Trevor

Rosenthal

The 33-year-old hurler had been attempting a comeback at Triple-A Toledo, but was shut down due to arm pain and ultimately underwent elbow surgery in mid-June. He’ll miss the remainder of the 2023 season at a minimum.

The team is calling it a UCL reconstruction revision, which will cost him at least the rest of this year. If it’s a full Tommy John, he’ll miss much of next year, too. It’s been very tough sledding for Rosenthal of late, as he needed thoracic outlet surgery in 2021. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2020, and he had thrown just three innings in the minors for the Tigers this season.

Working at 92-96 mph, Rosenthal, who had thoracic outlet surgery in 2021, gave up hits to four of the six batters he faced today. His 93.9 mph average on his fastball was down about four mph from when he was last seen in 2020. He’ll probably get some of that back with time, but he’s going to have to do so in the minors initially.

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said Tuesday that Rosenthal is healthy, but won’t make the Opening Day roster. He also added that his fastball velocity and secondary pitches have looked good this spring. Detroit is understandably taking a cautious approach with the injury-plagued 32-year-old’s ramp-up process as he’s been limited to just 32 relief appearances over the last three years. He’s expected to be ready to go at some point in April.

Rosenthal checked out fine after a bullpen session on Friday and will continue his throwing progression next week. It’s unlikely that the Tigers will rush him to be ready for Opening Day, but it sounds like he’ll be a high-leverage option at some point early on in the regular season. If he’s healthy, he’s a legitimate closing option for Detroit.

Rosenthal, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, signed a minor league contract with the Tigers last week and figures to miss some time at the outset of the regular season. The 32-year-old veteran reliever appears to be fully healthy, but Detroit will proceed with an abundance of caution during his ramp-up process over the next few weeks.

Now here’s an interesting signing. The 32-year-old right-hander hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since the 2020 season, but he has 132 career saves to his name and there isn’t much in the way of competition at the back-end of the Tigers’ bullpen after losing Gregory Soto, Joe Jimenez and Andrew Chafin. Rosenthal previously pitched for the Tigers for 10 games at the end of the 2019 season. If he can prove his health, he could ultimately challenge Alex Lange for save chances in Motown.

Rosenthal signed a one-year contract with the Giants last offseason and continued to rehab from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery before being shipped to the Brewers at the trade deadline where he sustained season-ending hamstring and lat injuries. The hard-throwing 32-year-old righty hasn’t made an appearance in the majors since the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. He’ll likely have to settle for a short-term contract, but could return to form as an impact high-leverage reliever, if he can stay healthy.

Rosenthal sustained a teres major muscle injury last week during a minor league rehab appearance with Triple-A Nashville. It appears highly unlikely that he’ll be able to fully recover and make it to Milwaukee prior to the end of the regular season, but the hard-throwing 32-year-old righty is going to give it a shot. We’ll see.

Brewers manager Craig Counsell told reporters on Saturday that Rosenthal’s injury is the same as Freddy Peralta’s injury earlier in the season that caused him to miss 2 1/2 months. This effectively ends the 32-year-old bid to return to the majors.