| The Detroit News
Detroit — The name may sound familiar.
Tigers on Monday signed left-handed reliever Ian Krol to a minor-league contract, with an invitation to spring training.
Krol, who is entering his age-30 season, pitched in 78 games for the Tigers in 2014 and 2015. He’s also pitched for the Nationals and Braves, though he hasn’t thrown a pitch in a big-league game since May 27, 2018, when he threw two scoreless innings for the Angels.
The Tigers first acquired him in 2013 in the deal the brought Robbie Ray to the Tigers for Doug Fister. He had some good moments with the Tigers — featuring a 93-mph sinker and four-seam fastball with a wipeout slider — but he was ultimately too erratic with his control (4.5 walks per nine in 60 innings).
The Tigers traded him to Atlanta in November of 2015 for Cameron Maybin.
He spent 2019 in Triple-A with the Reds (Louisville) and the Twins (Rochester), posting 58 strikeouts and 22 walks in 46 innings. He was also suspended for 50 games for violating the MLB drug policy (drug of abuse, not performance-enhancing).
Last year he played in an independent league (City of Champions Cup in Indiana) and was dominant. Playing for a team called Nerds Herd, Krol gave up just one run with 31 strikeouts in 19 innings.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky