The Detroit Tigers have a new pitcher in the big leagues.

Right-hander Keider Montero, whom the Tigers signed out of Venezuela for $40,000 in 2016, has been called up from Triple-A Toledo to make his MLB debut as the Game 2 starter in Wednesday's doubleheader at Comerica Park against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"We love the stuff," manager A.J. Hinch said pregame. "He's worked his way through our system. ... When he's been good, he's been really good. Swing-and-miss stuff, plus velocity, the energy that he brings on a day that he pitches. We felt like this was a great opportunity for him."

Montero, 23, joins the Tigers as the 27th player in the doubleheader, meaning it's a one-day promotion. He is expected to return to Toledo after Wednesday's doubleheader. Game 1 starts at 12:40 p.m., with Game 2 set 40 minutes after Game 1 ends. He will be opposed by Pirates rookie Paul Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft.

Montero is the Tigers' No. 7 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. He has a 4.40 ERA with 17 walks and 36 strikeouts across 30⅔ innings in nine starts with the Mud Hens this season.

"We certainly hope he can get through five innings and five-plus," Hinch said. "We'll see how the first game goes, which often dictates the strategy in the second game of trying to win both games."

The Tigers promoted Montero instead of right-hander Matt Manning, who has started the previous three doubleheaders for the Tigers this season but owns a 4.88 ERA over five starts.

He had a 6.14 ERA in his past four starts.

"For Matty, we expect him to be part of this deep into the season, through the latter parts of the season," Hinch said. "In order to do that, rest along the way and specific goals to get him better trumps the instinct that every five days is better."

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Manning hasn't pitched since May 19, but he's healthy.

The Tigers optioned Manning to Toledo — giving him things to work on while putting him on a throwing program — before Friday's game, making room for the return of right-hander Kenta Maeda from the injured list.

"A lot of it is about sequencing of pitching," Hinch said. "A lot of it is about separating the two sliders that he has, the bullet slider and the sweeper. We really need his split to be better and more useful for when he gets into these games against teams that are in swing mode, and they're going to try to ambush him, it can be a good non-barrel pitch to get the ball on the ground and get swing and miss."

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Montero brings a four-pitch mix to the Tigers: a 95 mph (on average) four-seam fastball (thrown 54.7% of the time), 84.7 mph slider (24.4%), 79.7 mph curveball (15.6%) and 85.6 mph changeup (5.3%).

His curveball averaged a 2,842 rpm spin rate, many times maxing out above 3,000 rpm — an elite number. His slider is the best swing-and-miss pitch in his arsenal, and his fastball velocity has climbed past 97 mph.

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Last season, Montero pitched for High-A West Michigan (four starts), Double-A Erie (15 starts) and Toledo (eight games), totaling a 4.66 ERA with 49 walks (8.9% walk rate) and 160 strikeouts (29.1% strikeout rate) across 127⅓ innings in 27 games between the three levels.

The Tigers added Montero to the 40-man roster in November to avoid losing him in minor league free agency.

"Box scores were never really the right way to look at him," Hinch said. "Raw ingredients have been off the charts. There was no doubt he was going to be a big leaguer. We had no idea when and whether that was going to be in the rotation or transition him to the bullpen, but he kept tweaking his stuff and getting the results that we liked, albeit not necessarily the bulk results that look fancy on a scoreboard."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tigers promote Keider Montero over Matt Manning to start vs. Pirates