Tigers re-sign Drew Hutchison

The Tigers have re-signed righty Drew Hutchison to a new minor league contract, MLBTR has confirmed. Chris McCosky of the Detroit News tweeted yesterday that a new deal between the Tigers and the ACES client was expected to come together at some point this week.

That’s now three minor league deals with Detroit in the past three months for Hutchison. Originally signed in mid-March, Hutchison cracked Detroit’s Opening Day roster and pitched out of their bullpen for the first month of the season before being designated for assignment and electing free agency mid-May. He returned a couple weeks later, was selected back to the big league roster in mid-June, and was again designated for assignment last week. Hutchison elected free agency at that point but will return for another stint with the Tigers organization.

The 31-year-old Hutchison has pitched well in Triple-A this season and has been a serviceable source of big league innings both in the rotation and bullpen for an injury-depleted Tigers pitching staff. In 24 1/3 Major League frames, he has a 4.81 ERA, though his 17-to-16 K/BB ratio is rather ominous. Hutchison recently made a pair of starts for the Tigers, who have four starting pitchers on the injured list, and allowed five runs over a total of 8 2/3 frames.

The 2022 campaign is the seventh in which Hutchison has logged big league time. He’s tallied 506 Major League innings between the Blue Jays, Pirates, Phillies, Rangers and Tigers, pitching to a combined 4.96 ERA with a 20 percent strikeout rate, an 8.3 percent walk rate and a 39.3 percent ground-ball rate in that time.