DETROIT -- The injuries keep coming for the Tigers, this time depleting a bullpen that has been counted on for important outs and innings lately. The team placed late-inning reliever Will Vest on the 15-day injured list on Saturday with right lateral forearm inflammation.
To fill Vest’s spot, the Tigers selected Ricky Vanasco from Triple-A Toledo, where the former Dodgers reliever had gotten off to a dominant start as the Mud Hens' closer.
Vest has been a critical member of the Tigers' bullpen over the last few seasons, and served as Detroit’s closer for much of last season. But the 30-year-old right-hander was off to a rough start to the season thanks to a few difficult outings, including a loss in Cincinnati last Friday. He rebounded with a perfect outing last Sunday against the Reds, but hadn’t pitched since then due to inflammation on the outside of his pitching elbow.
The good news for the Tigers is that initial tests indicated no structural damage. The bad news is that the inflammation hasn’t cleared.
“We’ve run out of time waiting as we continue to [try to] find a solution for this,” manager A.J. Hinch said in announcing the move. “There were times in the last three or four days we thought we were going to get a breakthrough and have him be available. He wasn’t, and he continues to report the same soreness despite our efforts to get him back on the field. He’s going to go under further testing and more extensive testing.”
Vest’s injury further depletes the Tigers’ late-inning mix. Closer Kenley Jansen hasn’t pitched since Detroit’s walk-off loss on Wednesday in Atlanta, and Hinch said the 38-year-old is day to day while dealing with right groin tightness that he has apparently been battling for a couple weeks.
“It’s getting better, a little bit,” Jansen said Saturday. “I first pulled it against the Royals [in mid-April], and then I didn’t feel great last week so I went to get it checked out. We’re going to day to day to see how it’s going to feel.”
Those absences help explain the recent heavy workload for Kyle Finnegan, who picked up the save on Thursday after throwing 29 pitches Wednesday night. He’ll likely continue to get late-inning opportunities, reprising the closer role he held with the Nationals before his trade to Detroit last summer, until Jansen returns.
Vanasco, who pitched briefly for the Tigers in 2024, made an impression in camp this Spring Training as a non-roster invite, then carried it into the season with the Mud Hens. The 27-year-old struck out 28 batters over 15 scoreless innings on just eight hits and four walks. His fastball has averaged 95.1 miles per hour according to Statcast, up nearly half a mile from his 2024 stint in the Majors. Just as important, he had a 28 percent whiff rate on his four-seamer, 30 percent on his sinker and splitter, and 41 percent on his breaking ball.
If Vanasco can come anywhere close to that whiff rate in the Majors, he could give the Tigers bullpen a strikeout factor it has been missing for much of the season. At this point, though, the Tigers need innings just as badly, particularly with a bullpen game looming Sunday night against the Rangers. Sawyer Gipson-Long could have been an option for that game, having made four starts for the Mud Hens this season, but he was scratched from his scheduled start Friday at Columbus due to injury.
“He’s not 100 percent,” Hinch said.