Casey Mize says he is doing well this offseason.
The 24-year-old right-hander resides in St. Petersburg, Florida, with his wife, Tali, and is preparing for spring training — whenever the MLB lockout ends — at baseball facilities in St. Petersburg and Tampa.
Mize is coming off a solid rookie season for the Detroit Tigers, logging a 3.71 ERA with 41 walks and 118 strikeouts in a team-leading 150⅓ innings and 30 starts.
But Mize, who spoke to the Free Press on Monday, has more to accomplish.
Now that you’re living in St. Petersburg, not far from the Tigers’ spring training facility in Lakeland, did your plans change due to the MLB lockout?
“From the beginning of the offseason until December 1, I was working out in Lakeland. The owners locked us out, so we can’t go into those facilities and utilize those. I knew that was a possibility, so I had a plan set in place on what I would do. I shifted into some facilities in St. Pete and Tampa. I have a good system here and have been able to transition.”
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What do you think about the owners locking out the players and the collective bargaining agreement negotiations?
“The players definitely want some change, and the owners aren’t wanting as much. Whatever change happens is good for the sport. I think change needs to happen, and hopefully it’ll promote this sport and put everybody in a position to succeed. That’s the best thing that could happen. Hopefully, they get something figured out so we can go back to business. It’s interesting times. We’ll see how it plays out. But I hope they figure something out here shortly.”
Because of the lockout, players can’t talk to coaches. How often are you in communication with your teammates?
“A pretty good bit. We have a few guys in the area that I train and throw with. I’m keeping in touch with some of the other guys as well. There’s a handful of guys I’m keeping up with. We have group messages that we text in. I’m looking forward to seeing everybody whenever we get back together.”
Speaking of teammates, what memories did you make during your October trip to Cabo San Lucas with Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning?
“It was good. We had a couple boat days, went to some beaches and did some snorkeling. We had plenty of tacos and tequila and whatever else. It was good to decompress and spend some days with the guys, and the girls, too. We brought (our significant others) along. We had an awesome time and made some awesome memories.”
Did you give Tarik any marriage advice at his wedding in November?
“The best thing I got is happy wife, happy life. I have found that to be true. Do whatever you can to make her happy, and I know he will. We had a blast at his wedding. That was an awesome time, too.”
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With Tarik and Matt, was there in-house competition between you guys once you were all in the majors last year?
“I definitely don’t want to speak for those guys and how their mentality works. For me at least, there has always been a competitive nature. I remember back in college Keegan Thompson, who’s now with the (Chicago) Cubs, we were competitive with one another. We were the two best starters on the staff (at Auburn). That leads to your team winning games and a lot of success. I think there needs to be a competitive component of it. I think there was and there will continue to be. I think that’s healthy. There definitely is a part of that here.”
Any thoughts on the Tigers trading for Tucker Barnhart (from the Cincinnati Reds) and signing Eduardo Rodriguez (five years, $77 million) and Javier Baez (six years, $140 million)?
“Traded for Tucker at the beginning of the offseason, Day 1 essentially. We were pretty pumped about that. He’s going to be a leader for us behind the plate. He’s going to help the younger pitching staff navigate through some lineups and teams. I’m looking forward to learning from him and working with him. Same with Eduardo, I can’t wait to pick his brain. He’s been doing it for a while and pitched in some high-leverage situations and important games, and he’s done it at a high level. And then we’ve all seen what Javy can do. He’s a special talent, so I’m looking forward to watching him do some awesome things behind me (at shortstop) and in the (batter’s) box. Those three acquisitions will make us better.”
How do you evaluate your results in 2021?
“Success isn’t linear, but I think it was a step forward that I need to build on, and I’m going to try to improve. I learned more about the league, more about opposing teams and what a full season in the big leagues looks like. I think the more experience I get, it’s going to be better.”
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Early on last season, before the Tigers restricted your innings, you emerged as an American League Rookie of the Year candidate. Did you sense that, too?
“I mean, yeah, there was a point mid-summer where I rattled off 12 or so quality starts in a row. It’s not even about the award races, it’s just about being a consistent quality player. That feels good, to be contributing consistently. I think I’m going to continue to do that, but I want to be a consistent great player. It’s just building on that, which will lead to potentially some individual accolades or whatever it may be. But the most important thing to me is winning games and helping our team. If I do that at a high level, the individual stuff will come. I was definitely consistently good this year, but the goal is to be consistently great.”
I bet you can’t wait to pitch without restrictions in 2022.
“Super pumped. I was happy to make 30 starts last year and reach 150 innings. Those were two awesome things we were able to accomplish, but I’m definitely going to be glad to build on that and not really have much of a limit or a gauge, whatever it is. I’m looking forward to being able to freely try to work deep into games, every fifth game, and not really having to worry about innings limits or starts or anything like that. The freedom and the free rein of that is definitely going to feel good. That’s going to lead to success. It’s going to help us win the next day’s game. It hurt us when I had to go three or four innings. There’s so much bullpen usage it affects the next couple of days, as well. Being able to save some arms on the back end of the bullpen is going to help our team out as a whole. I look forward to being able to accumulate more innings.”
In your offseason work, where are you at with your split? (Mize used his split-finger fastball 13.2% of the time last year, only 312 of his 2,357 pitches. The splitter, though, was his bread-and-butter when the Tigers picked him No. 1 overall in 2018.)
“I’ve thrown four bullpens now. I’m not up to full speed. I’m just doing a lot of my own blending with a lot of pitch design stuff. I feel really good about it, and I think it’s coming out good. It’s got good action to it. I feel very comfortable with it. I think it’s going to insert itself back into my arsenal, and it’ll be something that you see more of. That can be a weapon for me again.”
You leaned heavily on your slider last year, and it was a great pitch for you. But adding your redefined splitter, where can that take you? (He threw 28% sliders for a 28.2% whiff rate. His four-seam fastball averaged 93.9 mph.)
“I think it just makes me unique. If you look around the big leagues, a lot of people do something unique. And they do that one thing really well. For me, it’s the splitter. That can kind of set me apart, and not be so vanilla, as my college coach Butch Thompson would call it. You don’t want to be a vanilla guy, you want to add some chocolate sprinkles, something to you. I think the splitter can add another component to my arsenal and help play off the slider as well. I need the slider. It was a great pitch for me last year. I need to continue to build on that but adding the splitter can make it even better. It can make that fastball jump a little more, too. I think it’s going to complement everything pretty well.”
In last year’s spring training, there were a lot of questions about walks. Your walk rate was better last season. How did it feel to answer those questions with results? (Mize had a 9.8% walk rate in 2020, then 6.7% in 2021.)
“It felt good to back up what I was saying. I preached, ‘Hey, it’s a really small sample size. If you want to know who I am as a pitcher, go look at what I’ve done for years and years.’ I didn’t walk people at that rate over time. It was a really small sample size where I wasn’t really good. It wasn’t any good, obviously. I kept saying, ‘I’m not worried about this long term. This is not who I am.’ The walk numbers were good this year. They need to improve, but they weren’t as alarming as they were after 2020. They weren’t alarming to me; it was kind of just alarming on the outside. I knew time would fix that issue.”
Entering this year’s spring training, what about the strikeouts? How do you plan to attack that situation? (Mize had a 19.3% strikeout rate in 2021, ranking 43rd among 55 pitchers with at least 150 innings.)
“Two-strike execution has got to be better. My philosophy in pitching is that somebody wins every pitch. I’m a very short-term goal minded person, and mid-game, it’s just, win this pitch. I just got to do better at winning the two-strike pitches. I wasn’t near as good enough in two-strike counts as I should have been. I got to do a better job of winning those counts more than I did. Just was trying to do too much or be too good. I need to focus on winning the pitch, which will ultimately lead to a winning game. Just got to be better with two strikes.”
Do you feel like the Tigers could be a playoff team in 2022, considering the last year’s development and the new additions?
“I think we should be aiming higher than the playoffs. I think we’re at the point now where we should be aiming to win World Series. Some people might scoff at that. I go back to a quote I learned in college: ‘People don’t fail because they aim high and miss, it’s because they aim low and hit.’ That’s something that’s defined my life. I’m going to aim as high as possible. I never would have got to the big leagues if I didn’t aim as high as possible as a kid from a very small town in Springfield, Alabama. It’s my mentality. I’m going to aim as high as possible in everything I do, and I think our team needs to think that way as well. To me, playoffs is too low of a goal. We’re in a position now where we’re a good enough team. We need to start aiming to win the World Series. And so, I definitely think we’re in position to be a playoff team and more than that.”
So, it’s World Series or bust. That’s just how you operate?
“Yeah, I just don’t understand why you would want to shoot for less. I really don’t understand why you’d be happy with losing a wild card game. I don’t get that.”
That coincides with the way AJ Hinch thinks.
“Exactly. AJ and I have an awesome relationship that we were able to build this year. I think it’s because we think a lot alike. I’ve learned a lot from him in advancing how I think mentally about the game. We’re definitely in agreement. We’re going to aim as high as we can to win today’s game, and the long-term stuff will take care of itself. Win at all costs today. That’s really all that matters. With the ultimate goal of winning the World Series, I don’t think you’re satisfied with anything less. Why else would you play?”
What has it been like watching Miguel Cabrera reach elite milestones? I know you were excited when he got to 500 home runs, and 3,000 hits is coming up. (Cabrera has 2,987 career hits.)
“Growing up watching Miggy be the best player in baseball and now being his teammate, I haven’t been up for very long and have seen a small part of his career, but it’s good timing on my part to see him achieve these amazing things. It’s really cool to see somebody make history. Seeing 500, I was so fired up for him. Those stories I’ll be telling forever. I was there for that. We took a photo after the game, and I’ll do the same when he hits 3,000. It’s cool to walk into the clubhouse and see him. It puts a smile on my face every day watching him compete, love the game and accomplish greatness. That’s what we’re all striving for. We’re all striving to be Miggy in our own way and achieve our own greatness. To watch somebody actually do it, it’s really remarkable.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.