Tigers Minor League Recap – 5/28

Toledo Mud Hens (Triple-A)

Final: Columbus 10 – Toledo 3

Top Performer(s):

Max Clark, CF — 1-for-3, 2 BB, RBI
Eduardo Valencia, C — 1-for-3, BB, R
Ben Malgeri, C — 1-for-4, R, BB

Yoniel Curet — 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K. He was the only pitcher to not give up a run for the Mud Hens. Fastball save 96.5, getting 3 whiffs on 7 swings, and he threw just 18 pitches.

Game notes:

Quick attacks against the start Troy Watson tonight would give Columbus the early 4-0 lead. Max Clark and Andrew Navigato singles as well as a Cal Stevenson force out (with the bases loaded) would cut that lead to 1 after the 4th inning, getting the Mud Hens right back into the game. Unfortunately a 3 run 6th for Columbus would put the game out of sight, making it 7-3. For good measure, they’d score 1 more in the 8th and 2 more in the 9th giving us the 10-3 final score.

Max Clark scalds a low liner to first and Ben Malgeri (BB, SB) speeds home from 2nd to score. pic.twitter.com/HkexsSzcf7

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) May 28, 2026

Jack Little was able to get 5 Ks in his 2.1 innings of work, but he’d also give up that many hard hit balls in the process. Luckily for him, he had just the 1 run score. Luke Ritter would give up the 2 runs in the 9th and Woo-Suk Go responsible for the 3 run 6th.

Tomorrow’s projected starters:

Carl Edwards Jr. (1-3, 7.08 ERA) vs Ryan Webb (1-4, 7.96 ERA)

Erie SeaWolves (Double-A)

Final: Chesapeake 12 – Erie 3

Top Performer(s):

Peyton Graham, SS — 1-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI
Brett Callahan, CF — 1-for-4, 2B, BB
Izaac Pacheco, 3B — 1-for-4, 2B, R

Moises Rodriguez — 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. In a brutal outing, Moises Rodriguez was one of the few bright spots. Coming in and finishing the 5th and getting the 6th, Moises would throw 18 pitches (9 for strikes) allowing just the one walk

Game Notes:

EJ Expositio scored 2 of the 3 runs tonight on his 2 BBs, first on the Peyton Graham double in the 5th (which would also score Izaac Pacheco after his double) and the second on Brett Callahan’s double in the 7th. Unfortunately all of these runs would come after Erie was already down 9-0.

Brett Callahan ropes an RBI double into the right corner to score E.J. Exposito from 1st. pic.twitter.com/f4UY2ulSgx

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) May 29, 2026

And the Baysox wouldn’t be done scoring. They’ tack on 3 more runs, countering the 3 scored by the Seawolves, in the final 2 innings of the game. They Baysox would have more HRs (4) than Erie did runs (3) today and would get 7 XBH on the day. 2 of the HRs would come of Kenny Serwa, who got the loss and would drop to 1-6 on the day after allowing 6 hits and walking 3 in 3.0 IP. 2 of his 5 runs allowed were unearned, but he would see his ERA rise to 6.75 on the season.

Tanner Kohlhepp would come in and give up 4 more runs, all of his earned, in just 1.2 IP where he would walk and strike out 0. Next up would be Moises Rodriguez, who would have a good outing, and then Wandisson Charles who would also have a good outing allowing no base runners and striking out 1 in his 1 IP. Trevin Michael and position player Andrew Jenkins would round out the day.

Tomorrow’s projected starters:

Carlos Peña (3-1, 3.20 ERA) vs Sebastian Gongora (1-2, 3.70 ERA)

West Michigan Whitecaps (High-A)

Final: Lansing 6 – West Michigan 1

Top Performer(s):

Bryce Rainer, DH — 3-for-4, RBI
Woody Hadeen, SS — 1-for-3, 2 BB
Cristian Santana, 3B — 0-for-2, 2 BB

Lucas Elissalt — 4.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. Lucas came in relief today to finish out the game and had himself quite the statline. One of his best performances of the year, and one of his better ones since joining West Michigan, he would allow 1 base runner for each of his innings pitched. Twice did they get into scoring position (a double and a wild pitch after a single), but he would get out of the pinch each time.

Game Notes:

Whitecaps looks like they might be ready to strike today when Samuel Gil gets a 2-out triple in the 1st and Bryce Rainer knocked him in with a single in the next AB, giving them the early 1-0 lead. But that would be the only run the offense could muster despite getting 10 hits and drawing 4 walks. They’d strand 11 runners and were 2-for-6 with RISP. Bryce Rainer would get on 3 times, all on single, as would Woody Hadeen after he drew his 7th and 8th walk in 55 A+ PA on the season.

Bryce Rainer grounds an RBI single to right to give the Whitecaps an early 1-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/hDNc1iDe7D

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) May 28, 2026

Andrew Sears made his 2nd rehab start at West Michigan, going 2.2 IP and not at his sharpest walking 3 while striking out 1. He’d give up just the 1 run. Carlos Lequerica would come in relief first and have a not as great outing giving up 5 ER in the 4th that saw 2 walks, HBP, double, and HR. Lastly would be Lucas, who had a successful outing.

Tomorrow’s projected starters:

Carlos Marcano (0-1, 3.00 ERA) vs Ryan Magdic (1-0, 3.66 ERA)

Lakeland Flying Tigers (Single-A)

Final: Palm Beach 9 – Lakeland 3

Top Performer(s):

Carson Rucker, DH — 1-for-4, HR, R, RBI
Anibal Salas, RF — 1-for-4, HR, R, RBI
Beau Ankeney, 1B — 1-for-3, RBI

Malachi Witherspoon — 4.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 6 K. This might be one of the most conflicting statlines. One one hand, 6:0 K:BB ratio is awesome as are the 11 whiffs (34% Whiff%) and the limited hard hit contact, but he also only threw 9 first pitch strikes for the 20 batters faced while giving up 2 home runs. As has been typical, he shows why we should all be excited, but maybe patient with Malachi.

Game Notes:

4th team in a row with a loss and and it’s both the batters and pitchers that struggle during it in this recap. Anibal Salas and Carson Rucker at least provide some home runs, even if they are solo shots. Unfortunately both would also strike out 2-3 times in their other PA. They’d have 7 hard hit balls, 4 would be hits. Jesus Pinto with 2 more hard hit balls in his season, continuing to clobber the ball.

Anibal Salas hits a rocket to right for his 4th home run of the year. Left his bat at 107.7 MPH and went 396 feet. pic.twitter.com/bkYtDdcsxP

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) May 29, 2026

After Malachi’s start, Andrew Pogue, Joe Ruzicka, and Pedro Garcia would combine to go 3.2 IP giving up 5 ER, 7 hits, 6 walks (4 of which were Ruzicka’s) and striking out 1.

Usually these get posted to our Patreon, but here’s a peak at Malachi Witherspoons pitching performance.

Tomorrow’s projected starters:
Kelvis Salcedo (0-1, 3.72 ERA) vs TBD

FCL Tigers (Rookie)

Final: FCL Yankees 2  – FCL Tigers 1

Top Performer(s):

Jack Penney, 2B — 1-for-2, 2B, BB
Cris Rodriguez, CF — 1-for-4, RBI
Santiago Pinto, RF — 1-for-2, 2B

Jhonan Coba — 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. Not sure the reason, but Coba was pulled early after facing just 6 batters despite getting 50% of them out via strike outs. He continues to do really well in the FCL, bringing his season K% to 39.6% and dropping his ERA to 1.42.

Game Notes:

At least pitching did it’s part?

This game had very little offense to speak of, especially on the Tigers side where they got just 4 hits. They were able to draw 4 walks as well, but go 1-for-6 with RISP and grounding into 2 double plays.

Pitching gave up a total of 9 hits and walked 2, but got 11 Ks. Jhonan Coba started the game getting 3 Ks and Jack Bushnell lead the team with 5. The 20 year old gave up the 2 Yankee runs, both driven in by Wilkerson De Pena, on a 4th inning HR and a 6th inning single.

Tomorrow’s projected starters: TBD vs TBD

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