Here's how Evan Petzold, the Detroit Tigers beat writer for the Detroit Free Press, evaluates the Paul Sewald trade ahead of the 2025 trade deadline.
PHILADELPHIA — The Detroit Tigers acquired veteran right-handed reliever Paul Sewald for a player to be named later or cash considerations in a trade Thursday, July 31, with the Cleveland Guardians.
Here's how Evan Petzold, the Tigers beat writer for the Detroit Free Press, evaluates the Sewald trade ahead of the 2025 MLB trade deadline.
Detroit Tigers trade for Paul Sewald
Tigers acquire: RHP Paul Sewald.
Guardians acquire: Player to be named later or cash considerations.
Grade: B.
The buzz: The Tigers desperately need a reliever who can generates swings and misses, as their bullpen ranks 29th among the 30 MLB teams with a 22.6% whiff rate — and right-handed reliever Paul Sewald does exactly that.
One problem: The 35-year-old has spent most of the 2025 season on the injured list with a right shoulder strain, from April 29 to July 5, then again since July 15, retroactive to July 12. The Tigers expect Sewald to be healthy by early September, but after being transferred to the 60-day injured list, he isn't eligible to pitch for the Tigers until Sept. 10, at the earliest.
Sewald has a $10 million mutual option for the 2026 season, with a $1 million buyout. If Sewald opts in, the Tigers must decide whether to exercise the option and pay him $10 million — or decline and pay the $1 million buyout.
When healthy, Sewald has been effective.
The shoulder injury has limited him to 18 games, in which he posted a 4.70 ERA with four walks and 18 strikeouts across 15⅓ innings. Sewald also had a 4.31 ERA across 39⅔ innings in 42 games in an injury-plagued 2024 campaign. The nine-year MLB veteran owns a 4.11 ERA in his career, spanning 377 relief appearances.
Sewald relies on two pitches: a four-seam fastball and a sweeper.
He has been successful against both right-handed and left-handed hitters in 2025, but he struggled against lefties in 2024, allowing a .281 batting average and an .861 OPS.
It's a small sample size this season, but Sewald ranks above-average in walk rate (6.5%), strikeout rate (29%) and whiff rate (30.8%). Last season, he had a similar walk rate (6.1%) but fewer strikeouts (26.1%) and fewer whiffs (24.4%).
His fastball velocity has declined over the past several years, down to 90.3 mph in 2025, but his sweeper continues to generate whiffs on at least one-fourth of swings, as it has for years. He is a fly-ball pitcher who should fit well at the spacious Comerica Park with steady outfield defense.
Sewald has made four trips to the injured list in the past two seasons: left oblique strain in March 2024, left neck discomfort in September 2024, right shoulder strain in April 2025 and right shoulder strain in June 2025.
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The Tigers, led by president of baseball operations Scott Harris, want their pitchers to dominate the strike zone. That is Sewald's speciality in more ways than one out of the bullpen, as he fills up the zone relentlessly, embraces first-pitch strikes, generates whiffs and limits walks.
None of that matters unless he gets healthy — and stays healthy.
Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers trade grade: Paul Sewald Injured veteran gets whiffs
Category: Baseball
