Right-hander Troy Melton is on his way back to the Detroit Tigers after suffering an injury in spring training.
The 25-year-old began a rehab assignment Sunday, May 3, with Low-A Lakeland, throwing 32 pitches across 1⅔ innings. His workload is being built by the Tigers as a starter – not as a reliever.
Melton is recovering from right elbow inflammation, which shut him down in late February. He isn’t eligible to return to the Tigers until May 25 because he is on the 60-day injured list.
“It’s good to see him pitching competitively,” manager A.J. Hinch said before Sunday’s game. “When you get to this part of the rehab process, I try to put myself back in the mindset of what I would think on Feb. 27 when this guy goes out for his first [spring training] game. When you think about it in that regard, we would just get to the next outing.”
In Sunday’s start, Melton allowed two runs on two hits, no walks and two strikeouts over 1⅔ innings for the Flying Tigers.
He threw 20 of 32 pitches for strikes.
His four-seam fastball averaged 97.2 mph (maxing out at 99 mph) but failed to generate any whiffs on six swings.
“Seeing him pitch with confidence and freedom, he was letting it loose,” Hinch said. “There was a lot to like with what he took into the game, but evaluation-wise is really insignificant at this point. Similar to how a February spring training outing is how I’m viewing it.”
This story will be updated.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Troy Melton begins Tigers rehab assignment to build starter workload
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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