On Thursday, the Tigers inked LHP Enmanuel De Jesus to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring camp that will be worth up to $1.3 million if he makes the major league roster. This continued a week
of loading up on minor league pitchers in the usual and very necessary offseason process of depth building efforts.
The Venezuelan born De Jesus is 29 years old, and has spent the past two seasons as a starting pitcher in Korea. He pitched for the Kiwoom Heroes in 2024, and pitched for the KT Wiz this past season. As with Drew Anderson, the Tigers are jumping on the recent hotness of signing top KBO pitchers on small scale deals, which is a sensible trend to try to get into near the ground floor. De Jesus comes complete with three minor league options, so he gives the Tigers plenty of flexibility as they work with him next season.
De Jesus was initially signed as an international free agent back in 2013 by the Boston Red Sox. He made his brief major league debut with the Phillies in 2023, also pitching for Team Venezuela in that year’s World Baseball Classic. Over the past two seasons in Korea, he put up a 3.83 ERA with a modest 23.8 percent strikeout rate, though he does pound the zone and limit walks quite well.
Based on his prior work in the major and minor leagues, De Jesus leads mainly with his fourseam fastball and sinker, with a solid slider and changeup out of a low three-quarters arm slot. The whole package of stuff was pretty average, and based on his KBO strikeout rates, it’s unlikely there’s been a major upgrade. Adding a left-handed starter for Triple-A depth is fine, and De Jesus could work out of the bullpen should an issue arise with Tyler Holton or Brant Hurter.
Other depth additions
The Tigers have also brought back LHP Carlos Pena and LHP Sean Guenther on minor league contracts, and re-signed RHP Jack Little and RHP Cole Waites after they were claimed and then cut from the 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 draft. Finally, they added RPH Inohan Paniagua to a minor league deal as well. This is all in addition to the trade of RHP Chase Lee to Toronto for LHP Johan Simon, which was reported last week.
Of course, none of this is particularly thrilling, but it should go without saying that building up minor league pitching depth is a crucial part of holding a major league pitching staff together throughout the year. Even in a down year in 2025 for pitching development, they still had Chase Lee and a few other Triple-A level arms who patched things together for brief stints. In a few cases they even contributed to victories before the need to rely on them for more than they had to offer led to that value getting erased over time. They need to do a lot better than vaguely replacement level work in 2026 if they’re going to be a more consistent bullpen, certainly.
Guenther had a short run late in 2024 that contributed a little to the Tigers surprising run to the ALDS. Pena is underpowered, but he has good command and a nice changeup and could possibly work for a spot start or two. He throws a ton of strikes and has limited home runs at the Double-A level. The 25-year-old Paniagua didn’t crack the Double-A level yet due to shoulder trouble in the past year and change, but while he’s decidedly a soft tosser, he has really good command of a tricky curveball-changeup combination and might work in a similar vein as Chase Lee.
There is an interesting mix of arm angles in this group, but otherwise there’s little that stands out. Of course, that’s why they’re available on minor league level deals.
