From the moment the Detroit Tigers signed left-hander Enmanuel de Jesus to a minor league deal and camp invite back in December, it was clear they wouldn’t be able to stash him in the minor leagues and off the 40-man roster for long. As it turned out, interest from other teams forced the issue and so the Tigers added him to the 40-man roster on Tuesday, moving right-hander Troy Melton to the 60-day injured list as the corresponding move.
De Jesus’s deal was designed to pay the veteran $1.3 million
if he played in the major leagues this season. Minor league deals like that are typically only given to players who have some interest from other teams, and they invariably come with a timetable. We expected that the Tigers would have until sometime in late April to decide to add him to the 40-man roster or De Jesus would be able to opt-out and sign wherever he chose. Those may still be the terms of the deal, but as it turns out, De Jesus also had the right to accept another deal this week. With offers coming in to pitch overseas after his outstanding showing for Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, the Tigers made the call on Tuesday to purchase his contract and add him to the 40-man roster.
The 29-year-old came up in the Boston Red Sox organization before briefly bouncing around with the San Francisco Giants and the Miami Marlins, the latter of which gave him his first major league cup of coffee back in 2023. Offers were not particularly compelling at that point, and so De Jesus moved to South Korea to pitch in the KBO in 2024 and 2025.
With the Kiwoom Heroes in 2024, De Jesus made 30 starts, compiling a 3.68 ERA. He came back to the KBO with the KT Wiz in 2025, making another 30 starts with a 3.96 ERA. Those two seasons had major league teams interested, but unlike Cody Ponce or the Tigers own Drew Anderson, two 2025 KBO standouts who got major league deals this offseason, De Jesus didn’t draw much the same level of offers. Instead the Tigers were able to bring him to camp on a minor league deal, and the southpaw did his part by showing out in Grapefruit League action and in the World Baseball Classic.
De Jesus had already impressed in camp with his excellent command of a solid though modest pitch mix. His outing for Team Venezuela on March 8 solidified his standing as a pitcher of interest. De Jesus struck out eight over five innings of one-run ball with no walks and just two hits allowed as Team Venezuela defeated Team Israel. That set a record in strikeouts for Team Venezuela, putting a stamp on the performance. While the competition wasn’t particularly tough, it was again De Jesus’s excellent command and ability to execute his game plan that really stood out. As a result, franchises in Asia were reportedly calling for his services this week, and the Tigers had to decide whether they were going to add him to the roster or not.
The decision was made easier by the fact that Melton, who was expected to be a force in the bullpen and perhaps swing back to a starting role if needed during the season, has been dealing with an elbow issue that has kept him off the mound since early in spring camp. Asked about his status over the weekend, manager A.J. Hinch mentioned only that Melton was doing “plyo ball stuff,” making it clear that his status and timetable remained uncertain. On the one hand, the fact that he was doing arm strengthening work was a positive sign that Melton may avoid surgery. On the other, it looked more and more like Melton would need more rehab time and then a slow progression to build up his arm, followed by rehab outings at the Triple-A level. As his timeline started to stretch into May, the Tigers realized they wouldn’t lose anything by moving him to the 60-day injured list to open a spot for De Jesus, making the decision a pretty simple one.
De Jesus is working with both fourseam fastballs and sinkers between 92-94 mph and showing outstanding command of both pitches. He backs the two fastball types with an 86 mph cutter, and a good circle changeup averaging 85 mph this spring. The changeup has late fade and seems to have plenty of deception, making it his best pitch of the bunch as hitters don’t seem to pick it up well off the same sightlines on which he’s throwing the fourseam and sinker. Less often he’ll break off a slower slider to try and get some chase down and away from left-handed hitters.
It’s not an overpowering set of pitches, and big league hitters will be the proving ground for his mistakes, but de Jesus learned how to really pitch in the KBO, and appears to be pretty deceptive as well. He’s worked the edges of all four quadrants of the strike zone with both fastball types, while consistently bending the changeup and cutter just off the edges to either side of the plate. His easy delivery and apparent lack of tells, along with that feel for his full set of pitches has allowed him to keep hitters off balance. There have been few good swings against him from anyone this spring.
Take a look at his highlights from the WBC. You’ll see little but paint.
For now, the Tigers just had to pick up de Jesus’s contract to prevent him from signing elsewhere. He still has to make the Opening Day roster, but that’s looking like a near lock right now. We’ll assume that de Jesus will be in the Tigers’ bullpen on Opening Day along with fellow lefty Tyler Holton. Between de Jesus and Drew Anderson, that would give them two depth starters working out of the bullpen, giving Hinch a lot of flexibility to help get his rotation through the early part of the season when most injuries occur. They could also choose to keep Brant Hurter in the bullpen as well, giving them three multi-inning relievers who can handle either-handed hitters.
That setup leaves Holton, Will Vest, Kenley Jansen, and Kyle Finnegan free to handle the late innings and high leverage scenarios. With two long relief style lefties in the pen of the quality of de Jesus and Hurter, the Tigers could have them follow right-handed starters Justin Verlander, Jack Flaherty, and Casey Mize, forcing managers to decide if they want to replace left-handed hitters in the lineup with right-handers to try and get to the Tigers’ bullpen in the middle innings. If they choose to empty their bench to stack up their right-handed hitters against de Jesus and Hurter and fail to seize a lead, then that opens up the late innings for the Tigers’ right-handed high leverage arms. When Framber Valdez or Tarik Skubal start, then the Tigers can pivot to Drew Anderson to follow them, forcing the same type of decision on opposing managers.
It won’t always work out like that, but with Anderson, Hurter, and de Jesus all looking like guys who could win a fifth starter’s gig with a lot of lesser teams around the league, the depth of the Tigers’ pen would be in great shape. They’d also still have one spot left to rotate their best remaining arms through as they try to develop another reliever out of their prospects and minor league free agent signings. The Tigers could also choose to option Hurter for a while, and just use Anderson and de Jesus as the middle relievers, giving them two open spots in the pen for single inning relievers.
They don’t have to make the final decision for another two weeks, but Enmanuel de Jesus has made a great case for himself so far. Barring any trouble, he appears destined for a spot in the Tigers’ pen on Opening Day. Hopefully, Troy Melton has avoided any major injury and will be able to join him sometime in May. A hard-throwing right-hander with a good breaking ball would really tie the whole relief corps together.
