LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Tigers’ flurry of late-offseason pitcher signings had a purpose: Filling in for an injury. Reese Olson, whose 2025 season ended in July due to a shoulder strain, underwent surgery last week to repair his right labrum and will miss the upcoming season, according to the team.
It’s brutal news for a talented young pitcher who has flashed dazzling stuff over his three-year Major League career, but it’s softened by the addition of All-Star Framber Valdez -- whose deal became official Tuesday -- and the return of no-doubt Hall of Famer Justin Verlander. Olson was placed on the 60-day injured list Tuesday to open a 40-man roster spot along with Jackson Jobe, who underwent Tommy John surgery last summer but has a chance to return to the mound later this season.
Olson said Wednesday morning that he re-injured his shoulder last October after rehabbing in an attempt to return.
“I re-injured it and I went and did my rounds for a week talking to all the doctors throughout the country,” Olson said. “They’re like, ‘Yeah, there’s a good chance that with a longer, more drawn-out rehab, you’ll avoid surgery.’ That was the plan. Having surgery now versus having surgery in October, I still would’ve missed this full season and still been expected for Opening Day or right around there next year. That was the thought process in not doing surgery in October.”
The Tigers had been hopeful that Olson would be ready for Spring Training, having started a return-to-play throwing progression in December after rehabbing his shoulder without surgery over the fall. But they wanted to be prepared for the offseason, and began looking at potential signings just in case.
“It definitely impacted our search for innings,” president of baseball operations Scott Harris said. “With Reese, we knew we were going to go the conservative route after several opinions on his shoulder, but it wasn’t clear that the conservative route was definitely going to work. We felt really comfortable with the timelines of the conservative route and the surgical route and felt like it was an opportunity for us to see if the conservative route worked without actually pushing back his timeline if he ultimately had to have surgery. So we were operating all winter with the understanding that it may fail when he does ramp up in January. And it ultimately did.”
Olson said he threw out to 120 feet last month before having a setback, which led to another opinion and the worst-case scenario. Dr. Keith Meister performed the surgery on Olson last week.
“Now with this surgery, if everything goes according to plan, I’ll be good for Opening Day next season,” Olson said. “That was why we tried to rehab.”
Olson posted a 1.7 bWAR season last year despite just 13 starts. He was on his way to a breakout season with a career-best 3.15 ERA before he went on the injured list with the shoulder strain in late July. The Tigers moved quickly to replace him with veterans then, too, trading for Chris Paddack and Charlie Morton. Neither addition worked out. With more time to respond, the Tigers responded with bigger moves over the past several days.
With Olson out, the Tigers are on track to open the season with a fairly veteran rotation, with Valdez and Verlander joining Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize. Drew Anderson, who signed a one-year deal in December after starring in KBO last season, will likely serve as a veteran swingman. Troy Melton, whose impressive rookie season last year culminated in a final eight innings of one-run ball during Detroit’s AL Division Series against Seattle, is another depth option who could return to Detroit’s bullpen or open the season at Triple-A Toledo to stay stretched out.