DETROIT >> The Tigers saw something in lefty Sean Guenther and it wasn’t really anything he showed during his debut season with the Miami Marlins in 2021.

He was a four-seam fastball and slider pitcher with the Marlins. The Tigers envisioned something different. So, even though he was still just seven months into his recovery from Tommy John surgery, Tigers’ president Scott Harris claimed him off waivers in November of 2022.

And while he worked his way back — pitching at Low-A Lakeland, Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo in 2023 — the Tigers revamped his pitching profile. He all but scrapped the four-seamer and the change-up in favor of a sinker and splitter, keeping the slider.

“That idea (to throw a two-seam fastball instead of a four-seamer) was given to me by the Tigers when they got me,” Guenther said. “And it’s a big part of what I do. Just trying to create weak contact when I can.”

The idea was generated by director of pitching Gabe Ribas and his staff in Lakeland.

“They just said try this,” Guenther said. “It was hit or miss early but we stuck with it. Just good coaching and eventually I was able to get a useable pitch.”

Guenther, 28, went into play Saturday on a run of 9.2 scoreless innings. He’s given up just one run in 11 innings since he was called up, posting a 0.45 WHIP, a .109 opponents’ average and .171 opponents’ on-base.

He’s allowed one extra-base hit, a double.

“It’s been really about just coming up here trying to pitch my game,” he said. “Yeah, the hitters are better and the stage is bigger. But it’s not like better hitters in the box and 20,000 people in the stands is going to make me throw five mph harder.

“I really wish it would. But it’s trusting that what you’ve been doing is going to keep working or else you wouldn’t even be here.”

Guenther didn’t exactly have that confidence and maturity when he debuted with the Marlins.

“You definitely have question marks in your head,” he said. “Just whether or not your stuff will work here. But being put in good positions and being confident in yourself, you can start building up your resume and believe, yes, it can work.

“I think that’s the stage I’m at right now.”

Hitters are 2 for 11 against his sinker, a pitch he will use mostly to left-handed hitters, though he will show it to right-handers. Right-handers mostly see his split and they don’t like it (1 for 10). Both sides of the plate see the slider (1 for 15).

He doesn’t get much swing and miss (14.6% strikeout rate) but he gets a lot of ground balls (59%) and soft contact (37.5% hard-hit rate).

“We have two incredible catchers here,” he said, referencing Jake Rogers and Dillon Dingler. “They are great to work with. I can just kind of turn the brain off and be a robot. Just execute the pitches as best I can.”

Bullpen coach Juan Nieves, too, has been a valuable tool for Guenther, laying out the situations he’s about to enter into.

“He will give you, I don’t want to say a playbook, but more like the things that stand out to him,” Guenther said. “Like, if I’m coming in (to face) a lefty, he says, here’s the pitches we can expect to be called, these are the spots. So as you’re warming up, you can start visualizing all of that.

“It’s kind of like having the at-bat before the at-bat. It’s very useful.”

That’s exactly what Guenther has proven to be, useful.