According to Detroit Free Press’ Evan Petzold, the Tigers have re-signed right-hander Trey Wingenter to a minor league contract that includes an invitation to major league Spring Training. If the righty makes the team, his base compensation will be $1.2MM.
Wingenter, who turns 30 in April, has a history of impressive strikeouts but has also struggled with ailments. These narratives will likely continue until 2023. Last winter, he also inked a minor league contract with the Tigers, making the team’s Opening Day roster. However, tendinitis in his throwing shoulder put him on the disabled list after just six games, and he wasn’t activated until around three months later.
In the end, he pitched 17 innings for the Tigers, earning 5.82 runs per innings in that limited amount of work. In addition to walking just 9.2% of batters and striking out 28.9% of them, he also kept 43.2% of balls in play on the ground. Due to his.333 batting average on balls in play and 64.7% strand rate, he allowed more runs to be scored, which is why his FIP and SIERA were 3.96 and 3.43, respectively. In November, he chose free agency after being declared off the roster outright.
Due to Tommy John surgery and a few back procedures, Wingenter did not throw in the majors at all from 2020 to 2022 before the 2023 season. Before that, he was a pitcher with the Padres, where in 2018 he struck out about one-third of hitters faced.
Now that he’s back with the Tigers, he can give them some depth beyond the roster. Like he did in 2023, he might be able to secure a position on the roster if he’s healthy and in good shape. Should he choose to do so, he will have just over four years of service time left on his option. The Tigers will be able to sign him to an arbitration contract until 2025 if he is still on the roster at the end of the following year.
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