LAKELAND, Fla. – Five of Will Vest’s team-leading 23 saves last season came in games that Tarik Skubal started, plus another in the postseason. In a roundabout way, Vest is running in from the bullpen for Skubal again, this time for the national team.
No, Skubal will not be a part of Team USA for the knockout rounds of the World Baseball Classic beginning Friday night. But with Skubal out, Vest is heading in, added to the U.S. roster for what will be his first national team experience.
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Like Skubal, Vest’s rise is a fitting story of opportunity, a 12th-round Draft pick in 2017 from Stephen F. Austin who has made his way to the top of his profession. Five years ago, the Tigers lost Vest in the Rule 5 Draft, then got him back at midseason when the Mariners decided not to keep him for their playoff hunt. Three years ago, he was one of the final cuts from the Tigers' bullpen ahead of Opening Day despite pitching in 59 games for Detroit in the previous season. By the end of 2024, he was a trusted postseason performer, pitching the ninth inning in Houston to send the Tigers to their first postseason series victory since 2013.
“It is cool to see him emerge as a really impactful pitcher on this team, but also get the recognition around the league,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s an easy guy to root for, easy guy to praise, and has come a long way. … So proud of him for the work he’s done and how he goes about it.”
Now, Vest could have a chance to take that same mound in Houston, his hometown, and help send Team USA to the semifinals. The Americans face Canada on Friday at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
“Yeah, it’s exciting,” he said last weekend. “Hopefully, they do their business, and I can get in there. It’ll be fun.”
Vest's path to prominence is also part of his appeal. He has filled just about every role in a bullpen at some point and has the stuff to work longer than three outs, which gives USA manager Mark DeRosa options well before the ninth inning, as well as leading into it.
“Hitters will tell you that he’s a very difficult guy to pick up,” Hinch said. “It’s a fast arm from a sort of lower arm slot, meaning lower release height, and the ball gets on you quite a bit. But the thing I think that separates him from a lot of relievers is his willingness to have two fastballs and two offspeed pitches. The sinker has really changed the trajectory of his career path, and then the slider’s gotten better; he still uses a changeup. So a three- to four-pitch mix out of the ’pen with his strike-throwing ability has made him hard to hit.
“Hitters talk all the time about two fastballs, four-seam and two-seam. They don’t like it. I feel their pain.”
Plus, Hinch added, “He’ll pitch every day, he’ll pitch against any part of the lineup and ask for more.”
The conversations about Vest’s addition began in the offseason. Once the roster began to form, so did the plan to bring in Vest once pool play was complete.
That works great for Vest, who usually takes a couple of outings to build his velocity and get to where he needs.
“It always takes me a little bit,” he said. “I feed off adrenaline, too, so it takes me a little bit to get up to that volume or that threshold of where I usually am in the season."
He won’t be short on adrenaline if he gets the call.