Following ANOTHER Injury, It's Safe To Say That Matt Manning May Just Be The Unluckiest Pitcher In Baseball

I’ve written negatively about Matt Manning in the past. Several years back, he was projected to be the future ace for the Detroit Tigers. He was a long, tall, hard-throwing right handed pitcher with an upper 90s fastball. What has always frustrated me about Manning is that we’ve rarely seen the pitcher that was talked about as a dominant force in the minor leagues. His fastball occasionally reaches the mid to upper 90s, but it’s always lacked the explosion that many expected it would have. He’s had so many stops and starts in his career. 

When Manning has pitched well, he’s ended up getting injured again. Sometimes, when he’s been healthy, he hasn’t been effective. It’s been a mess. With that said, it seemed like Matt Manning was starting to find himself at the big league level. he came into last night with a 0.38 ERA over his last four starts. Then, he took a line drive off his foot for the second time this season. That last one kept him out for months. This one ended his 2023 campaign. 

Manning‘s career ERA sits at 4.37. He doesn’t miss many bats, and his peripherals aren’t fantastic. His FIP during his 2023 campaign was a subpar 4.81. While I don’t think you’ll ever develop into the ace that some projected he would be, The injuries have continued to add up for him. Over his last 27 starts, dating back to the beginning of the 2022 season, his ERA is 3.51. That’s a sign of a pitcher who belongs at the big league level. But the best ability is availability. I’ve talked about this 1 million times. Few organizations have dealt with the devastating pitching injuries the Tigers have dealt with over the last several years. I’m fine going into next season with Matt Manning as a part of the five main rotation, but I’m not comfortable relying on him to make 30 starts. 

I'd say it if I felt Matt Manning had done something wrong, but he hasn't. I'm really rooting for Casey Mize to return from his Tommy John surgery, but it's been well documented that Mize's mechanics were not stable. The likelihood of him getting injured was pretty high. It doesn't make his injury any less devastating, but in Manning's case, his mechanics are fine. He's taking care of his body, he's just had shitty luck. None of these injuries are irreversible. He hasn't suffered any major damage to his arm, but I firmly believe that sometimes players just have bad luck. Some guys are just injury-prone. The injuries themselves may result from randomness, but they're injuries nonetheless. 

In the past, I've criticized the Detroit Tigers for not taking the best care of their pitchers. Manning's injuries do not fall into that camp. Unless they wrap this guy in bubble wrap every time he takes the mound, you must keep throwing them out there and hoping that the bad luck runs out eventually. If it does, the Tigers could have a pretty good pitching staff going forward. That's sadly a big "If."