Right-hander Garrett Hill is the next Detroit Tigers pitcher to make his major league debut in 2022.

First and foremost, happy Independence Day, everyone. The injury bug continues to hit the Detroit Tigers starting pitching staff. With Rony Garcia out with a sore shoulder, the Tigers called up right-hander Garrett Hill, who will be fifth starting pitcher to make his major league debut. To make room for Hill, the Tigers transferred Matt Manning to the 60-day IL. He joins Beau Brieske, Alex Faedo, (making a spot start in game 2 today) Joey Wentz and Elvin Rodriguez. 

Garrett Hill’s background

Similar to Beau Brieske, Hill was drafted in the later rounds, the 26th to be exact, in the 2018 draft out of San Diego State. San Diego State has produced many major leaguers including Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, former first baseman Mark Grace and more recently, Stephen Strasburg and Seattle infielder Ty France. Hill grew up in Petaluma, California, the same town as Tigers first basemen Spencer Torkelson. Prior to attending San Diego State, he pitched at Santa Rosa College with his twin brother, Evan.

Hill throws four pitches, a cutter,  change, slider and a curve. He was able to attract enough attention last season for the Tigers to feature him in the Arizona Fall League. Hill struck out 99 in 75 innings of work last season. He has limited giving up home runs.

Between West Michigan, Erie, and the Arizona Fall League, he allowed just three home runs in 88.2 innings in 2021. This season, he picked up where he left off in terms of strikeouts. In seven starts for Erie, he struck out 52 in 32 innings of work in just seven starts, posting a 14.6 K per 9. Since he was promoted to Toledo, he has 46 in 37.2 innings of work which has him around 11.0 K per 9. He has shown the ability to get ground balls. He posted a 33.3% GB rate in Erie and 32.6% at Toledo in 2022.

Manager A.J.Hinch said that Garrett Hill will be around for at least three starts, so we shall see what happens. There is a lot about this season that has gone wrong for Detroit, but at least the Tigers now have an ability to develop pitching.