Pitching has been the storyline of the offseason for the Detroit Tigers, and that trend continued on Monday.
Detroit reportedly agreed to a three-year, $115 million deal with left-hander Framber Valdez last week, and Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal won his arbitration case for a $32 million salary. Monday’s news concerned a third lefty who will join the Tigers for spring training, albeit one with significantly less name recognition.
According to a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Tigers signed 28-year-old southpaw Konnor Pilkington to a minor-league contract on Monday. Pilkington will also receive a non-roster invite to spring training.
Pilkington, who has three partial seasons of major league experience, became available late last week when he elected free agency after clearing waivers. The Washington Nationals, for whom he appeared in a career-high 32 games last season, designated him for assignment on Jan. 28.
In 88 1/3 major league innings for the Nationals and Cleveland Guardians, Pilkington owns a 3.97 ERA. He spent part of the 2022 season in the rotation for the Guardians, but was designated for assignment the following April and traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
In nearly two full seasons for Arizona, Pilkington never got a call-up to the majors. He posted a 5.91 ERA for Triple-A Reno in 2024, then signed a minor-league deal with the Nationals that December.
It will be tough for Pilkington to crack the Tigers’ 13-man pitching staff on opening day, but if he pitches well enough in spring training, anything is possible. If he doesn’t make it, he could still be valuable as a Triple-A insurance policy early in the year.
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