Tigers Report: Inside Pitch

The explanation for why Detroit's top two pitching prospects, Andy Oliver and Jacob Turner, were included in the Tigers' first big roster cut of spring training while two lesser hurlers were not lies in their utility.

Southpaws Charlie Furbush and Adam Wilk were kept to continue pitching exhibition games while Oliver was sent to Class AAA and Turner was dispatched to Double-A.

Furbush and Wilk are season-opening roster bullpen candidates while Oliver and Turner will start the openers for Toledo and Erie, respectively.

Oliver and Turner showed they are on the verge of being ready to start in the majors. Oliver demonstrated he learned from going 0-4 in five starts for the Tigers last summer. He relied less on his fastball and more on his off-speed stuff this spring. Turner is a legitimate four-pitch starter who, like Rick Porcello before him, could pitch in the majors at age 20.

Wilk and Furbush were starters who opened eyes in the minors last season.

Furbush was second in the minors in strikeouts last season but has shown a little wildness this spring, although he has pitched effectively. He could make the Tigers as a long reliever.

Wilk has the edge at the moment, although he's no lock.

What Wilk, the organization's minor league pitcher of the year for 2010, offers is a solid four-pitch assortment who works both sides of the plate with control. His fastball is average but his poise and ability to work the corners mean he could get his feet wet in the majors in long relief.

Detroit used Brad Thomas and Eddie Bonine as their main long relievers a year ago but Bonine was let go after the season and Thomas is showing a better curve, which could let him be used in middle relief or in the late-inning jobs that Phil Coke got. Coke is starting this year.

That Furbush and Wilk are without major league experience doesn't mean anything. Manager Jim Leyland likes talent more than experience and his rookie roster choices with Detroit have included Justin Verlander, Joel Zumaya, Rick Porcello and Ryan Perry in past seasons.

Even if Wilk and Furbush are sent to the minors, that they survived the first cut means they have an opportunity to be brought up quickly.

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