What's wrong with the No. 1 team in ML rankings? Detroit Announces Official Minor Contract With Ko Woo-suk, ERA 1.59 Just Before Release?
Jun 24, 2025
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The Detroit Tigers have signed Ko Woo-suk. The Minor League website reported on the 24th (Korea time) 'The Detroit Tigers signed FA right-hander Ko Woo-seok to a minor league contract'
It's a club official. Although not confirmed, Ko Woo-seok is expected to be transferred to Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens.
Miami has built a new nest to challenge the big leagues a week after releasing Ko Woo-seok unconditionally on the 18th. Detroit doesn't have an annual salary burden for now. Miami will bear the $2.25 million annual salary of Ko Woo-seok. If Ko Woo-seok goes to the Major League, Detroit only needs to pay the minimum annual salary ($760,000) in minutes.
However, Detroit cannot have brought him in recklessly. There must be something to expect from an inexperienced pitcher that Miami abandoned. Ko Woo-suk pitched five ⅔ innings in five games just before his release from the Miami-affiliated Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, allowing six hits, one walk, five strikeouts, and one run with a 1.59 ERA. He also maintained his fastball speed in the 93-94-mile range.
In the game against the Rochester Red Wings (under the Washington Nationals) on the 16th, his most recent appearance, he took the mound as a starter and pitched one hit and one walk in two innings, raising the possibility of being promoted to the big league. At the time, the fastball speed hit a maximum of 94 miles and an average of 93.4 miles. If Detroit brought Ko Woo-seok as a big league resource in mind, it is likely that they would have given a positive evaluation to these five games.
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Detroit is the strongest team in the major leagues. As of the 24th, the two leagues are ranked first in the winning rate with 49 wins and 30 losses. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees are also evaluated to be below Detroit in terms of power. Among the 30 teams, he ranks fifth in average score (4.95) and fifth in team ERA (3.50). No team has a more stable pitching balance than Detroit.
In addition, it proudly ranked first in the power ranking announced by MLB.com on the 23rd. The media was a team that lost 114 games six years ago. However, the Tigers are not surprised even though they have lost three games in a row recently. Manager AJ Hinch recommends watching the Tigers' game whether it's on the baseball field or on TV. It's because they're a great team. 'Yes, the Tigers won today and a good team'
So, what about Detroit's bullpen. In a word, I'm anxious. The evaluation of Ko Woo-seok as a reserve player in the big league is not irrelevant to the unstable bullpen.
Detroit's bullpen ERA is 3.81, ranking 15th out of 30 teams and 10th in the AL. You can think of it as medium. It was pretty solid until the beginning of the month. Until the 11th, Detroit's bullpen ERA remained at 3.29, top 10.
However, the deterioration of the bullpen has been noticeable in the last two weeks. Since the 12th, Detroit bullpen pitchers have pitched a total of 57 ⅔ innings in the last 11 games with a 6.09 ERA. In addition, bullpen pitching innings accounted for 60% of the total 97 innings during this period. It means that I threw a lot. The starters went down early and played bullpen games in six out of 11 games.
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That doesn't mean the Detroit bullpen will collapse. Finishing Will Best is alive and well, with set-up men Tyler Holton, Tommy Canley, Branan Hannifie, Chase Lee, Matt Gage and Dylan Smith in thick layers. On top of that, when starting pitcher Rhys Olsen returns from the injured list (IL), the burden on the bullpen will also be reduced.
However, the bullpen is in a shaky situation in June, and there is little sense of power immediately to be called up from Triple-A right away. For this reason, some argue that Detroit should strengthen its bullpen through trade about a month before the trade deadline.
The Athletic columnist Jim Borden recently insisted on recruiting Pittsburgh Pirates David Bedna. It strangely coincides with the timing of recruiting Ko Woo-seok.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
