Joe Jimenez

In 2019, Jimenez held opposing hitters to a .243 average and had a 23.0 K-BB%. There were some flaws, most notably 13 homers allowed in 59.2 innings of work. This past season was a dumpster fire; Jimenez's velocity was way down early, he quickly lost his role as the closer and continued his charitable ways with the long ball while pitching into too many deep counts. Jimenez has a terrific slider, and one would think Detroit would tell him to throw it more often and dump his terrible changeup. He only throws the changeups to lefties, but they're 18-for-29 off the pitch over the past two seasons with four homers. If he were to dump the changeup and come to camp with a splitter or a cutter, he could take a much-needed step forward. He will need to separate himself in the eyes of new manager AJ Hinch.

Jimenez mostly struggled through the first half of the season while Shane Greene pitched effectively, resulting in Greene remaining in the closer role until he was traded at the end of July. After taking over as the stopper, Jimenez converted nine of his 14 save opportunities, posting a 31.9 K% with a 15.2% swinging-strike rate, pitching better than the surface numbers would indicate. The long ball was a problem and there is no getting around that -- his 1.96 HR/9 rate ranked eighth-worst among qualified relievers last season. However, the 24-year-old finished the year strong, recording a 1.00 ERA with a 12:1 K:BB and five saves over nine appearances in September. Jimenez should have decent job security as the closer heading into 2020 and has an above-average strikeout rate, but he has largely underperformed given his skill level and the saves will likely be scarce on what projects to be a 100-loss team.

Last year was supposed to be the year that Jimenez finally took over as the Tigers' closer. However, that never happened as Shane Greene pitched well enough in the first half to stave Jimenez off, and then Jimenez went on to struggle after the intermission. He was among the most heavily used relievers in baseball over the first three and a half months, making 46 appearances before the All-Star break. This was after Jimenez made a total of 51 appearances in 2017. It's fair to wonder if all that early work caught up to him, as Jimenez limped to the finish line with a 7.78 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and 4.6 BB/9 in his final 22 outings. That poor run inflated Jimenez's ratios and masked just how good he was throughout the bulk of the season (2.91 FIP, 29.2 K%). It's taken longer than many expected for Jimenez to fulfill his destiny as the closer-in-waiting, but it seems likely that he wrestles the job away from Greene relatively early on.

Being tabbed "closer of the future" doesn't carry quite the same doom and gloom as the Madden curse, but the number of those who have succeeded is a short list. Jimenez is being groomed for ninth-inning duties, picking up saves at every level since he started in rookie ball in 2013 at the tender age of 18. The fire-balling rookie had a rather inauspicious major-league debut in 2017, recording an unsightly 12.32 ERA and 2.11 WHIP in 19 innings for the Tigers. Jimenez surrendered 15 of his 26 earned runs allowed in just four efforts. In the other 20 appearances, Jimenez recorded a still poor but more palatable 4.86 ERA and 1.40 WHIP. Obviously, Jimenez is still a work in progress, but fanning 241 with only 52 walks in 167.1 minor-league innings portends patience yielding a fruitful payoff. With Detroit in rebuilding mode, stashing Jimenez has potential long-term rewards, and who knows -- short-term benefits aren't out of the question.