A New River Found in Detroit
By Nicholas Kohloff Detroit Tigers Beat Reporter Woodward Sports
When the Detroit Tigers decided to trade back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, the question was simple: What would they get in return?
The answer was a package headlined by a top-30 prospect in OF Zyhir Hope, a top-75 prospect in RHP River Ryan, along with RHP Brady Smith.
Now, Detroit has gotten its first look at one of the biggest pieces of that return.
Detroit Tigers newest addition River Ryan made his Tigers debut tonight, going 3 innings with 3 strikeouts and 0 earned runs. Ryan continues to put up an insanely low ERA, lowering it to just 1.16 through his first 5 Major League starts.
Through 23.1 innings, Ryan has now recorded 21 strikeouts while allowing just 3 earned runs and 10 walks.
Ryan showed off a plus fastball that topped out at 98.1 MPH in his first big league start since 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August of 2024.
He also showed off a nasty sinker, striking out Nationals young All-Star James Wood on a pitch that started in the middle of the plate before darting diagonally out of the zone. With the velocity and movement, it has the potential to become a nasty wipeout pitch.
Ryan also flashed an effective changeup with significant movement away from the big lefty Wood. He used it to keep Wood off balance and ultimately struck him out, with the horizontal movement taking the pitch well out of the zone.
Mix in an impressive slider and a big-bending curveball, and Ryan showed why the Tigers viewed him as one of the biggest pieces of the Skubal return.
If River can STAY HEALTHY, he legitimately looks like a potential top-3 arm in this Tigers rotation in 2026.
The fact that Ryan is a 28-year-old rookie with fewer than 25 career Major League innings logged should give people some pause. It certainly did for me when the Tigers acquired him. There is a legitimate question about how a pitcher with so little Major League experience will handle the adjustment over a full season.
But after seeing Ryan pitch, this doesn’t look like a situation where Detroit is simply hoping he can develop into a Major League pitcher. The stuff is already there. Based on what he showed in his debut, there should be little to no learning curve at the Major League level.
His age will likely knock him down a peg when it comes to the 2027 AL Rookie of the Year conversation, but I wouldn’t be shocked if Ryan opens the season inside the top 10 in terms of the odds.
IF HEALTHY.
The Tigers may have lost a two-time Cy Young winner in Tarik Skubal, but the return is already starting to show why Detroit believed it could build for the future.
And on the 21st night of September in 2026, a new River was found in Detroit.
Nicholas Kohloff Detroit Tigers Beat Reporter Woodward Sports.
