Will Vest #19

Attended Ridge Point High School in Sienna, Texas…played for school’s baseball team has a shortstop…enrolled in Stephen F. Austin State University where he played college baseball and became a pitcher…was drafted in the 12th round by the Detroit Tigers in the 2017 MLB draft.

2025

Appeared in 64 games and posted a 6-5 record, with a career-high 23 saves, leading all Tigers pitchers...had a 3.01 ERA (23ER/68.2IP)...Pitched eight innings in the postseason with nine total strikeouts...Threw three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out five in the Wild Card series against Cleveland... closed out both victories for the Tigers in the series...Picked up his team-leading 20th save of the season on Aug. 29 against Kansas City...among pitchers with at least 20 saves as of Sept. 14, he had the second-lowest ninth-inning ERA in baseball at 1.22 (5 ER/37.0 IP).

2024

Spent the entire 2024 season with the Tigers, appearing in a career-high 69 games and posting a 3-4 record with two saves, a 2.82 ERA (70.1IP/22ER) and 63 strikeouts...Inherited 49 runners during the season, which was tied for the third most in the Majors...were the most for a Tigers reliever since Phil Coke inherited 52 in 2014...Made the 200th appearance of his big league career on Sept. 6 at Oakland, allowing two hits and striking out one in a scoreless two-thirds of an inning...Pitched in six postseason games, compiling a 1-0 record with one save, a 1.50 ERA (6.0IP/1ER) and nine strikeouts...Made his postseason debut on Oct. 1 at Houston, striking out four over 1.2 scoreless innings...joined Doug Fister (Sept. 30, 2011 at NYY) as the only relievers in franchise history to strike out four-or-more batters in their first career playoff game...Punched out one in 1.1 innings in relief on Oct. 9 vs. Cleveland...started his postseason career by retiring 15 consecutive batters...according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Vest’s streak tied Jeremy Bonderman for the longest by a Tigers pitcher to start his postseason career and was the longest by a MLB pitcher to begin his playoff career since Trevor Stephan retired 16 straight from Oct. 8-18, 2022.

2023

Spent most of the 2023 season with the Tigers, appearing in 48 games, including four starts... Did not allow a run in his first eight outings with the Tigers from April 22-May 12, throwing 10.1 scoreless innings in that stretch... Picked up his first win of the season on May 24 at Kansas City, striking out two and not allowing any hits or walks over 1.1 scoreless innings... Made his first start of the season and third of his career as an opener on June 11 vs. Arizona, allowing just one hit in a scoreless inning of work... Started on June 16 and June 18 at Minnesota, becoming the first Tigers pitcher to start multiple games in a series since Mickey Lolich on June 21 and 24, 1973 at New York (AL), according to the Elias Sports Bureau... Sidelined from June 27-Aug. 10 with a right lower leg strain... Earned his first save of the season and the second of his big league career on Sept. 16 at Los Angeles (AL), throwing a scoreless 10th inning with two strikeouts...also picked up a save on Sept. 20 at Los Angeles (NL)... Did not allow a run over 11 consecutive appearances from Aug. 27-Sept. 20, the longest scoreless streak of his career...over that span, he threw 11.2 innings with four hits allowed, one walk and 19 strikeouts.

2022

Completed his first full Major League season in 2022, appearing in 59 games... Earned his first big league save on May 13 vs. Baltimore, entering with one out and the bases loaded and striking out both batters he faced... Did not allow a run over nine consecutive appearances from April 19-May 13, throwing 12.1 innings with two hits allowed, two walks and 18 strikeouts... On the injured list from May 20-31... Notched his first win of the season and the second of his career on June 8 at Pittsburgh, tossing a perfect inning with one strikeout... Allowed just two runs over 17 appearances from April 19-June 14, compiling a 1-0 record with one save, a 0.90 ERA (20.0IP/2ER) and 26 strikeouts... Made the first start of his Major League career on Sept. 28 vs. Kansas City, replacing Matt Manning, who was a late scratch...allowed a run on three hits in 1.0 inning.

2021

Saw the first Major League action of his career in 2021, pitching in 32 games with Seattle before being returned to Detroit on July 17...Made his Major League debut April 1 vs. San Francisco, working an inning and allowing an unearned run on a hit with a walk and a strikeout...struck out Evan Longoria for his first big league punchout..Picked up his first big league win April 7 vs. Chicago (AL), giving up a run on three hits with a strikeout in 1.1 innings...Did not allow a run in 10-of-11 outings from April 11-May 3, posting a 0.82 ERA (11.0IP/1ER) and seven strikeouts...On the injured list from May 21-29...Pitched in nine games with Triple-A Toledo in August and went 1-1 with a 2.61 ERA (10.1IP/3ER) and 10 strikeouts.

2020

Did not appear in a game due to cancellation of the 2020 minor league season.

2019

Pitched for three different levels of the Tigers minor league system (High-A Lakeland, Double-A Erie and Triple-A Erie), covering a total of 55.0 IP and posting a 3.27 ERA (20 ER) with 58 strikeouts to 18 walks...he finished the season on a 9-game scoreless streak over 16.1 innings pitched, scattering just 5 hits with 23 strikeouts...he also pitched for Mesa in the Arizona Fall League, striking out 10 in nine games.

2018

Split the season between Single-A West Michigan and High-A Lakeland, going a combined 4-4 with a 5.18 ERA (28 ER, 48.2 IP) with 56 strikeouts and just 14 walks.

2017

Following the June draft, made his professional debut for Low-A Connecticut, going3-1 with a 2.83 ERA (9 ER, 28.2 IP), 28 strikeouts and 9 walks with a 0.837 WHIP.