Former Shawnee Mission East star to start Friday against Royals at Kauffman Stadium
Left-hander Joey Wentz will have an opportunity to make his case to be in the Detroit Tigers’ 2023 rotation with a series of starts to end this season.
The audition of sorts will begin Friday at a place he likely visited as a kid: Kauffman Stadium.
Wentz, who was a star at Shawnee Mission East High School, will be recalled from Triple-A Toledo in time to start Friday’s game against the Royals, according to the team’s website.
“Nice little homecoming for him,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told the team’s website. “We expect him to be in the rotation. In the difficult decision to let go of Michael Pineda (who was designated for assignment), it gives a runway of three, four, five starts for Wentz.
“Things can change, but the goal will be for him to make all those starts as we get into September, early October, and give him a fresh look at what this is like to hopefully help us evaluate him for next year. He’s behind innings-wise, too.”
Wentz, 24, made his major-league debut in May and had another start for the Tigers three weeks later before being placed on the injured list in June because of a left-shoulder injury. That kept him out of action until late July.
But he’s been in a groove lately.
In his last five games at Triple-A Toledo, Wentz has a 1.25 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 21 2/3 innings. In 12 games with Toledo this season, Wentz has a 2-2 record with a 3.17 ERA. He is 0-2 with a 8.10 ERA in his two MLB starts, and both were in Detroit.
Wentz was selected by the Atlanta Braves with the 40th overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft. He was traded to the Tigers in July 2019, then had Tommy John surgery in March 2020.
After the ups and downs, the former All-Metro player of the year will be back in Kansas City on Friday, trying to beat the team he grew up watching.
This story was originally published September 8, 2022 at 11:05 AM.
