BEST LINE: Pinnacle +120

Posted at 11:00 AM EST. 

The Tigers have dropped five in a row while scoring a measly 10 runs over that span. Chris Young, Roenis Elias, Drew Hutchison, R.A. Dickey and J.A. Happ are the last five starters the Tigers ran into and they made all five look good. Now they’ll run into Rubby De La Rosa. De La Rosa was one of the most enticing young arms in the LA organization a few years back. He went under the knife for TJS in August 2011 and has worked his way back. He has electric mid-90s stuff and has shown the ability to induce groundballs at a high rate. That was on full display in his first start of the year when he induced 63% grounders while striking out eight in seven full innings. De La Rosa didn’t walk a batter and his swing and miss rate was elite at 16%. That was just one start but this is a premium arm that could make a big splash and move up the ranks very quickly. Now is the time to buy low on De La Rosa.

Drew Smyly worked in 63 games last season and they all came as a reliever. In total, Smyly worked just 76 innings the entire year. There is a huge difference from coming into face three or four batters and throwing just a handful of pitches as opposed to working against an entire lineup two or three times through the order and throwing 100+ pitches. Smyly has yet to make the adjustment and is getting worse with each passing start. Over his past two starts in Oakland and Seattle, two pitcher-friendly venues, Smyly was tagged for 15 hits and nine runs in nine innings combined. At Oakland he was taken deep four times. In his last start in Seattle, Smyly needed 104 pitches to get through four innings before being yanked. The previous game he threw 105 pitches in five innings before being yanked. When you see a pitcher walking around on the mound after every pitch and taking a lot of time between pitches, it’s a sure sign of a pitcher who has no idea what he wants to do out there. This is an unsure pitcher that is struggling big time and he’s pitching for an offense that is also struggling. That’s not the time to spot a tag.