The Tigers announced Monday that they are ready Yoniel Curet without being waived by the Phillies, who had designated him to work last week. To make room on the 40-man roster, Detroit transferred a center fielder Places to stay in Parker Meadows from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Meadows suffered a concussion and fractured his forearm last week when he collided with a teammate. Riley Greene when both tracked down the ball hit the left center gap.
Curet, 23, was named a member of the Tigers’ Rookie of the Florida Complex League. He’ll likely pitch there before heading to Triple-A Toledo. He hasn’t pitched since spring training, so he’s not ready to join the minor league team just yet.
Originally signed by the Rays as a rookie out of his native Dominican Republic, Curet arrived in Philadelphia in a trade last season for the righty. Tommy McCollum back to Tampa Bay. The Rays designated Curet for free to clear a roster spot for the signed free agent. Cedric Mullins.
Curet has yet to make his league debut. He’s a hard-throwing, command-challenged righty who posted respectable numbers in the minors and briefly cracked FanGraphs’ top 100 prospect list before the 2025 season. The 6’2″, 250-pound righty sits in the mid-90s with a four-seamer and a sinker that can reach both upper 90s. His best pitch is a slider in the 87-88 mph range.
A shoulder injury limited Curet to 14 starts and two relievers in the Rays system last year. He totaled 55 1/3 innings with a 3.90 ERA, a sharp 25.5% strikeout rate but a concerning 12.8% walk rate.
Although Curet keeps missing at-bats in the minors, he tends to increase his walk rate. He looked on track in 2024, when he posted a sub-3.00 ERA with a 31.5% strikeout rate and a 10.7% walk rate that was a few percentage points better than last year. That moved him up the rankings on FanGraphs, but a shoulder injury last year matched that walk rate to nearly 13% — including a 17.4% walk rate in 33 1/3 Triple-A innings. This spring, Curet faced 14 batters and walked four of them. He blew up another one. In all, he scored eight runs in 1 2/3 innings.
Time will tell what role the Tigers envision for the righty, but he has been consistent as a starter so far in his career. Detroit could have him shore up some rotation depth, but it’s hard not to wonder what Curet’s already potent arsenal might look like in short relief. The 95-96 he averages on his heaters might be a few miles off, and that slider can get in the 90 mph range on average. Max-effort finishers often have a much easier time establishing a higher-than-average walking rate than a beginner who needs to change the program many times.
Scouting reports on FanGraphs, Baseball America, MLB.com and other public outlets have long suggested that a move might finally be available. Currently, Curet is in his final year of minor league, so there is no immediate rush to fix it. The Tigers can shape him up and see what he looks like in different roles.
As for Meadows, the move to the 60-day IL isn’t entirely surprising given the broken spot he’s keeping in pursuit of a potential game-saving catch. Today’s move to IL means he will be gone until at least mid-June. A slow-hitting outfielder with good speed, Meadows opened the season with a .250/.308/.333 slash in 39 plate appearances. The 2018 second-rounder was hoping to get past a rough 2025 season (.215/.291/.330) and get back close to his 2024 form (.244/.310/.433), but that comeback effort is on hold for at least a few months. Meanwhile, the Tigers had it Wenceel Pérez, Javier Baez again Matt Vierling as options in the middle field.
