Detroit — Matthew Boyd never was going to hold a grudge against the Tigers. That’s just not in his DNA. Sure, the Tigers rather unceremoniously non-tendered him before last season, sending him into free agency while he was rehabbing from flexor tendon surgery.
Kind of cold after Boyd had given his heart and soul to the club for the better part of seven seasons and was the unquestioned leader of the pitching staff. A lesser person, shoot, a normal person would at least have been a little salty about it.
Not Boyd. He vowed when he left that whoever he pitched for next was going to get the best version of himself. Turns out, after brief stops in San Francisco and then back home to Seattle, the Tigers are in line to be that team.
“The things I said over the first seven years in Detroit about winning a championship and what it would mean to the city and the region, those don’t go away overnight just because you get released,” Boyd said Wednesday after officially signing a one-year, $10 million contract to return to the Tigers. “Those are emotions that you are tied to. Whether you get the chance to do it or not isn’t always up to you.
“All those things still ring true. I understand what Detroit Tigers baseball means to the Tigers’ faithful that are spread out across the country. I’m grateful that it worked out and I’m excited to wear the Old English D again. I feel like there is unfinished business here.”
It was Scott Harris, the Tigers president of baseball operations, who signed Boyd in San Francisco last offseason for $5.2 million. Harris also had a hand in flipping him to Seattle at the trade deadline last year, giving Boyd an opportunity to pitch (albeit in relief) for his hometown team and taste the playoffs for the first time.
And it was Harris who jumped the market early to bring Boyd to Detroit.
“Matt is not the same pitcher he was when he was last here,” Harris said. “He accomplished a lot of great things here, but there are some elements of his game that he’s developed and improved since he left here. I worked with him firsthand in San Francisco and I think he flashed some of those adjustments when he pitched in Seattle.
“He’s made changes to his individual pitches, his attack plan and some slight adjustments to his mechanics that has helped his stuff play up.”
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The Tigers also got to see those changes up close and personal in Seattle last October. Boyd threw three scoreless innings against them, striking out five and inducing 11 swings-and-misses, six with a newly developed changeup.
“I felt like I was just coming into that right before my injury,” Boyd said. “And I feel like I used the last year and a half to get better. There’s a lot of time to think about your game and a lot of time to put action into it without those competitive reps.
“I was just like, make every day count. Make every rep count. I am thankful for that time. I’m ready to compete.”
Boyd, as he sometimes can do to a fault, took a deep critical dive into his own body of work. He gave up more home runs than any pitcher in baseball in 2019 and 2020 (54) and yet he produced a 30% whiff rate, a 31% chase rate and was averaging better than 10 strikeouts per nine innings.
One thing doesn’t usually go with the other. Something was amiss.
“I started tweaking things and I probably tweaked too much (going into 2021),” Boyd said. “The plan that was laid out for me in San Francisco got back to the 2019 version of myself and then I could grow off that.”
The Giants have a well-earned reputation for fixing veteran pitchers. Ask Kevin Gausman. Ask Alex Wood or Anthony DeSclafani. They went to work on Boyd, too, even though he wasn’t cleared for competition.
“It was understanding more about my repertoire,” he said. “Understanding where my fastball plays when it’s at it’s best. Understanding what I do with my body so I can replicate the output. … When you see me, it’s going to be a four-pitch mix.”
A fastball that he can locate up in the zone. A slider, long his bread-and-butter pitch, that in a short sample last season limited hitters to 2-for-14 with a 34.6% whiff rate. A two-seamer that he threw mostly to left-handed hitters. And a very different-looking changeup that he developed while in the Giants’ lab.
“Truly it’s different than anything I’ve ever thrown,” he said. “It plays different. It plays better.”
Harris said he had two primary reasons for bringing Boyd back. One was his ability and willingness to mentor the young pitching that’s already in Detroit as well as the next crop that’s coming — something he’s already done for Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning and others.
Boyd was one of the first guys Skubal reached out to after his surgery last season — essentially the same surgery Boyd has come back from.
“But secondly, we wanted to find someone with significant upside who gives us a chance to get off to a fast start in 2023,” Harris said.
Just as he feels he’s a much different pitcher now than when he left, Boyd sees the Tigers in a much better position, too.
“I knew what Scott was going to do here and then hearing everybody talking about it — the plan was something I was excited to jump on,” Boyd said. “I loved playing for AJ (Hinch) that last year and getting to work with (pitching coach) Chris Fetter. This is an opportunity for me to grow as a pitcher and I believe this team is good.
“This is a better team than when I played here last and it’s only going to get better.”
Boyd didn’t make many demands during the contact negotiations, but there was one thing he was adamant about — he wanted to be in the starting rotation.
“That was kind of non-negotiable for me,” Boyd said. “I know it sounds egotistical, but my job is to make that an easy decision for the general manager and the coaching staff. I know what I can do when I have the ball in my hand in the first inning. I love the ability to dictate a game, to control the outcome and that’s our job as starting pitchers.
“Just to go out there and leave your imprint and put your team in a position to win. I love that opportunity. I love that pressure. It’s the way I want it. I know I can do it. I know I can do it better than I have in the past. I believe I am just getting started. I know it.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky