Miami Marlins give 29-year-old first callup three months after release by Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers didn’t see a big-league future for A.J. Ladwig.

But after an odd series of events, he made it after all.

Ladwig’s long wait for his day in Major League Baseball is over after the Miami Marlins gave the 29-year-old pitcher his first callup Saturday. He is scheduled to join the Marlins for a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves.

His big shot comes three months after he was released by the Tigers. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound right-hander was selected in the 11th round of the 2014 draft by Detroit and spent part of nine seasons in the organization.

The former Wichita State University standout had to weather his share of setbacks along the trail. He started his professional career with seven straight losses between rookie ball and Class A with the Tigers in 2014, then missed all of 2019 following Tommy John surgery and sat out all of 2020 with the COVID-19 shutdown.

Ladwig delivered his best season in 2015 with the West Michigan Whitecaps, going 12-9 with a 3.59 ERA at the Low-A level. He virtually duplicated those numbers with the Lakeland Tigers of High-A in 2016, earning a promotion to the Toledo Mud Hens at Triple-A for 2017.

But he never made the final jump for the Tigers. After going 0-1 with a 9.82 ERA at Toledo and 0-1 with a 3.27 ERA at Double-A Erie, he was released May 16.

Miami signed him to a minor league deal nine days later and he’s been part of the rotation for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos of Double-A ever since. He posted a 6-3 mark with a 4.43 ERA, enough to earn his first big-league shot today with the Marlins.

The Omaha, Nebraska native owns a 56-52 career record with a 4.34 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP.

RELATED READING

Perseverance pays off as former Tigers prospect gets big-league call at age 31

To truly immortalize Whitaker, Tigers fans should bring back the Lou!

Drafted by Royals, former Michigan commit opts for Virginia Tech