DETROIT -- Hot Stove season doesn’t begin until next month, but the Tigers already got a big addition to their rotation entering next year. Right-hander Troy Melton, given a clean bill of health, looms large again as a potential frontline starter in a group of talented young arms.
Melton, whose midseason return from right elbow inflammation was a major boost in Detroit’s efforts to climb back into the American League playoff race, saw his season end a week early due to right forearm tightness, prompting a battery of tests and examinations as a precaution. Melton's evaluation revealed no structural damage, the team announced on Thursday.
Melton will start a normal offseason workout program, according to the club. He’ll join Jackson Jobe, River Ryan, Framber Valdez and others in the Tigers’ rotation plans for next season.
Melton, who will turn 26 in December, finished his season with an 8-5 record and a 2.76 ERA in 20 starts, allowing 92 hits over 114 1/3 innings alongside 37 walks and 94 strikeouts. He went 7-1 with a 1.49 ERA over his first 14 starts, including back-to-back outings of seven scoreless innings on July 28 and Aug. 4, and a 20-inning stretch without an earned run from July 28 to Aug. 9.
Melton’s final six outings were more of a struggle, including a 6.30 ERA and 36 hits over 30 innings. His power fastball, a tough pitch to hit throughout his brief big league career, became a liability, hit for a .421 average and a .632 slugging percentage in September (according to Statcast), despite no drop in his velocity. Melton's slider, his spin pitch of choice, saw a similar jump in damage.
Once Melton left his Sept. 20 start against the White Sox at Rate Field in Chicago complaining of forearm tightness that never went away, the concerns were magnified.
“Just general tightness and soreness,” Melton said on that rainy Sunday afternoon. “There are days where you get twinges like that and it goes away, and you don’t think about it again and you do some work on it and it’s gone. But it just never went away.”
Melton did not believe the forearm tightness was related to his elbow inflammation from Spring Training. The Tigers, having been eliminated from playoff contention with a week left in the season, weren’t taking any chances. Now Detroit can proceed with Melton firmly in its plans for the '27 campaign.