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Detroit Tigers reliever Alex Lange needs surgery for lat strain, most likely ending season
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- Detroit Tigers reliever Alex Lange needs surgery for lat strain, most likely ending season
ATLANTA — Detroit Tigers right-handed reliever Alex Lange needs surgery.
He is most likely out for the remainder of the 2024 season.
Lange, who has been diagnosed with a latissimus dorsi strain, suffered a right lat avulsion injury while pitching last Friday with Triple-A Toledo and will undergo surgery early next week. He isn't expected to pitch again until 2025, but the Tigers won't share a timeline until after the surgery is complete.
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"I feel for him," manager A.J. Hinch said. "It's a tough injury at a tough time of the year. He was doing everything he could to get himself back to this level. It's hard to think about him getting hurt like that because he puts so much into pitching."
SENT DOWN: Tigers option reliever Alex Lange to Triple-A Toledo to work on throwing strikes
Detroit Tigers closing pitcher Alex Lange celebrates striking out Oakland Athletics second base Zack Gelof to seal their 5-4 win over Oakland for the Detroit home opener at Comerica Park on Friday, April 5, 2024.
The Tigers optioned Lange to Triple-A Toledo on May 23 . The 28-year-old worked as the Tigers' closer in the 2023 season, racking up 26 saves in 32 chances, but his continued strike-throwing issues in 2024 led to a demotion .
With the Tigers, Lange posted a 4.34 ERA with 17 walks and 21 strikeouts across 18⅔ innings in 21 relief appearances. With the Mud Hens, he logged a 3.12 ERA with one walk and 12 strikeouts across 8⅔ innings in nine relief appearances.
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The right lat injury happened when he threw a curveball for a swinging strikeout with the Mud Hens.
"We got to get him healthy," Hinch said. "He came into this season with a really big role, and we were trying to get him back to pitching his best, and now we got to work our way into getting him healthy."
If Lange doesn't return to the big leagues for roughly one week this season, thus accruing three years of service time , his projected free agency will be pushed back from after the 2027 season to after the 2028 season.
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Jackson Jobe completes rehab start
Right-hander Jackson Jobe (left hamstring strain) completed a rehab assignment Tuesday with High-A West Michigan.
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The 21-year-old, one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, tossed two innings for the Whitecaps in his first start since suffering a hamstring injury May 1. He allowed two runs on two hits and one walk with one strikeout, throwing 29 pitches.
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Jobe gave up both runs in the second inning after sending down all three batters in the first inning. He struck out Sal Stewart — one of the Cincinnati Reds ' top hitting prospects — with an elevated 99 mph fastball to end the first inning.
Eventually, Jobe will return to Double-A Erie. Before the injury, Jobe posted a 2.16 ERA with 10 walks and 24 strikeouts across 16⅔ innings as a member of the SeaWolves.
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Izaac Pacheco undergoes hand surgery
Third baseman Izaac Pacheco (right hamate excision) injured his right hand while batting in a game June 6 with High-A West Michigan, resulting in surgery June 11.
The Tigers selected Pacheco, an offense-first prep prospect, with the No. 39 overall pick in the 2021 draft out of Friendswood High School in Friendswood, Texas.
The 21-year-old is hitting .198 with four home runs, 14 walks and 72 strikeouts across 48 games with High-A West Michigan, working at third base. Pacheco also struck out 160 times in 119 games last season, hitting .211 with 12 homers.
Freddy Pacheco begins rehab assignment
Right-handed reliever Freddy Pacheco , who underwent Tommy John surgery in June 2023 to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, began a rehab assignment Tuesday in the Florida Complex League.
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The 26-year-old pitched the first inning for the FCL Tigers and faced four batters, getting Joey Votto — a 17-year MLB veteran rehabbing with the Toronto Blue Jays — to ground out after allowing a leadoff double.
Pacheco hasn't been healthy since the 2022 season in the St. Louis Cardinals ' organization, posting a 3.05 ERA with 28 walks and 84 strikeouts across 62 innings in 50 relief appearances for Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis.
When healthy, Pacheco utilized a two-pitch mix: a 97 mph four-seam fastball (maxing out at 99.4 mph) with a 26.5% whiff rate and an 84 mph slider with a 54.6% whiff rate.
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Other injury updates
• Right-hander Jack Bushell , whom the Tigers signed in January 2024 out of Australia, underwent Tommy John surgery to reconstruct the UCL in his right elbow. Before the injury, the 18-year-old pitched 12⅔ innings in the Florida Complex League.
• Catcher Josue Briceño (right knee PCL sprain) and right-handed reliever Wilmer Flores (right shoulder stress reaction) are completing rehab daily, but the Tigers did not share what "completing rehab daily" means in their situations. Briceño, 19, is hitting .306 with two home runs, 15 walks and 17 strikeouts in 28 games with Low-A Lakeland; Flores, 23, owns a 6.04 ERA with 19 walks and 19 strikeouts in 22⅓ innings in 13 relief appearances with Triple-A Toledo.
• Right-handed reliever Brendan White (right elbow inflammation) began a rehab assignment Tuesday in the Florida Complex League. The 25-year-old remains a member of the Tigers' 40-man roster, along with Flores. White has dealt with arm injuries since spring training, but he hasn't undergone surgery.
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• Right-handed reliever Adam Wolf (right ankle stress fracture) injured his ankle June 8 and will be sidelined for a while. The 27-year-old has a 3.09 ERA with 16 walks and 27 strikeouts across 32 innings in 16 games for Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo, with 8⅓ innings for the Mud Hens.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Alex Lange needs surgery, most likely out for season
