Bruce Rondon, the Tigers top closer prospect, is now just a call-up away from the Big Leagues.
On Monday, the Tigers announced they were promoting Rondon from Double-A Erie to Triple-A Toledo. His call-up was impart to his outstanding numbers at Erie. In 21 games, he had an ERA of 0.83, 12 saves and 23 strikeouts. Also, the recent injury to Mud Hen closer Chris Bootcheck played a role in his promotion as well.
Tigers general manager and CEO Dave Dombrowski was quoted saying “He’s ready to go to Triple-A, in our opinion”.
Bruce early in his career had issues with walking to many batters. His BB/9 (walks per nine innings) last year at Low-A West Michigan was 7.6. This year, it has improved vastly. Between both Lakeland and Erie, his BB/9 was 3.8.
Rondon is the next Tigers closer in waiting, in my opinion. He has a real heavy fastball. At times, he’ll average 100+ mph on it. To go along with his fast fastball, is the slider, his out pitch. Which has a lot of movement on it due to his arm slot he throws from.
If he can keep his BB/9 down and continue to strikeout hitters with regularity, he’ll definitely make a bid to make the Tigers roster in 2013. Which, if I know Tigers fans, he’ll be a popular choice to take over the Tigers closer role in favor of the Big Potato, Jose Valverde.