Why Detroit Tigers have tough decision ahead with RHP Keider Montero

The strikeout rate? Well, that’s also down, but that might not be a problem for Detroit Tigers pitcher Keider Montero.

And with the young right-hander throwing as well as he is, the Tigers have a tough decision ahead of them.

The Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 11-0, at Comerica Park on Thursday, June 11, with Montero pitching 6⅓ shutout innings in one of his best performances of the year. Montero’s final line reflected the trends he has been showing at his best all season, with 10 fly outs to four strikeouts in a remarkably efficient performance from the starter.

“He was excellent,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said of Montero. “He gave us everything he could. The stuff was excellent and the execution got better in typical Keider fashion.”

Montero lowered his season ERA Thursday from 3.95 to 3.61 – third-best among Tigers starters and the lowest of any Tiger with at least 60 innings pitched. And with Montero putting up more quality starts as the season has progressed, he has made his case to stay in a strengthening Tigers rotation.

But will the Tigers have room for him?

Before we answer that question, let’s start with how Montero got here.

Montero had mixed results as a spot-starter in his first two seasons with the Tigers, going 11-9 with a 4.57 ERA over 189 innings pitched. He had better results out of the bullpen in the postseason in both 2024 and 2025, but wasn’t one of the starting five out of spring training this year, thanks to the additions, just before camp began, of left-hander Framber Valdez and right-hander Justin Verlander.

But then the 43-year-old Verlander got hurt after his first start, forcing Montero into action from the jump. And he has delivered, lowering his home run rate from 2025 to 2026 from 1.59 per nine innings to 1.09 (with an MLB average of 1.12), lowering his walk rate from 8% to 6.1% (MLB average is 8.5%) and raising his fly ball percentage from 37.9% to 52.5% (MLB average is 39.2%).

Translation – he’s getting more easy outs for his defense without giving up the long ball. And with improvements in his control, his seat in the rotation has gotten much more secure.

Montero hasn’t made significant changes to his velocity or movement on his pitches, relying heavily on his two fastballs (four-seamer and sinker) each of the last two seasons. But what has changed is his command, getting more refined in 2026 and getting better results.

“He’s becoming a more well-rounded pitcher,” Hinch said. “Early on as a young pitcher … he would try to get after it by throwing the ball in the big part of the zone. You want strike-throwers, but then you start to refine it, you start to use your pitches correctly, you start to gain confidence in more than one way to get hitters out.”

Montero acknowledges he has been working a lot on his control (while also crediting his work with Venezuela in the 2026 World Baseball Classic for ramping up his effectiveness early in the season), and he feels thankful that the work has turned into positive results.

“It has been [dotting] the strike zone, not just in the same zone,” he said. “Looking upside, downside, left, inner, inside and outside, everywhere, so I can attack every area of the strike zone.”

One casualty of the new-and-improved Montero is his strikeout rate, which has fallen from 18.5% in 2025 to 16.7% in 2026 (with an MLB average of 21.8%). But if Montero can force weak contact earlier in at-bats instead of going deeper into counts looking for a punch out, he can get similar results on fewer pitches, something the Tigers could greatly benefit from.

“That’s how you last deeper into games or face guys a second or a third time [through the order],” said Hinch.

That was the version of Montero the Tigers got Thursday – one that could play a huge role on a team attempting to claw its way back to the American League wild-card chase.

Except Montero, through little fault of his own, might be the odd person out.

With Tigers ace Tarik Skubal set to return on Saturday and All-Star righty Casey Mize potentially returning on Sunday, a six-man rotation may not even be big enough to fit Montero with Valdez, righty Jack Flaherty, righty Troy Melton and righty Ty Madden all healthy and available to start.

That’s not to mention Verlander, who just completed his second rehab start at Triple-A Toledo and could make the Tigers eight-deep in the rotation when he comes back. But because Montero is optionable, and because he has experience in the bullpen, there may be little he can do to prevent a demotion to relief work.

“He’s very versatile, because from pitch one, whether that’s the start of the game or in the past when we’ve had him in the ‘pen, he’s gonna get after it, he’s gonna empty his tank for his team. And that doesn’t get lost on us,” said Hinch. “He has gone up, he has gone down, and he has always answered with the right approach and the right attitude.”

As well as he as pitched as a starter, Montero said he wouldn’t mind going to the bullpen if needed.

“I just do my best, and I will not care regardless if I stay in the rotation,” he said. “As long as they give me the ball, they give me the opportunity, I’ll do my best to help this team.”

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You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Has Keider Montero done enough to stay in Detroit Tigers’ rotation?