The evolution of breaking balls has become an art form in baseball. From the Pitching Ninja having his annual awards on the pitches that dart across the plate to hitters just looking lost at the plate, a good slider or curve is a beautiful thing to watch. The Detroit Tigers have several pitchers in their system that have been working with player development to continue the process of making their breaking balls draw more strikeouts.
It’s more than just spin, it’s how the pitch can be sequenced and the command of a slider or curve. Once a pitcher can command a breaking ball, it just helps set up his fastball and anything offspeed they have. Even the traditional ways a slider has been classified has changed. Geoff Pontes of Baseball America did a fantastic breakdown of the various sliders that are out there currently, but the main two we often see are the gyro slider and the one that is newer to the scene, the sweeper. The amount of data and information that is out there may seem overwhelming but simply put, the pitchers on this list are the best at getting swings and misses or are trending to show they will be. Let’s get started with number one.
Best Detroit Tigers Breaking Balls-Starting Pitching
There is a reason why Jobe was called up towards the end of the season. Despite the slider only been thrown just four times in his call-up,(Baseball Savant classifies it as a sweeper), the movement on the pitch caused a lot of swings and misses in Erie and Toledo in 2024. The Tigers may of have him working on his off speed offerings when he got to Toledo, where he stood out there, a 37.5% K rate with his changeup.
Jackson Jobe’s Slider Movement (home plate view). 😲
[Original video: https://t.co/O5gOnXFKzZ] pic.twitter.com/1iBzmOUSoN
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 13, 2024
Your donation dollars at work. Jackson Jobe hitting 98 and spinning the slider nicely. pic.twitter.com/m9JJmA5dOk
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) June 29, 2024
Burhenn quietly had a solid season between West Michigan and Erie, pitching 122 innings, posting a 3.68 ERA and striking out 123 in 122 inings of work.
The reason Burhenn comes in so high on the list was he was able to adjust to Double-A, building off with a good fastball and his slider has some good, sweeping action against righties. In talking to Sam Levowitz, one of the Erie SeaWolves announcers, he does flash some inconsistencies with the pitch. He will need to improve against lefties, as they hit over .300 against him in 2024, but his slider has good, late break to it. As we discussed in our video, he may end up going to the bullpen however, he should be able to continue to draw swings and misses with the slider.
3-Jaden Hamm:
Curveball Hamm commands one of the best fastballs in the system, and his ability to consistently throw the curve with his over-the-top delivery enhances the pitch. His curve drops sharply at the bottom of the zone, generating swings and misses. He also places it at the top of the zone to earn called strikes. When we spoke to him, he mentioned the Tigers have largely left his pitches unchanged since drafting him. His curve showcases that classic 12-to-6 hammer action.
4. Andrew Sears: Slider
The Tigers continue to scout the East Coast well.The Tigers drafted Sears in the 10th round out of the University of Connecticut, and he delivered an impressive first full season in Lakeland. He generated a 51.2% whiff rate with his slider, paired with a strong 43.2% strikeout rate.
After 18 innings in complex ball in his first full season in the United States, Reyes got the call-up to Lakeland and picked up where Jake Miller left off after he was promoted to West Michigan. Building on this momentum, he struck out 64 in 47.2 innings of work with his slider that he could throw to both lefties and righties. He generated a 53% K rate to go along with a 46.8% whiff rate with the slider. It has a lot of sharp, late break to the pitch. He, along with Rayner Castillo, were huge down the stretch for the Flying Tigers.
Honorable mentions:
- LHP Brant Hurter’s sweeper.
- LHP Jake Miller’s slider
- RHP Wilmer Flores’s slider
- RHP Troy Melton’s curve
- RHP Cam Brown’s slider
- RHP Michael Massey’s slider
- RHP Colin Fields’s curve
Check out our tool series video in which we go in depth on the honorable mentions.
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Chris Brown 
Jayden Hewitt