Reese Olson will make his major league debut for the injury-ravaged Detroit Tigers on Friday.
The 23-year-old right-hander will start the opener of a three-game series against the White Sox in Chicago.
Detroit needed another arm when ace Eduardo Rodriguez was placed on the injured list this week due to a left index finger pulley rupture. He joined four other starting pitchers — Matt Manning, Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize and Beau Brieske — on the injured list.
Olson is being promoted from Triple-A Toledo, where he has posted a 2-3 record and 6.38 ERA in 10 starts. He hasn’t gone more than five innings in any of his outings, but he showed vast improvement in his last two starts. He allowed just one run and five hits combined in those 10 innings while racking up 19 strikeouts.
“He’s really made some adjustments in how he’s using his pitches,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “The right-on-right changeup has been good. The breaking ball has been good. The fastball has gotten better. He’s been able to mix his pitches a ton and get a ton of success.”
Olson has a five-pitch mix to access — a four-seam fastball, sinker, changeup, slider and curveball.
“He’s got multiple things he can go to that are not fastballs, that’s key,” Hinch said. “He’s been able to pitch to a game plan and get to two strikes. Once he gets to two strikes, really throughout his whole minor league career, he’s been able to put hitters away. That’s shown up a little bit more in his last couple of starts in Triple-A.”
The Tigers took three games of a four-game series against the White Sox last weekend in Detroit. However, the Tigers’ lineup has also been shaken up this week with the injury losses of top hitter Riley Greene and utility player Matt Vierling.
Detroit got an immediate boost from outfielder Jake Marisnick, who was acquired from the White Sox this week. He had two hits and an RBI in his Tigers’ debut, a 3-2 victory over Texas on Wednesday. He’ll now face his former team.
“Everybody is upbeat and positive and having fun,” Marisnick said. “It’s just next man up and you come in and take care of business. It’s an easy environment to come into.”
Chicago hasn’t announced a starter for Friday’s game. The White Sox went 1-2 in a three-game home series against the Los Angeles Angels this week, including a 12-5 thumping on Wednesday.
“If you don’t regroup and come back with some energy the day after tomorrow, this thing can linger,” Chicago manager Pedro Grifol said. “So it’s our responsibility to make sure we nip this in the bud and get back to work and bring some energy against Detroit and, hopefully, win a series. But this thing can linger on and we’re not going to let it. I’m not going to let it.”
The White Sox enter June at 23-35, 12 games under .500.
“We know we have a division opponent coming in and we didn’t play as well as we’d like (against the Angels),” Chicago pitcher Lance Lynn said. “We didn’t pitch as well as we’d like. There’s no other way to say it. Coming into this weekend, we’ve got to be better.”
–Field Level Media
