The Detroit Tigers have added to their bullpen depth.
The Tigers signed right-handed reliever Cole Waites – who pitched for the San Francisco Giants in 2022-23 – to a minor-league contract with a non-roster invitation to spring training, according to a person with knowledge of the agreement. He has two minor-league options remaining, so he should report to Triple-A Toledo if he doesn’t make the Opening Day roster.
Waites will earn $800,000 if he makes the MLB roster.
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The 27-year-old recently recovered from Tommy John surgery, which caused him to miss the end of the 2023 season, all of the 2024 season and most of the 2025 season. He underwent surgery Sept. 13, 2023, with Dr. Keith Meister repairing the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
Waites also missed most of the 2021 season due to knee surgery.
The Giants selected Waites in the 18th round of the 2019 draft from the University of West Alabama. Scott Harris – the Tigers’ president of baseball operations – overlapped with Waites during his early development, serving as the Giants’ general manager from 2020-22.
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Waites made his MLB debut in September 2022.
He owns a 6.75 ERA with six walks and six strikeouts across eight innings in 10 games during parts of two MLB seasons, appearing in seven games in 2022 and three games in 2023.
His pitch mix features just two offerings: four-seam fastball and slider, with his fastball averaging 95 mph as an elite weapon. His weaknesses: He struggles to command his fastball and slider for strikes, and he lacks an offspeed pitch such as a changeup.
In 2025, Waites returned from Tommy John surgery in mid-July, but after one game in the Arizona Complex League, he didn’t pitch again until mid-September with Triple-A Sacramento. He finished the season at full health, throwing 3⅔ scoreless innings with two walks and three strikeouts in four games at the Triple-A level.
His best results occurred in 2022, when he skyrocketed from High-A to MLB in one season.
Not only did he post a 1.94 ERA across 41⅔ innings at three levels in the minor leagues on his journey to the big leagues, but he also averaged an elite 16.4 strikeouts per nine innings, including 12.4 strikeouts per nine innings with Triple-A Sacramento.
When healthy, he has proven he can be a strikeout machine in the minor leagues, but two attempts at MLB success have failed.
Waites could get another chance with the Tigers in 2026.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers sign reliever Cole Waites to minor-league contract
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
