Tigers place Will Vest on injured list, call up Ricky Vanasco from Toledo

Will Vest’s forearm issue did more than force a bullpen reshuffle in Detroit. It created a direct path from Triple-A Toledo to the Tigers for Ricky Vanasco, the Mud Hens’ closer and one of the most dominant relievers in the organization this spring.

The Tigers placed Vest on the 15-day injured list May 2, retroactive to April 29, with right lateral forearm inflammation after waiting several days to see whether the soreness would ease. Initial tests showed no structural damage, but the discomfort persisted, and manager A.J. Hinch said the club had “run out of time” trying to find a solution. Vest, who had been one of Detroit’s most trusted bullpen arms over the last several seasons and served as the club’s closer for much of 2025, had recently shown signs of form with a perfect outing against the Reds before the injury surfaced.

Detroit turned to Vanasco because the results in Toledo were impossible to ignore. The 27-year-old right-hander from Morriston, Florida, was working as the Mud Hens’ closer and owned a 0.00 ERA in 16.0 Triple-A innings in 2026, with 29 strikeouts and a 0.75 WHIP. MLB.com cited an even tighter line, noting that he struck out 28 hitters over 15 scoreless innings while allowing only eight hits and four walks. His fastball averaged 95.1 mph, nearly half a mile per hour harder than in his 2024 big-league stint.

That made Vanasco the cleanest answer for a Tigers club trying to keep its late innings intact. Kenley Jansen was also day to day with right groin tightness, leaving Kyle Finnegan to absorb key high-leverage work while Detroit waited for the rest of the bullpen to stabilize. Vanasco’s call-up was not just a reward for numbers in Toledo; it was a response to a real pressure point in the major-league relief mix.

For the Mud Hens, the move stripped away the pitcher who had been finishing games and missing bats at a rapid rate. Vanasco had already shown he could handle the ninth inning in Toledo, and now that job shifts as Detroit borrows from a staff that has become one of its most reliable pipelines. Vanasco had previously pitched briefly for the Tigers in 2024, making his MLB debut on April 15 of that year, and now returns with a sharper arsenal and a far clearer role. MLB’s injury tracker later listed Vest as a possible return by May 17 after he threw a perfect nine-pitch rehab inning with a strikeout for Triple-A Toledo on May 15, keeping Detroit’s bullpen picture fluid even after the roster move.