The Free Press' Ryan Ford delivers an instant grade of the Detroit Tigers’ big trade sending Casey Mize to the San Diego Padres for a pair of minor leaguers on Monday, Aug. 3.
The trade: RHP Casey Mize, INF Gage Workman for LHP Kash Mayfield, LHP Jackson Wolf
It’s tempting to say that,
after sending left-handed ace Tarik Skubal to LA on Saturday night, the Tigers brought back his replacement (or two of them) from Southern California. Neither arm quite fits the bill, though, despite their southpaw nature.
Mayfield starred in high school in Oklahoma – much like current Tigers prospect Jackson Jobe – while winning back-to-back Gatorade Player of the Year awards in that state in 2023 and 2024. (Jobe was the state’s 2021 winner.) That was with a fastball that hit the 92-95 mph range, topping out at 97. But a bout of shoulder soreness during his first pro season in 2025 appears to have robbed him of much of that velocity; he’s mostly closer to 91 mph on average.
Still, he does have an elite pitch, and it’s one he shares with Skubal: An electric changeup in the 80s, delivered from a low arm slot. That, plus a slurve that sits in the 70s and is especially tough on righties, was enough to rack up 62 strikeouts in 51 1/3 innings with High-A Fort Wayne this season.
Wolf, at least, has big-league experience – and some Comerica Park innings – having made his only MLB appearance in a five-inning start against the Tigers in Detroit in July 2023. (He scattered six hits and a walk while allowing three runs, but only got one strikeout against a rebuilding Tigers roster.)
More recently? Well, he’s probably plenty happy to escape Triple-A El Paso, even if it’s just to get to Toledo as a depth piece; working out of El Paso’s Southwest University Park, at three-quarters of a mile above sea level, Wolf was tagged for a 7.05 ERA with 90 strikeouts and 37 walks over 89 1/3 innings in 24 appearances. (The splits on that: an 8.80 ERA at home and a 5.19 ERA on the road.) Over parts of three seasons in El Paso, Wolf has a 6.48 ERA with 269 strikeouts and 138 walks in 282 innings – the stuff is there, but the control is missing. (His Double-A numbers are a bit more palatable: A 4.25 ERA with 191 strikeouts and 48 walks.)
Mayfield has an expected 2028 arrival in the majors, and Wolf hardly seems like even an option for the back end of the Tigers’ rotation this season. The Padres, after all, were unwilling to call him up despite a lack of arms in their NL wild-card chase; why would the Tigers?
This deal could look a lot better down the line, if the Tigers' pitching development crew works wonders with Mayfield. But for now?
The grade: C-
Ryan Ford is deputy sports editor for the Free Press and has been with Freep Sports since January 2006. Contact him at rford@freepress.com or follow him on X (which used to be Twitter, y’know?) @theford and on BlueSky at @theford.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Casey Mize trade grade: How did Tigers do in dealing 2018's top pick?
