All you need to know about why is Matthew Boyd not playing for the Detroit Tigers, and how long he will be out for.
The Detroit Tigers announced that left-handed pitcher Matthew Boyd has successfully undergone Tommy John surgery. Additionally, the club announced a series of roster moves, including the activation of right-handed pitcher Matt Manning from the 60-day injured list and the recall of left-handed pitcher Anthony Misiewicz from Triple-A Toledo. Right-hander Will Vest has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a right lower leg strain while right-hander Boyd has been placed on the 60-day injured list.
It is a very unfortunate turn of events for both Boyd and the Tigers that the news has come to light. The left-handed pitcher had to have surgery on his flexor tendon in September of 2021, which forced him to sit out of action for close to a whole year and already caused him to miss a sizeable portion of the previous two seasons. He made his comeback in September of the previous year and was able to pitch 13 and a third innings in the stretch run.
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In the offseason, the Tigers gambled that Boyd would be able to regain his previous level of play by signing him to a one-year deal worth $10 million. The team had just finished a disastrous 2022 campaign, in which they finished with a record of 66-96 and lost starting pitchers Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal to surgeries that would keep them out for a significant portion of the 2023 campaign. They undoubtedly had high hopes that Boyd would be able to act as a stabilizing force for them and perhaps become a trade candidate by the middle of the season even if they ended up being eliminated from contention.
He made 15 starts with an elevated earned run average of 5.45, but it is likely that this was inflated by a strand rate of 62%. The fact that he only walked 8.3% of the batters he faced and had a strikeout rate of 24.1% indicates that he should have had better results than a 4.36 FIP and a 4.16 SIERA. Because of the widespread injuries to pitchers across the league, a number of teams would have looked past Detroit’s ERA and called them to discuss a trade, but that won’t happen now because the team is out of contention. Boyd will be sidelined for the remainder of the 2023 season as well as a significant portion of the 2024 campaign.
On a more individual level, it has to be an enormous source of frustration for Boyd. His 4.67 earned run average over 588 innings pitched in Detroit from 2016 to 2019 made him a serviceable rotation member for the Tigers. But after that, he had a rough year in 2020, and since then, he’s had three seasons in a row cut short by injuries, and next year will almost certainly be the fourth of those.
Matthew Boyd was drafted into Major League Baseball (MLB) in 2013. He was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the sixth round of the MLB Amateur Draft. Boyd attended Eastside Catholic High School in Sammamish, Washington. During his high school career, he showcased his pitching skills and quickly gained recognition as a talented player. His impressive performances caught the attention of college recruiters, leading him to commit to play college baseball at Oregon State University.
At Oregon State, Boyd continued to refine his pitching abilities under the guidance of the coaching staff. He became a key contributor to the team’s success, playing an integral role in their deep runs in the College World Series. Boyd’s consistent performances and strong work ethic made him a reliable asset for the Beavers.
During his junior year at Oregon State, Boyd was named the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year in 2013. His exceptional performances earned him recognition as one of the top college pitchers in the country, solidifying his draft prospects.
In the 2013 MLB Amateur Draft, Boyd’s talent and potential were acknowledged by the Toronto Blue Jays, who selected him in the sixth round. He decided to forego his senior year at Oregon State and signed with the Blue Jays, embarking on his professional baseball career.
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