In a Detroit Tigers rotation front lined by studs Tarik Skubal and Jack Flaherty, it’s been Reese Olson who has been shining. He dazzled for 7 ⅓ innings of two-hit ball against the red-hot San Diego Padres on Wednesday night, stymying a potent offense that has been ravaged with injuries as of late. It’s been a shutdown type of year for the Tigers’ starters, who have posted the MLB’s third-lowest ERA.
Olson Shines in Start
It only took 85 pitches for Olson to baffle Padres hitters, scattering two hits and one walk with seven strikeouts to boot. He jumped on the scene in 2023 and has made an impact in different games and in different situations, showing he has tremendous potential, which has only grown as his time in the Majors has.
Olson has been working on throwing strikes and improving his changeup, both seeing serious strides over the start of the 2025 season. Keeping true to that practice form, he threw first-pitch strikes to the first nine batters and 22 of 26 overall. The Padres are usually an aggressive team, but Olson didn’t back down and commanded the zone. When the Friars made contact, there were 10 ground-ball outs, and he only let six balls past the infield dirt.
His pitch selection kept the Padres guessing, too, producing 17 swinging strikes on his changeup and slider. Pairing that with 18 called strikes, 11 on his fastball and sinker, it’s not surprising he kept them off the bases and the board. In his last two starts, he has thrown 12 ⅓ scoreless innings with just six hits, and both those teams made the playoffs last year.
The Tigers
During Spring Training, the Tigers were looking at all options for the rotation after spending much of last year mixing and matching with openers and bullpen games. They snuck into the playoffs with an incredible run down the stretch of the regular season and knocked out stalwarts, the Houston Astros, in the Wild Card round. After that success, they still needed to solidify their starters, as anything can happen with the bullpen, especially if they are overworked.
