Detroit Tigers fans got to see a lot of minor league promotions today. We saw Brett Callahan and John Peck moving up to Toledo. Garrett Pennington, Hayden Minton, and Max Burt to Erie. Last, but certainly not least, Charlie Christensen (number 31 on our Top 45 list) and Eliseo Mota to the West Michigan Whitecaps.
Ahead of this week series at Dayton, here’s some of what Charlie Christensen and Eliseo Mota have done and what you can expect more of.
Charlie Christensen
Charlie’s a name that has been brought up more and more as the season has gone on. And for good reason — the 22 year old has a 1.96 FIP, a 7.00 K/BB ratio, and his K% at 39.2%. He will bring a lower arm slot, which I think helps him out a ton, and tons of extension averaging about 7 feet of extension.
He has 4 pitches in his arsenal: Cutter, Sinker, Changeup, Slider, and, according to Baseball Savant, he has thrown 1 4-Seam fastball. He primarily throws the sinker, which has an average velocity of 92 MPH and has touched 95.9 MPH. His Cutter, Sinker, and Slider all have below average spin, but his Changeup is above average. That hasn’t stopped him from getting whiffs though. 33.7% Whiff% on all of his pitches, the slider specifically has a 49.4% Whiff% on 77 swings.
Give the arm slot, the movement profiles are slightly different than you might expect. Take a look at his movement plot:
More often than not, we are used to seeing guys with more vertical differences in their pitches.
I’ve mentioned before that his slider reminds me a ton of Paul Skenes’ sweeper. They have nearly identical movements, velocity, and both come from that lower arm slot. It is so far been his bread and butter.
A little thread ahead.
Charlie Christensen’s slider: 83 MPH, 33” drop, 10.8 horizontal, 5.8” IVB
Paul Skenes’ sweeper: 83.8 MPH, 34” drop, 10.5 horizontal, 5.2” IVB
They look like the same arm angle, though I don’t know Charlie’s for sure.
Christensen is not Skenes, but.. https://t.co/jWTwTxVNMb
— JerryMackinem (@OPSenheimer) May 18, 2026
He’s going to help shore up a West Michigan starting staff that added Ben Jacobs earlier this year and has lost a few guys recently due to injury/promotion. They have used 12 different starters this year and now no longer have Hayden Minton, who has made the second most starts for the team at 11 starts. Just look at this called strike:
Charlie Christensen has been such a fun watch this year. He was Detroit’s 15th rounder last year out of Central Arkansas, and he now owns a 1.38 ERA with 41 strikeouts, 7 walks, and 17 hits allowed through his first 26 pro innings. @AaronArnstein calls this one. pic.twitter.com/uBEEnRaU8U
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) June 7, 2026
Or for a longer look, check out his first pro start:
Eliseo Mota
Eliseo has flown under the radar a bit. He’s been used as a multi-inning reliever almost as many times (10) as he has thrown just 1 inning (11), including 4 appearances of 3.0 IP. His 3.00 ERA and 3.57 FIP on the season isn’t really eye popping, but the 1.42 ERA and 2.64 FIP since 5/6 in a bulk of his IP (19 of his 33) is. Like Charlie, he brings along a really good K% at 31.4%.
Like Charlie, Eliseo throws Cutter, Sinker, Changeup, Slider, but he also throws a 4-Seam. He’s touched 97.5 MPH with his 4-Seamer and averages 94.2 MPH.
The movement plot for Eliseo Mota is more in line with what you’d except:
His IVB isn’t very high, averaging just 12.8 for the fastball. Which isn’t necessarily a deal breaker. He will just have to live lower in the zone. Interesting, his 4-seam and Slider have similar spin as well as similar horizontal movement. Add that there is a 10 MPH difference in velocity and 9 inch difference in IVB and I think that might help him out with tricking the hitters.
All 5 of his pitchers have at least a 20% Whiff%, 4 of them with at least a 25%. His least effective pitch from a whiff standpoint is the one he throws the least, the changeup.
He also should bring in some help for the Whitecaps bullpen. They have had 8 guys with 20+ IP as relievers only and none have had a K% above 30%, only Thomas Bruss’ has been close to it at 28.6%. Of those 8 guys, only 3 have a HR/9 below 1.00, so Eliseo’s ability to limit HRs (2 HRs in 43.2 IP in Lakeland career) should help to bring those numbers down.
Take a look at a couple innings of his.
Here’s two innings from RHP Eliseo Mota, who was promoted to West Michigan today. 33IP 21H 43K .178 against. pic.twitter.com/6BMU5WovrR
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) June 23, 2026
Conclusion
West Michigan pitching just got some really fun help. Eliseo will bring in a K% and HR/9 that would be tops on the group while also being one of the youngest on the team. Meanwhile the rotation will replace Hayden Minton with Charlie Christensen, who has been one of the hottest pitchers in the system this year.
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