The Rockies have returned 2025 Rule 5 pick RJ Petit to the Tigers, per a team announcement. The right-hander missed the entire 2026 campaign while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Colorado took Petit with the top selection in last year’s Rule 5 draft. He was coming off a strong minor league season that saw him post a 2.44 ERA with a 29.5% strikeout rate between Double-A and Triple-A. Petit made three Spring Training appearances with the Rockies in 2026. He had TJ in March.
The 27-year-old Petit will head back to Detroit to continue recovering from the surgery. It’s unclear how much he’ll pitch this season, if at all. The injury came at a brutal time for a young arm seemingly on the brink of his MLB debut.
Petit sat in the mid-90s with his four-seamer and sinker during his stint in Toledo. He also threw a slider and changeup. Petit leaned heavily on the slider, throwing it more than 40% of the time. It averaged 83.7 mph with decent glove-side movement. FanGraphs has the slider as a 55-grade pitch.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images