The Seibu Lions have acquired former Detroit Tigers right-hander Reed Garret, the two-time defending Pacific League champions announced Tuesday according to Kyodo News in Japanese.

Garret pitched 15-1/3 innings for the Tigers over 13 games in 2019, but has spent most of his career in the Texas Rangers organization. He’ll turn 27 on Jan. 2. According to a Nikkan Sports report, general manager Hisanobu Watanabe wants to use the 1.88-meter, 95-kilogram Garret in a setup role.

“He imparts a lot of force on his pitches,” Watanabe said. “He has a breaking ball and a slider that drops and that he can miss bats with. He is really quick to the plate so that’s a non-issue. If possible we want to use him to get us to (closer Tatsushi) Masuda.”

If Garret is a power pitcher, as Watanabe suggests, he is one who has only struck out nine batters per nine innings once in his career, in 2014 with Double-A Frisco. Having said that, Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas learned to get strikeouts in Japan after being a pitch-to-contact guy in the States, and Watanabe – who won 125 games in NPB — knows a bit about pitching.

Garrett is the third new import the Lions have signed this winter following the acquisition of former Mariner Sean Nolin, and do-it-all utility man
Cory Spangenberg. The club is bringing back first-baseman/pinch-hitter Ernesto Mejia and right-hander Zach Neal.