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.
DETROIT -- Troy Melton's week sounds like a George Clooney scene out of the 2009 movie “Up in the Air.”
On Sunday, Melton flew with the Toledo Mud Hens from Omaha to Detroit at the end of their road trip. He was expected to start the first game of their homestand on Tuesday night, but then a rainy forecast prompted the Tigers to move his rehab start to Single-A Lakeland, where the weather was expected to be dry.
So Melton flew from Detroit to Orlando on Monday, pitched five innings of one-run ball in Lakeland on Tuesday night, then flew from Orlando back to Detroit on Wednesday to reconnect with Tigers officials and evaluate his readiness to return from the injured list.
On Thursday, Melton flew with the Tigers from Detroit to Baltimore, where he could make his 2026 debut in Sunday’s series finale against the Orioles at Camden Yards.
“Frequent flier miles stacking up,” Melton joked. “I don't know how to claim points. That's my problem.”
“You're going to want those later,” someone walking by joked.
If it gets Melton back to the big leagues now, he’ll fly wherever. While he had a moment sitting still, he talked with MLB.com about his rehab experience, his return from the right elbow inflammation that sidelined him in Spring Training, and his anticipation of getting back on the mound for the Tigers:
MLB.com: How did your rehab outing Tuesday feel?
Melton: I felt like myself, which is obviously really nice. It's what you're looking for. Basically, I thought of it as like an end-of-Spring-Training start. Felt really good. Made some adjustments in Triple-A with [pitching coach Doug Bochtler] and helped me out with a lot of stuff, so it was good.
MLB.com: Was it a mechanical adjustment or something more strategic or pitch selection?
Melton: Just some stuff lower-half wise that I was doing funky the first few [outings]. Started cleaning it up a little bit in Toledo, but it didn't go as well. I was still kinda trying to find it there.
MLB.com: Did your rehab assignment kind of feel like recreating Spring Training, since you barely got to throw in camp before the injury, and not in Spring Training games at all?
Melton: Honestly, it was kind of difficult. In your mind, you want to think of it as Spring Training, but you're in games. Even in Low-A, it's a game. It's still competition. And I guess Spring Training's the same way, but it’s kind of a different vibe in Spring Training. Rehab is hard to think of as Spring Training, especially when I was in Triple-A, where it felt like I was thrown in the fire. But it was good, physically very good, just trying to make it in my mind like Spring Training.
MLB.com: Considering how [the injury] could’ve been and what the emotions were like when you first felt something, does this return feel like the best-case scenario?
Melton: I mean, physically I felt pretty much 100 percent the entire time. Usually guys are kind of fighting through things in rehab for a little bit, and I really never had that. It was just kind of a shutdown for a couple weeks and then just the normal buildup process. Honestly, I felt pretty much 100 percent healthy the whole time, and it's been like that even since the day it happened. I was never really in pain. It's been kind of reassuring, I guess, that I am fine. So yeah, it's been good.
MLB.com: And throwing 98-99 [mph] in rehab, you can crank the fastball up fine?
Melton: What was weird for me was my average was down, not a lot, not a concerning amount. It's [like] a normal Spring Training, I would say, but it's hard when you're pitching in games and seeing it. I was down one, and then my last outing, when I fixed the lower-half stuff, it felt much easier to have my average fastballs better. That was the only thing, really.
MLB.com: So not worried about the top-end velo, just the cruising speed?
Melton: Not the top end. When I would step on it, it was normal. I was just moving kinda weird. Top end was always there. It was just getting to the cruising velo. It needed to be a little bit better.
MLB.com: You had an outing in Lakeland where you threw three perfect innings in 27 pitches, then had to throw extra pitches. Was that a weird outing for you?
Melton: Yeah, it was strange. I had to go to the bullpen. I want to say they took the first pitch of the game and then swung at 12 of 13 after that. So it's just hard to take it like a normal outing, because that doesn't really happen at any level other than Low-A. Yeah, it was a strange one, but I got what I needed to get out of it and then threw some more pitches in the bullpen after so it kind of simulated a fourth [inning], which was I guess kinda nice. Ended up working out well, felt good coming out of it.
MLB.com: How anxious are you to get back to pitching with these guys?
Melton: I wouldn't say anxious is really the word, to be honest. I'm excited. I feel good. Pitching in the big leagues is pretty cool, especially being on a team like this where it's been not going as well, I'll say, lately. So just kind of trying to be able to contribute however I can to help turn some things around. I think we're close, but more things have to start going right and then I think we'll get it back.