset 24-21 EL Southwest
The SeaWolves offense had a great week against the Patriots, combining for 27 runs on Friday and Saturday. The catalysis for the offense once again was Colt Keith and Grant Witherspoon. Both continue to hit well over the last two weeks. Keith is .488/.571/.902 (20-for-41) with four home runs and 14 RBIs. He continues to put up one of the best offense performances by a first-year player in Erie in quite some time. Keith is the number one prospect on our Top 25 because he can totally hit the ball and continue to do it, no matter the split. In May, he has had six multi-hit games. One trend you should pay attention to is Keith starting at second base. He will make his Double-A debut at second on Tuesday against Richmond.
Colt Keith with his third hit of the day to drive in a run in the 9th. pic.twitter.com/eh9ziI6Var
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) May 24, 2023
Tonight Colt Keith is playing second base for the first time all year. He did play a decent amount of second in 2022. Here’s what that looked like: pic.twitter.com/uEAP8wN2Rv
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) May 30, 2023
Witherspoon over the last two weeks has kept pace, hitting 10-for-20 over six games. Along with Trei Cruz (15-for-48, .313/.400/.521), it’s a big reason Erie, as a team, is hitting .268 in May, which leads the Eastern League.
Another bit of news to pay attention to is the move of Wenceel Perez to the outfield. Perez has struggled to make consistent throws from second and so far in the outfield, he has held his own.
High-A West Michigan: 4-2 vs Lake County 26-19 ML East
The newest Whitecap, outfielder Brady Allen, had a good first week in West Michigan. Allen, who the Tigers acquired from the Marlins for Jonathan Davis, went 5-for-13 against the Captains. Roberto Campos and Chris Meyers also paced the Whitecaps offense with solid weeks at the plate. When we saw Campos live on Friday night, his first two at-bats were opposite field hits, including this RBI double.
Roberto Campos with an RBI double right down the right-field line to tie the game for the Whitecaps. pic.twitter.com/xYd75t2k8c
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) May 26, 2023
Left-hander Jack O’Loughlin, who has been hitting 96 on the gun, continues his impressive month of May as he now has tossed 20 innings of scoreless baseball in a row. For the month, he has allowed 17 hits over 23.2 innings of work, allowing just three total runs and striking out 25, but the impressive number to look at is the amount of walks he has given up, which is only four. Right-hander Troy Melton, the Tigers 4th round draft pick from 2022 out of San Diego State, made his High-A debut on Friday.
And Troy Melton’s High-A debut ends after just 1.2 IP. Needed only 12 pitches in the first inning, but he leaves with the bases loaded after tossing 30 in the 2nd. Made a throwing error that didn’t help his cause.
42 pitches, 25 strikes
7 swings and missesFastball sat 96-98
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) May 26, 2023
Single-A Lakeland: 3-3 vs Daytona 19-26 FSL West
The Flying Tigers headed south to take on Daytona and split the series. Left-hander Max Green, on a rehab assignment from Erie, had his first two-inning outing since June 19th 2021 against Altoona. Jose De La Cruz, Peyton Graham, Tyler Johnson and Cristian Santana all had home runs for Lakeland. Among the best bats for Lakeland was Cuban outfielder Carlos Pelegrin, who went 5-for-14. Unfortunately, Pelegrin will not be available this week against Jupiter as he hit the IL.
Jerry McKennan 
Jayden Hewitt