Tigers claim reliever Devin Sweet off waivers from Giants, cut Tyler Nevin
Evan Petzold
The Detroit Tigers made their first successful waiver claim of the offseason Thursday, grabbing right-handed reliever Devin Sweet from the San Francisco Giants.
After double-digit waiver claims last offseason, the Tigers hadn’t made any successful claims in their second offseason under president of baseball operations Scott Harris until adding Sweet with less than a month until pitchers and catchers report to spring training.
Infielder Tyler Nevin was designated for assignment to create room for Sweet on the 40-man roster.
Sweet, 27, spent time with three organizations —the Giants, the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics — in the 2023 calendar year before the Tigers picked him up in the third week of 2024. He made his MLB debut in July 2023 with the Mariners, who signed the North Carolina native as an undrafted free agent out of N.C. Central in 2018.
Sweet struggled in the big leagues, though. He allowed 10 runs on 10 hits and six walks (plus two hit-by-pitches) with six strikeouts across 82⁄3 innings, spanning seven appearances out of the bullpen for the Mariners and Athletics.
Sweet pitched in two games for the Mariners before being designated for assignment
Aug. 31. He was claimed off waivers by the Athletics on Sept. 2 and pitched in five more games. The Giants claimed him off waivers from the Athletics on Dec. 18, exactly 31 days before the Tigers added him to their 40-man roster.
In 2023, Sweet threw a 92.9 mph four-seam fastball, 86.5 mph slider and 77.4 mph changeup. He likes to throw his fastball at the top of the strike zone, and his changeup — which he uses against right-handers and left-handers — is the best secondary pitch in his repertoire.
He performed much better at two levels in the minor leagues, posting a 2.25 ERA with 11 walks and 57 strikeouts across 44 innings in 36 relief appearances.
Of the 44 innings, Sweet spent 35 of them with Double-A Arkansas in the Mariners’ organization. His numbers were superb: 1.54 ERA with eight walks (5.9% walk rate) and 47 strikeouts (34.6% strikeout rate) in 27 games.
Sweet has tossed just nine innings at the Triple-A level in his professional career.
Nevin, 26, hit .200 with two home runs, 12 walks and 25 strikeouts over 41 games for the Tigers last season. He spent most of his season in Triple-A Toledo, where he hit .326 with 15 home runs, 38 walks and 65 strikeouts across 87 games.
The former first-round draft pick, who is also the son of former Los Angeles Angels manager (and former Tiger) Phil Nevin, doesn’t have any minor-league options remaining, so he would’ve needed to pass through waivers had he not made the Opening Day roster out of spring training.
Ryan Vilade, whom the Tigers signed to a minor-league contract earlier in the offseason, could fill Nevin’s role with the Mud Hens. Vilade is younger and has two minor-league options remaining. He has experience playing first base, third base, left field and right field, just like Nevin.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.