This story was excerpted from Jason Beck’s Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Reese Olson had a Major League debut to remember last Friday in Chicago. But before he became the first Tiger in 51 years to take a no-hit bid through five innings in his MLB debut, he was a Toledo Mud Hens starter just trying to figure things out.

Just a few weeks ago, Olson had a 9.67 ERA through his first seven starts. Opposing hitters had posted a 1.035 OPS against him during that stretch. He’d been chased in the first inning of one start after giving up three walks and three hits, and he had allowed seven hits and four walks over 3 2/3 innings in another. He seemed about as likely to go back to Double-A Erie as he was to go up to Detroit.

“I went through a lot in Triple-A for the first month,” Olson said. “For five starts in a row, it was just a struggle, just getting sped up when something didn’t go my way. Giving up a hit or a walk, and then it snowballing on me.”

The Tigers stuck it out with him at Triple-A, leaving him to work with Mud Hens pitching coach Doug Bochtler. Olson’s next three starts set him up for his first callup after Eduardo Rodriguez went on the injured list. And as Olson reflected on that stretch after his debut performance, it was one of the better things to happen for his development.

“I think my Minor League struggles in Triple-A for the first month helped me a lot,” Olson said. “It calmed me down, not getting sped up. I think that was one of the biggest lessons I learned in Triple-A. I’m happy that I struggled for that month for the experience, so that I know how to react out there.”

It’s a reminder that not all prospect development is smooth or linear. In fact, many player development officials like to see prospects go through struggles in the Minor Leagues so that they know how to handle them and work through them. Not every hot stretch is a mandate for a promotion, and one slump shouldn’t be a verdict that a player isn’t Major League material.

It's something worth remembering as Wilmer Flores puts his delivery back together following a rough stretch at Double-A Erie, the first real struggle of his pro career. The Tigers’ No. 4 prospect has a 2.19 ERA over his past eight starts after allowing 13 runs over just 4 1/3 innings over back-to-back outings in April. Flores struck out 14 batters over nine innings of two-run ball in two starts last week against Richmond.

Ditto for No. 7 prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy, who looked like a phenom in hitting .341 with a .997 OPS in April, only to hit .205 with a .716 OPS in May. The 23-year-old maintained his high walk rate in both months while acknowledging he’s still learning his swing.

For Olson, calming down in the midst of trouble was part of his adjustment, something he struggled to do during a midseason slump last summer in Erie. He saw Tigers reliever Alex Lange in an interview spouting a philosophy that has circulated around the Tigers staff: chill and make pitches.

Another part was working his slider into a viable secondary pitch alongside his changeup. It averaged a spin rate of 2,947 rpm in his debut and garnered as many called strikes as swinging ones -- six each -- a sign that he had command of it, as well as good movement. That’s the kind of spin rate for which top pitching prospect Jackson Jobe and relief prospect Brendan White are known.

“It’s been a high-spin pitch for me all year this year,” Olson said. “Seeing how it performed against those guys [Friday] was a confidence boost.”