Per a report from John Heyman on Wednesday, and confirmed by Ken Rosenthal, the Detroit Tigers and former New York Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle are nearing a free agent contract. The 35-year-old right-hander has had some issues with walks in recent years and is coming off a down year. He would make a good project for pitching coach Chris Fetter and his staff.
Kahnle broke into the league with the Colorado Rockies before coming into his own in 2017 with the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox traded him to the Yankees at the deadline, and the right-handers best seasons in 2017 and 2019 came during his time in the Bronx. In 2020, he had Tommy John surgery and didn’t really get back into form until late 2022 on a one-year deal with the Dodgers.
The past two seasons, Kahnle has been back in the Yankees bullpen. His 2023 numbers were pretty solid, though he’s never really gotten his previous peaks in command back in form since the surgery. In 2024, his strikeout rate slipped from 29.1 in 2023 down to 25.7 percent, and his average fastball dropped from 95.3 mph down to 94.2 mph, the lowest of his career. He put up a 2.11 ERA across 42 2⁄3 innings and 50 appearances, but his FIP of 4.01 is more indicative of his performance.
Getting Kahnle out of Yankee Stadium is a pretty good idea. His home run marks of 1.11 HR/9 in 2023 and 1.05 HR/9 in 2024 are pretty solid for that park. Comerica will be much friendlier and perhaps that will free him up to pound the strikezone more consistently. Certainly, throwing more quality strikes will be the mandate from the Tigers.
There were some positives last year too. Kahnle got a ton of ground balls, producing a 58.6 percent ground ball rate, while only allowing 14.4 percent line drives.
The fascinating thing about Kahnle these days is that he throws mainly changeups. The cambio accounted for a whopping 73.1 percent of his pitches last season. The fastball was only thrown 19.3 percent of the time, with the occasional slider down and away to a right-hander in the mix.
Kahnle’s changeup averages 87.4 mph, so he’s not even getting good velocity separation. However, the movement and deception in the pitch are enough to drive hitters crazy. Just about all the damage he took the past two seasons has come against the fastball. Despite the heavy volume of changeups, hitters are doing nothing with it.
In this respect, Kahnle is a slightly higher powered version of Devin Williams, who the Yankees acquired from the Brewers in a costly trade for them this offseason. I mentioned trading for Williams as a possible idea for the Tigers, but the cost in prospects for a one-year rental was prohibitive. Kahnle doesn’t have quite the eye-popping action of Williams changeup, but it’s very good, dropping off the table like a great splitter, and with similarly low spin rate (1245 rpms). Hitters whiffed against it 38.9 percent of the time despite knowing it’s coming. They hit just three home runs against it all year.
The problem with Kahnle is that his fastball has very average movement. Despite solid extension, the drop in velocity from his peak years is going to continue to leave the heater vulnerable. However, Fetter and company are pretty good at tweaking grips on lower spin fastballs to add a little seam-shifted movement into the mix. Hopefully they’ve got an idea to help keep it off barrels so that Kahnle can use it more. It’s just difficult to throw enough strikes with a changeup while avoiding hanging them. And yet he needs to get ahead in counts. When hitters are behind, the changeup is absolute lethal. They can’t lay off of it.
Kahnle’s rifle spin slider at 86.3 mph could be another part of the equation. If they can’t improve the fastball much, tweaking the slider to make it more usable as a pitch he can throw for strikes would at least complicate the equation for hitters.
We’ll see what the cost is here, but I think Kahnle is a good addition for the Tigers. He brings a very different wrinkle to the table and can handle either handed hitters well. If Comerica Park and a better group of outfield defenders can help him prevent the occasional big inning, he’s going to have a very good season in a Tigers’ uniform.
MLB Trade Rumors projected a two-year deal for $13 million heading into the offseason. With a lot of the top relievers off the board that may still be in play, but I’d guess something like $8 million from the Tigers, perhaps with an option for 2026 attached.
Improving the Tigers’ bullpen makes a lot of sense. They’re set for backend starters, and don’t want to clog up the rotation with veterans on free agent deals when they have young pitchers with options to use instead. With a few adjustments of the sort the Tigers’ staff is good at making, Kahnle should emerge with a better secondary pitch to back up the changeup and be more comfortable throwing a higher volume of strikes. If he can do that, the Tigers’ bullpen should be in very good shape this season.
The Detroit Tigers are reportedly close to finalizing a deal with right-handed pitcher Tommy Kahnle. The 32-year-old reliever has spent the past seven seasons in the majors, most recently with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Kahnle has been a reliable arm out of the bullpen throughout his career, posting a 3.82 ERA and 372 strikeouts in 285 innings pitched. Known for his high-velocity fastball and devastating changeup, Kahnle would provide a much-needed boost to the Tigers’ bullpen.
The addition of Kahnle would bolster an already strong Tigers pitching staff, which ranked among the top in the league last season. With a mix of veteran experience and young talent, Detroit is poised to make a run at the playoffs in the upcoming season.
Stay tuned for more updates as the Tigers finalize their deal with Kahnle and prepare for the upcoming season.
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