Although Darnell will be in camp with the club, he will not see any match action. The 28-year-old underwent surgery in late September to repair a labral tear in his left hip. That was accompanied by an eight-month recovery schedule, which will keep him sidelined until May. Presumably at that point he will head to Triple-A Toledo and try to work his way onto the MLB roster.
Darnell was born in Northville, Michigan, and played collegiately in the state at Division III Adrian College. He went undrafted and pitched in the independent ranks before turning professional with the Rockies. Darnell pitched to a 3.74 average over 200 minor league appearances in the Colorado organization. That included 53 2/3 frames of 3.19 ERA ball last season in a very tough environment at Triple-A Albuquerque. Darnell earned his first MLB call as a result, allowing five runs in 11 2/3 innings until he suffered the injury.
The righty has a three-pitch mix led by a 93-94 MPH fastball. He uses a splitter as his best secondary offering against left-handed hitters, while relying more evenly on the split and a slider against righties. Darnell didn’t show enough in his limited MLB look to hold down a 40-man spot with Colorado this offseason. He returned to Pittsburgh and Detroit on waiver claims. The Tigers non-tendered him soon after, but managed to bring him back in a non-roster capacity. They did the same with non-tendered receivers Jack Klein, Tyler Mattison, Tanner Rainey And Sean Gunther.
Meanwhile, Petzold reported yesterday that Detroit reached minor league deals with each of them Dylan file, the And Wandisson Charles. However, none of that trio received an invitation to Spring Training. This indicates that they are seen purely as organizational depth weapons. All three of these pitchers have played roles on the 40-man roster in the past, but none have reached the MLB level.
The stock comes off a 4.70 ERA between the top two minor league levels in Seattle’s farm system. He is a starter with a 4.33 ERA over seven seasons in the minors. Go was a closer in his native South Korea. He signed a two-year, $4.5 million contract with the Padres for the 2023-2024 offseason. Go failed to break camp and was quickly traded to the Marlins for salary compensation in the Luis Arraez agreement. He’s been around the upper minors the past two years, including 20 appearances in the Detroit system a year ago. Charles is a 29-year-old reliever with a 98 MPH fastball who has never been able to find the strike zone. He pitched in the A’s and Baltimore systems and spent the 2025 campaign in Mexico.
#Tigers #Dugan #Darnell #agree #Minor #League #deal