Our Detroit Tigers minor league awards series continues with a look at the system’s best relievers in 2023.
Relief pitchers probably don’t get enough respect. Fans certainly understand the importance of a strong bullpen, and executives aren’t shy about paying high-leverage arms. But too often relievers are just an afterthought, even as their role continues to grow — they handled 42% off all innings pitched at the MLB level in 2023.
Bullpen workloads are even higher in the minor leagues, as organizations grow ever more cautious with their precious starting pitcher prospects. But you won’t see many true relievers on most top-100 prospects lists. And you can count the number of major awards won by relievers pretty quickly.
So we thought we should give a dedicated award to the best Detroit Tigers reliever this year. But we also want to give a quick mention all the other hard-working relievers who didn’t get votes for our award. That list includes, but isn’t limited to: Max Alba, Jack Anderson, Cam Brown, Layne Henderson, Jordan Marks, Trevin Michael, Cleiverth Perez, R.J. Petit, Erick Pinales, Gabriel Sequeira, Bryce Tassin, and Adam Wolf. They all played huge roles for their teams this year, and they should be commended.
Detroit Tigers Relief Pitcher of the Year Award
There shouldn’t be much suspense here, considering Tyler Mattison’s name is in the title. But we also wanted to quickly highlight the other relievers who received votes.
Honorable Mention – Aneurys Zabala
Aneurys Zabala was a minor-league free agent signing prior to the season, and he turns 27 in December, so he’s probably not technically a prospect anymore. But he had a strong season, leading the system in both games (53) and K/9 (14.12). Zabala’s fastball averaged 98.5 mph and touched 101.5 mph this season, and he also mixed in an above-average curve. Unfortunately, Zabala also has a tenuous relationship with the strike zone (6.72 BB/9). But he was outstanding in the second half of the season. In 29.2 innings after July 1st, Zabala posted a 2.43 ERA (2.09 FIP) with 52 strikeouts and 18 walks, while holding opposing hitters to a .207 batting average.
Here’s the full inning of work from Aneurys Zabala today. 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/TbELLaSjwD
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) March 13, 2023
3rd Place – Blake Holub
There aren’t many players in the system with a cooler story than Blake Holub. The Tigers drafted him in the 15th round in 2021 out of D-II St. Edward’s University, where he was a two-way player. He flashed a good arm in his pro debut in 2022, but control issues (5.4 BB/9) led to an ugly 6.23 ERA. But in 2023 he seemingly took the organizational imperative to heart and started dominating the strike zone.
Holub pitched to a 1.80 ERA over 25 innings in High-A West Michigan, with 32 strikeouts to just 4 walks. And then he became a key member of Erie’s championship run, with a 3.79 ERA over 40.1 innings. Holub’s final line for the season — a 3.03 ERA with 76 strikeouts and 17 walks in 65.1 innings — wasn’t quite as dominant as the two names above him on this list, but he remains a very intriguing relief prospect.
Blake Holub threw two scoreless innings tonight. Fastball sat at 95 and touched 97 with natural cut, and he also got swings-and-misses with his slider and his changeup, which both sat in the mid-80s. Underrated relief arm in the system. pic.twitter.com/SuuBFZJeSU
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) July 29, 2023
2nd Place – Andrew Magno
The lone lefty to make this list, Andrew Magno had a very strong case for winning the award outright. His 1.99 ERA was easily the lowest in the organization among pitchers who threw at least 60 innings. And it was the 7th lowest ERA among all minor-league pitchers with 60+ innings. Magno began the year in Triple-A Toledo, where he gave up just a pair of runs over 12 innings. But he spent the rest of the year as part of Erie’s three-headed bullpen monster.
He earned a post-season All-Star nod, and was on the mound when the SeaWolves secured their first Eastern League title. Magno finished the year with 82 strikeouts and 36 walks over 63.1 innings, and opposing hitters batted just .190 with two home runs against him. His quality stuff and slightly unorthodox arm angle give him a pretty good shot at reaching the big leagues.
Here’s Andrew Magno’s inning from last night in Toledo. Got himself into a bit of trouble, but then got himself out of it. pic.twitter.com/IivmekYTHq
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) April 13, 2023
1st Place – Tyler Mattison
The Detroit Tigers took Tyler Mattison in the 4th round of the 2021 draft after a strong career at Bryant University. The Tigers quickly transitioned Mattison into a relief role in pro ball, and he showed impressive stuff in 2022. But he spent most of the first two months of the season on the injured list, and he didn’t necessarily get off to the best start in 2023 either, allowing five home runs in his first 21 innings.
But then Tyler Mattison caught fire. He didn’t allow another home run all year, and at one point he threw 11 consecutive hitless innings. Opposing hitters managed just a .189 batting average against him, and he finished the season with a 2.44 ERA. His 37.9% strikeout rate was the 12th highest in all of minor-league baseball.
Erie manager Gabe Alvarez compared Mattison to another Bryant alum, James Karinchak, who has been pitching high-leverage innings in Cleveland for four years. Mattison seems destined to join Karinchak in the big leagues in the near future.
That’s it for today’s list, but check back soon for our final award, the breakout prospect of the year.
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Jayden Hewitt