Jack Flaherty’s return trip moved forward Sunday, and the Tigers liked what they saw enough to keep the rehab process rolling.
After a bullpen session late last week, Flaherty took the next step by making a rehab appearance for Triple-A Toledo at Fifth Third Field. The right-hander worked 1⅓ scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out two. He threw 19 pitches in all.
“I think he came out feeling good and also a little critical of how his mechanics were and how he executed,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said Monday, Sept. 7, before Detroit opened a three-game series against Minnesota at Comerica Park. “He had a walk in there and he ended up getting second (inning), which his nice.
“But I think the encouraging part is the recovery was good.”
Flaherty, sidelined since July 21 with a flexor tendon strain, gave up a one-out double in the first inning, then issued a two-out walk. He escaped the inning with a strikeout, came back out for the second, and got a groundout on his first pitch before being pulled.
Now the Tigers are mapping out what comes next.
“He will do something in the next five days, or after five days,” Hinch said, “kind of on the same cadence where he will throw a (bullpen session) and then we’ll decide kind of what’s next for him. (It could be) another outing or we can build some volume in a (simulated) game. We have a couple options, but we haven’t finalized what the plan is.
“The first step was here today he felt great, and that’s good.”
Flaherty, who is set to be a free agent after the season, last pitched in the majors on July 20 against the Chicago Cubs. He is 3-8 with a 4.59 ERA in 19 starts across 86⅓ innings this season.
Meanwhile, the Tigers are using this stretch of the season to give more run to their young players. The playoff chase has faded, but the lineup card is still carrying real value for the organization’s future.
In Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Guardians, six rookies started, and Hinch said that kind of exposure matters.
“That’s a good step for those guys to get that type of experience and that type of challenge,” Hinch said of facing Guardians starter Gavin Williams. “We’ve asked a lot of these guys to make pretty sizeable jumps when you look at young guys like (John) Peck, like (Brett) Callahan that are coming up pretty quickly.
“I’m encouraged by the fact guys are holding they’re own. They’re also seeing the challenge of the every day here. There are no easy days in the big leagues.”
The Tigers will be back at Comerica Park on Tuesday night for the opener against Minnesota, with first pitch set for 6:40 p.m. and TV/radio coverage on DSN/97.1 FM.
Detroit will send right-hander Drew Anderson, 4-5 with a 3.73 ERA, to the mound. This will be his second straight start against the Twins and right-hander Dean Kremer. Anderson held the lead in his previous outing against Minnesota after 5⅔ innings, allowing three hits and two runs, one earned, while striking out five.
Kremer, 2-5 with a 5.81 ERA, is coming off another difficult outing against the Tigers. He lasted four innings last week, giving up four runs and six hits in Detroit’s 11-6, 12-inning win.
That came after he allowed six runs in a loss to the White Sox on Aug. 28.
Tuesday will be his fifth career start against Detroit and third this season, with the first one coming while he was with the Baltimore Orioles.
In Other News...
Tigers Infield Crunch Is Creating A Tough Max Anderson Decision
The Tigers September call-up decisions offered another look at how crowded their infield picture has become, and Max Anderson was left on the outside despite turning in a strong run at Triple-A. He was hardly alone in making a case, either, as Detroit has several young infield options pushing for attention while the organization tries to sort out which pieces fit best long term.
Hao-Yu Lee seems to be getting the nod for now, even with defensive questions still part of the conversation, and that only adds to the pressure on Andersons path. With the Tigers already thinking about possible infield alignments for 2027, the bigger issue is less about one isolated promotion and more about how the club balances talent, position fit and playing time when so many players are chasing the same spots. [Read more 🡒]
Tigers Suddenly Have A Big Winter Infield Decision To Make
As the Tigers head into a winter that could shape the middle of their lineup and infield, second base is suddenly one of the more interesting spots on the board. Detroit has internal options to sort through, but an MLB.com outlook also floated Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. as a possible free-agent fit, pointing to the kind of energy he could bring with his power, speed and defensive versatility.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. is the sort of name that can change the temperature of an offseason discussion, even before free agency fully opens. There has been no reported contact or target designation from Detroit, and for now this is only a speculative fit, but it does underscore how quickly the Tigers can move from filling a hole to weighing whether to make a real splash there. [Read more 🡒]
Tigers Suddenly Have A Kyle Finnegan Decision They Can't Ignore
A rough night against Minnesota only sharpened the questions around Kyle Finnegan, whose Tigers tenure has not gone the way the club hoped when it added him to the bullpen mix. Detroits loss put a spotlight on a reliever who has struggled for much of the season, and it comes at a time when the organization is already thinking ahead to how it can stabilize a relief group that still needs help this winter.
The bigger issue is no longer just whether Finnegan can steady himself in the short term. The way his season has unfolded has pushed his contract situation into the foreground, with the Tigers facing an increasingly awkward choice on his 2028 option and even the possibility of moving on after 2026. For a club trying to build a more reliable bullpen, this is the kind of decision that can linger long after one bad outing. [Read more 🡒]