Five Things We Liked From Last Week, August 24th

Welcome to “Five Things We Liked From Last Week”, a weekly list of… five things we liked from last week:

1. Drew Sommers

It’s Sommers Time in Detroit.

After a highly successful season split between Double A Erie and Triple A Toledo, the Tigers called up left-handed reliever Drew Sommers to the big league squad on Friday. Sommers was acquired back on February 12, 2025, when Detroit traded Mason Englert to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for the lefty.

Sommers started the 2025 season with the Erie SeaWolves, and after posting a 1.48 ERA / 2.22 xFIP with a 24.7% strikeout rate, 2.2% walk rate, .184 batting average against, 63.5% groundball rate and 0.74 HR/9 in 24.1 AA innings, Drew got promoted to Toledo on May 27^th.

Generally, pitchers face an adjustment when moving up to Triple A, as the hitters are more advanced, and the ball is different than the one used in Double A. But Sommers hit the ground running in Toledo, and after a successful 32.2 inning stint where he put up a 3.31 ERA / 3.49 xFIP, 29.7% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate, .193 BAA, 64% ground ball rate and 0.00 HR/9, Drew got the call every minor league player hopes for Friday.

Prior to his promotion to the big leagues, among the 427 pitchers who threw 30 AAA innings or more in 2025, Sommers ranked 10^th in FIP, 3^rd in groundball rate, 43^rd in strikeout rate and 45^th in BAA.

The Tigers bullpen has been a bit of a revolving door lately, as Detroit tries to find the right mix of relievers they can trust the rest of the season and ideally into the postseason. Sommers is the latest entrant into the mix, and after getting called up to the majors Friday, he was immediately thrown into action, making his major league debut in relief of Casey Mize and allowing no runs in his appearance.

There will be series the rest of the year when Detroit will hope to have two or even three lefties in the ‘pen, and Sommers has shown not only through his minor league performance but also his raw stuff that he could be a major factor in that mix.

2. Andrew Jenkins

Hitting a baseball may be the toughest thing to do in professional sports.

Pitchers today are not only throwing harder than ever, but they’re also spinning the ball more impressively than ever; which makes what West Michigan Whitecaps first baseman Andrew Jenkins did recently even more noteworthy.

Jenkins was the Tigers 9^th round pick in the 2022 draft, out of Georgia Tech. In his draft year, he got just over 90 plate appearances between the Complex League and Low A, and performed well, posting a combined 107 wRC+.

2023 was his first full year of full season professional baseball, and after putting up a 114 wRC+ in 234 plate appearances to begin the year in Low A, Andrew was promoted to High A to finish the season, where he again hit better than league average (101 wRC+) in 123 PAs.

Jenkins started the 2024 season in High A, and was hitting very well (.304/.385/.435) until suffering an injury in late April. He ended up missing nearly three months, and spent the majority of the rest of the season in Low A working his way back from the injury.

Andrew is healthy again in 2025, and after a bit of an up and down start to the year back in High A, he’s really turned things on as of late.

On July 18^th, Jenkins was hitting a respectable .229/.326/.390. But since then, he’s been on a heater.

Andrew went 3 for 6 on July 19^th, kickstarting a whopping 22 game hitting streak that lasted almost a full month. During that timeframe, he hit .366/.430/.610, and raised his season OPS by .093 points in the process.

Overall, Jenkins is hitting .259/.346/.430 with West Michigan this season. Andrew is a first baseman, and like with any first baseman, there’s a lot of pressure on the bat in order to keep working his way up the minor league ladder. But Jenkins has done nothing but hit in his tenure in the Tigers organization, and his recent success has put him on the radar for a potential promotion to Double A this year or to start next season.

3. Eduardo Valencia

MLB teams employ over 150 minor leaguers in any given season, and due to the sheer volume of players, there are bound to be breakouts every year. This season, in the Detroit Tigers organization, the biggest breakout performer may be catcher Eduardo Valencia.

Valencia arrived in the Tigers organization as an international free agent signing way back in April of 2018, and has slowly but surely ascended through the system ever since.

Eduardo spent the majority of his first few years in the organization in rookie ball, and his first full year of full season minor league baseball came back in 2022, when he posted a combined 105 wRC+ across Low A, High A and a brief cup of coffee in Double A. In 2023, he spent most of the year on the injured list, but he was healthy for most of the 2024 season, where he hit .249/.326/.366 (102 wRC+) in 231 PAs for the Low A Lakeland Flying Tigers.

In 2025, the Tigers decided to start Valencia all the way up in Double A, despite a lack of experience at the High A level. The interesting decision turned out to be a good one, as Eduardo took off, hitting .304/.359/.500 (150 wRC+) in 218 PAs for the Erie SeaWolves. Valencia performed so well that he was promoted to Triple A back on July 7^th, and in his first game with the Toledo Mud Hens, he went 2 for 4 with a home run.

Eduardo hit a bit of an adjustment period through the rest of July, but since the calendar turned over to August, he’s been on one. He hit for the cycle on August 7^th, added a two homer game on August 20^th, and for the month, he’s slashing .404/.492/.788 in 62 plate appearances.

Valencia is now hitting .323/.427/.624 in 110 PAs with the Mud Hens. In a banner year for the Tigers minor league system, Eduardo has stood out, performing well above external expectations; and he’s now just one step away from the major leagues.

4. Garrett Pennington

Speaking of breakout performers from the Tigers minor league system this season, if you’re making a list, please feel free to add Garrett Pennington’s name to it.

Pennington was signed as an undrafted free agent back in July of 2024, and debuted with the Lakeland Flying Tigers later that year, hitting .250/.270/.444 in 27 plate appearances.

This season, Detroit started Pennington back in Low A, and after hitting .254/.306/.403 in April, Garrett went on a tear in May (.306/.367/.528) and June (.278/.379/.556); ultimately earning a promotion to High A West Michigan on July 8^th.

During his time with Lakeland, Pennington hit .282/.353/.493 in 255 PAs, good for a 135 wRC+. He also had a solid walk rate (8.6%) and strikeout rate (17.6%), showcasing strong plate discipline to go along with his impressive power (10 home runs, .211 ISO).

Since his promotion, Garrett has continued to mash, as he not only finished July with a .315/.373/.481 line (which included four games with Lakeland), he’s also hit .315/.356/.444 in August.

Overall, with West Michigan, Pennington is hitting .315/.366/.467 in 101 PAs. Like Andrew Jenkins, Pennington is primarily a first baseman, where the bar is raised offensively. But Garrett has also seen some time in the corner outfield this year, which will only help as he continues to work his way up the minor league ladder; and no matter what position he plays, if you hit enough, they’ll find a place for you. And Pennington has certainly hit enough this year.

5. More Professional Debuts

On August 10^th, Jack Goodman and Nick Dumesnil became the first members of the Tigers 2025 draft class to make their professional debuts.

Just over a week ago, pitchers Cash Kuiper and Joe Ruzicka joined them.

Kuiper was the Tigers 12^th round pick out of Murray State College in Oklahoma, while Ruzicka was Detroit’s 16^th round pick out of Belmont University.

In their professional debuts, Kuiper pitched a scoreless inning with a walk and a strikeout, and Ruzicka pitched an inning as well, allowing a run on two hits with one strikeout.

Generally, due to workload and/or concerns about ramping back up after time off, often teams will put pitchers on ice the year they are drafted, working with them behind the scenes instead of in game action. But the Tigers felt comfortable enough to get Kuiper and Ruzicka into game action this season, which will allow both pitchers some time to get their feet wet in pro ball, and start to figure out what works and what doesn’t at the next level.

Just like with Goodman and Dumesnil, Kuiper and Ruzicka have now fulfilled their dreams of becoming professional baseball players. What a way to end the summer for these youngsters.

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