Tigers' Matt Manning continues to refine his revamped arsenal

Lakeland, Fla. – Matt Manning is carrying around a heavier toolbox this spring. He’s got his trusty four-seam fastball and curveball, but he’s added two shapes of slider and a vastly different change-up. He hasn’t even used his two-seam fastball yet.

As with any new set of tools, it’s going to take a minute to learn how best to use them.

“That’s what I’m taking out of spring,” Manning said after three labor-intensive innings Saturday in the Tigers’ 8-5 spring win against the Pirates. “How to use these pitches in different counts. How they’re all going to play off each other. My bullpen today warming up was really good.

“I have really good weapons. It’s just about figuring it all out.”

The five strikeouts he recorded, the 13 misses on 34 swings and the 10 called strikes were evidence of how good his stuff was. The two walks, three home runs and the elevated pitch count (69) showed he was still working out some usage kinks.

He got ahead 0-2 or 1-2 on eight of the 14 hitters he faced but needed an average of seven pitches to finish off those at-bats.

“Yeah, I got to two strikes well,” he said. “That’s the key. I got my strikeouts and a lot of swing and miss. It’s just learning to not do too much when I get two strikes. … Just try not to overthrow or try to make it too nasty. Just execute the pitches.”

Case in point: Manning had already punched out Canaan Smith-Njigba and Henry Davis in the first inning and was ahead of left-handed hitting Jake Lamb 1-2. He’s shown him both his harder, bullet slider, a change-up, fastball and sweeping slider, then he decided to throw his first and only curveball of the game.

It wasn’t a horrible pitch — though as manager AJ Hinch said afterward, not one he’d throw in that situation in season — but Lamb was able to flip it up into the breeze and knock it over the left-field fence.

In the third inning, Manning got ahead of Smith-Njigba 0-2 and then ended up losing a nine-pitch fight when Smith-Njigba thrashed a 93-mph heater over the wall. One batter later, Manning fell behind Davis 3-1 and his 92-mph heater ended up on the berm in left.

“Stuff like that will happen when you’re trying to throw different shapes,” Manning said. “I’d be really good, then I’d lose it and then get it back again. It was one of those games. You just have to grind through it.”

Manning has given up four hits all spring, all four of them home runs, three of them solo shots.

“That’s not sustainable,” he said, laughing. “I have a track record of not giving up homers. So it’s going to go down.”

Manning, who is fighting for one of two rotation spots with Casey Mize and Reese Olson, made a concerted effort to revamp his arsenal this offseason and the early results have been encouraging.

“He’s all in,” Hinch said. “He was one of the most active pitchers with our staff this offseason. It wasn’t just the coaches talking to him. It was feedback going both ways. He invested a lot of time in preparing himself for coming to camp and we’re seeing it.”

He throws the tighter, bullet slider at 86-88 mph and the sweepier slider at 82-85 mph. With the change-up, he’s now using a Vulcan grip (splitting his index and middle finger) and throwing it harder (88-90 mph) with more downward action.

His fastball velocity was down a tick from where it's been this spring but he still sat 94 mph and hit 96.

“It’s connected a little bit to velocity because he’s exerting a little more and he’s throwing the ball up a little more,” Hinch said. “And the off-speed pitches have come with it. It’s not about fastball velo being the end-all, be-all. It’s about what he does with the other stuff.

“The change-up is a real pitch. The bullet slider is a real pitch. He has a lot of ways to attack aggressively different types of hitters.”  

The dogger

Lefty Joey Wentz, called Dogger by his teammates, is attacking his roster challenge like his nickname would suggest he would — doggedly.

“He knows exactly what’s at stake this spring,” Hinch said.

Wentz is out of minor-league options. A starter most of his professional career, he’s been given a chance to earn a spot in the Tigers’ bullpen. He’s taken it and he's running with it.

He pitched two more scoreless innings Saturday. He’s allowed just one run in seven innings with seven strikeouts and four walks this spring.

“Today was his best outing,” Hinch said. “His composure is always good but he was able to throw the ball where he wanted to throw it, his misses were in the intended area and his stuff impacted the hitters, as you saw with some broken bats and some swing-and-miss.”

Wentz has changed the release axis of his fastball and is getting better ride through the zone, as well as increased velocity (he sat 94.7 mph Saturday and hit 97). His secondary pitches are playing better off it. He got three whiffs on four swings and two called strikes with his change-up Saturday.

“He’s kept his head down and he’s just doing his work,” Hinch said. “He’s making a strong case.”

Game bits

Non-roster first baseman Keston Hiura launched a three-run home run in a four-run fourth inning. “He’s a threat,” Hinch said. “He’s got a unique swing. The swing-and-miss is a challenge for him but we like the work he’s doing. When we signed him we talked about the power threat. He’s demonstrating that.”

… Minor-league infielder Andrew Navigato, who hit a three-run double in Tampa on Thursday, slammed a 429-foot homer to dead center field.

… Former Tigers pitcher Wily Peralta is in camp with the Pirates. After he gave up a run and struck out two Saturday, he stopped by the dugout and shared a hug with Hinch and pitching coach Chris Fetter. “He’s good people,” Hinch said. “Somebody you root for. I hope he gets another opportunity.”

Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com

@cmccosky