DETROIT -- The Tigers have had plenty of good comeback stories from pitchers bouncing back from Tommy John surgery. They can now add Jake Rogers to the list.
The last time Rogers pitched in a game was June 12, 2021, and he topped out at 82 mph. As manager A.J. Hinch turned to his catcher in Saturday’s 11-1 loss to the Reds, he did so with conditions.
“He's like, 'Hey, look, just don't blow [your arm] out,'” said Rogers, who had surgery late in the 2021 season. “And I said, 'Look, I'm going to have to throw like 70 [mph].'”
Rogers wasn’t kidding. If he was going to throw strikes -- the primary goal of position players pitching -- he wasn’t going to be able to lob the ball in.
“The first one, I kinda lobbed in there,” Rogers said, “and [home-plate umpire Brian Walsh] called it a ball; I was getting squeezed. And after that, I was like, 'Alright, I'm just going to have to throw it at the bottom.' And I was still getting squeezed.”
So after a leadoff single to Tyler Stephenson and a 3-0 count to Will Benson, Rogers let it eat.
“He told me he wasn’t going to throw it over 70,” Hinch said. “He lied.”
By the time Rogers’ inning was over, he had topped out at 76.9 mph, and what was left of the crowd of 38,199 at Comerica Park was going wild. The combination of a catcher’s build and a closer’s moustache made for a scene on the mound that brought some relief to a tough loss.
“It was fun, man. I enjoyed it,” said Rogers, who kept a straight face throughout his 15-pitch outing while allowing a run on two hits. “I don't know if I looked like it, but it was fun. I told [catcher Dillon Dingler] I was going to mix in some slower pitches, but I can throw strikes at about 70.
“A.J. said I hit 74 or something, but I was just kind of going about 75 percent. If I float it, I'll throw a lot more balls. It obviously gives them a better chance to hit. They were barreling me up pretty good.”
Turns out Rogers has a slower pitch in his back pocket, waiting for the opportunity.
“I've thrown a knuckleball,” he said. “That's like the first pitch I ever [learned]. Literally, my dad when I was like 10 years old was like, 'Hey, throw this.' So I've been throwing a knuckleball forever. Who knows if it's good or not? I mean, it's good in catch-play, but when you get up there [on the mound], it's different.
“I've always been kinda wanting to, but obviously it's not a ... it's fun for me to be up there and enjoy it, but a lot of times, it's when we're getting our butt kicked, so it's not a great time to be joking around. But I've always wanted to throw it.”
Rogers’ return to the mound wasn’t the plot twist anyone expected from what had been a 1-1 game through four innings as Jack Flaherty and longtime Tigers nemesis Brady Singer. A six-run fifth inning off Flaherty put the Reds in command. A three-run eighth inning off veteran reliever John Brebbia, who gave up a three-run inning for the second time in fewer than 24 hours, put Rogers in play.
“Depending on what the score was going to be, [Brebbia] was going to finish the game,” Hinch said. “And then, down by as much as we were, I could go to the position player to protect the number of pitches. But it wasn’t a good day for [Brebbia].”
Brebbia and Hinch had a lengthy conversation at the dugout steps when his inning was over.
“He wanted to take the brunt of the rest of the game,” Hinch said. “He wanted to make sure that I wasn’t going to go to somebody else in the 'pen, where we were with the score, and was volunteering to go back out. And I was just telling him no.
“If we had scored two runs and gotten to the threshold where a pitcher would’ve had to pitch, then he would’ve gone back out. I was just letting him know why I was doing it: One was to protect him. Him going back out and throwing another 15 to 25 pitches didn’t help him, didn’t help us.”
Rogers hopes he doesn’t get another chance, or if he does, that it’s with the Tigers up big. But if he does, don’t be surprised to see a knuckler.
“I may or may not debut a knuckleball,” Rogers said, “but I couldn't do it there.”