Major stuff

Rick Porcello starts today for the Tigs. The 20-year-old (and he only turned 20 in December) seemed destined to head to the minors this season, but with Jeremy Bonderman's shoulder woes, who knows? Here is the way Tigers.com quoted Jim Leyland: "I'm looking for pitching. That's all I'm going to tell you. You can write into it whatever you want."

It still seems unlikely the Tigers will rush Porcello. From what I've read, they limited him to a 75-pitch count last season, so it might be tough to jump to the big leagues. Porcello was 8-6 with a 2.66 ERA and 1.19 WHIP at high-A Lakeland. He threw only 125 innings and struck out 72 while walking 33. The K-rate doesn't indicate the stuff Porcello has. Again, I read he was limited in pitch selection and focused on getting outs early in the count rather than posting strikeouts.

So, we'll see how this plays out. Detroit still has Nate Robertson, Dontrelle Willis, and Zach Miner battling for the final spot (as long as Bonderman is OK) in the rotation. But there is already little doubt Porcello seems to be the best talent.