Detroit finalizes pitching rotation after tough competition in spring training

The decision was made Thursday night. The hard news was delivered Friday morning.

Right-hander Matt Manning is the odd man out in the Tigers’ intense rotation battle, and he was optioned to Triple-A Toledo. Casey Mize and Reese Olson were notified they had made the Opening Day roster and will join Tarik Skubal, Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty in the club’s rotation.

“The entire rotation competition centered around guys getting better in the offseason, bringing it into the spring and showcasing it,” manager AJ Hinch said. “Matt did a great job. It’s more about where Casey is and where Reese is than necessarily anything negative on Matt.”

Manning, who brought an entirely new arsenal into the competition, gave up just eight hits in his five spring starts, but six of them were home runs. He also had stretches where his high-extension fourseam fastball, two shapes of slider and new split-change grip on his changeup dominated hitters.

“He needs to hold his stuff and he needs to control damage a little bit better,” Hinch said. “Controlling damage, he did give up a lot of home runs. And when you talk about holding your stuff, you’re talking about your best shapes and best locations, even outside the box score.”

Again, though, Manning didn’t necessarily lose the competition. He was beaten out by the other two.

“When we talk about the competition, we have to decide who we think won it,” Hinch said. “We felt Casey and Reese did a tick better. It’s not an indictment on Matt. It’s more of a strength that we have. We all know Matt is going to pitch in the big leagues. He’s going to help us as soon as possible.

“But the first deadline is Opening Day, and we had to deliver tough news.”

Hinch said Manning handled the news professionally, but he was frustrated by the decision.

“The news is hard to deliver; it’s harder to receive,” Hinch said. “He vowed to go and do his part in Triple A. But he wasn’t happy. No player is at this point in spring when their expectations weren’t met.”

Manning talked to a group of reporters Friday morning, about an hour before he got the news. He talked about how excited he was with his new arsenal and that he was still learning how to best optimize it.

“I’ve had games where I had a crazy (split-change), games where the sweeper was right and yesterday I had the bullet slider working, it was going straight down,” Manning said. “Games when I put all five together will be the ones I dominate, for sure.

“Talking to Fett (pitching coach Chris Fetter), as soon as we understand how to use this arsenal and how to pair things off each other, I’m going to really take off.”

Technically, Hinch could have held off making the decision until Wednesday or Thursday, but he didn’t see any point.

“We didn’t see it changing between now and then,” he said. “And the stress and tension was only going to mount. If nothing was going to change, there was no need to delay it any further.”

Olson’s next start will come on the back fields on Sunday. Mize is scheduled to start the final exhibition game Tuesday at Tropicana Field in Tampa.

“Reese can attack so many different game plans with so many different weapons,” Hinch said. “He gets in-zone swings and misses. He can throw any pitch in any count. He can be unpredictable. He’s really good. I think it’s a sign of a healthy organization when you have the dilemma of these decisions.

“I feel like Reese pitched his way onto the team.”

Mize, who had missed most of the last two years recovering from elbow and back surgeries, came into camp 20 pounds heavier and stronger and armed with a rejuvenated fastball with amped-up velocity and ride.

“The body of his work this spring has been awesome,” Hinch said. “The fastball he’s pitching with now is the best fastball of his career. He’s still rounding into form with his offspeed and secondary pitches. But he, of anybody in our camp, took this spring as a complete competition.

“That was very notable in his work, in his emotions on the mound, in his interactions in the dugout, his game-planning. He quickly showed he was ready to be an option for us, and that was certainly worth rewarding.”

Hinch said Skubal, Maeda and Flaherty would start the first three games against the White Sox in Chicago. Olson is lined up to be the fourth starter and Mize fifth.

The only roster battle left is for the final two spots in the bullpen. And, after non-roster right-hander Drew Anderson was reassigned to minor-league camp Friday, there are four pitchers in that battle: right-handers Beau Brieske, Alex Faedo and Miguel Diaz, plus lefty Joey Wentz.

Hinch said all four will travel with the team to Tampa for the final exhibition game and the decision will be made likely Wednesday.

Right-hander Sawyer Gipson-Long (groin) will start the season on the injured list.