Brian Johnson was a 16th-round pick by the Yankees in 1989 out of Stanford University, where he’d been the football team’s quarterback and a jack-of-all-trades on a baseball club that won a pair of College World Series titles. Ironically, one of the only positions Johnson didn’t play in college was catcher, which wound up being
It takes a village to produce the content you see on Tigers digital channels, the Comerica Park scoreboard and Bally Sports Detroit. Go behind the scenes to see how it all comes together and get a sneak peek at upcoming features for the 2023 season.
Natalie Kerwin is with the Tigers in Lakeland and she sat down with reliever Alex Lange, who will be considered for the closer role this season.
The work is just beginning — but a new, organized direction should help. Announced Thursday was the formation of the Negro Leagues Family Alliance, a group aimed at preserving “the legacies, history and intellectual properties of the Negro Leagues while contributing to the education and uplift of baseball and sports.” It’s often said that good
In episode 2 of Tigers Today from Lakeland, Florida, Chris McCosky and Tony Paul talk about Chris Ilitch’s visit to camp, Akil Baddoo looking good, and 6:40 p.m. starts for weekday home games. They also preview Saturday’s Grapefruit opener against the Phillies in Lakeland at 1:05 p.m. Here’s the other highlights: :30 Spencer Turnbull returns
Lakeland, Fla. — Cruel game baseball. Year after year, Chasen Shreve has been a solid, useful left-handed relief pitcher. And year after year, he finds himself designated for assignment and looking for a job. He has a 21-12 record with a 3.87 ERA in nine big-league seasons. He’s averaged close to 10 strikeouts per nine
Lakeland, Fla. — AJ Hinch announced that Garrett Hill will start the Tigers’ Grapefruit League opener at Joker Marchant Stadium Saturday against the defending National League-champion Phillies. “I’m super excited,” said Hill, who made eight starts for the Tigers last year before finishing the season in the bullpen to limit his workload. “It’s going to
Lakeland, Fla. — It had been 19 months since Spencer Turnbull had stood on a mound and stared down an actual hitter, 19 months since he faced White Sox Yermin Mercedes with two outs in the fourth inning on June 4 at Guaranteed Rate Field. Turnbull struck out Mercedes with a 3-2 sinker, walked back
LAKELAND, Fla. — His name is Jurrangelo Cijntje. He throws 97 mph as a right-handed pitcher, and he throws 92 mph as a left-hander. The 19-year-old, a natural lefty, has a reversible glove. He also has the attention of everyone in baseball. “He’s insane,” Kerry Carpenter said. The freshman switch-pitcher made his college debut Wednesday night
LAKELAND, Fla. — Detroit Tigers right-hander Spencer Turnbull stood on the mound and started pitching. He faced hitters for the first time in 629 days. And he looked sharp. “This was a big step for me,” he said. “It’s been a while.” Before Thursday, Turnbull’s pitch came on June 4, 2021. By the end of July
LAKELAND, Fla. — Amid the quiet of TigerTown’s back fields, the sound was noticeable from Spencer Turnbull as he released his first pitches against hitters since June 2021. It wasn’t as a grunt, but it was louder than the heavy breathing of a pitcher finishing a throwing session in the Florida sun. There was an
In addition to every out-of-market regular-season game, MLB’s streaming service gives subscribers the ability to watch select Spring Training games, live online or on their favorite supported devices. FRIDAYThe Red Sox will get a tune-up for the MLB portion of their spring schedule when they take on the Northeastern Huskies at 1:05 p.m. ET in
We’re a bit partial to FanGraphs around here. There are plenty of good sources for national prospect news, but none go so deep into their methodology as FanGraphs consistently does. So their top 100 prospect list, as well as their individual reports on each team, are a highlight of the preseason. We’ve already seen the
LAKELAND, Fla. — “Riley!” a fan screamed from behind the fence. “Riley!” Riley Greene, the Detroit Tigers center fielder, came off the practice field, stopped and signed some autographs. Sgt. Dale Deas, a member of the Lakeland police department, stood a few feet back, watching the scene unfold. He was on a special duty assignment,
LAKELAND, Fla. — In a recent team meeting, Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch asked pitching prospect Reese Olson about his Instagram followers. Olson, a 23-year-old right-hander who set the Double-A Erie strikeout record last season, wasn’t exactly sure how many people followed him. Maybe 2,000? Maybe more, maybe less? He didn’t know. But Hinch knew.
Lakeland, Fla. — Matthew Boyd has been in the room for several of Christopher Ilitch’s spring training team addresses over the years. This one was different. “Yeah, it seemed a lot different,” Boyd said. “And that’s no knock on his conversations with us before. But, you could hear the fire behind it, just how badly
LAKELAND, Fla. — The first-pitch slider was pulled foul as Matt Wisler settled into his first session against hitters as a Tiger. There was no mystery that pitch was coming, but the way he throws it, it doesn’t matter. The next pitch, too, was a slider. This one, however, was slower with more of a
Lakeland, Fla. — All this stuff will shake out by the end of spring training. Shoot, by then, some new players could be added to the mix, completely throwing these early calculations out of whack. But as we sit here today, with the Grapefruit League season starting on Saturday, it’s hard to see how the
LAKELAND, Fla. — Javier Báez, the Detroit Tigers‘ star shortstop, says he is fine. The first grounder in Wednesday’s workout struck his right index finger, and the Tigers sent assistant athletic trainer Matt Rankin onto the field to evaluate the situation. Báez appeared to be in pain. “It hit me right on the nail,” Báez said.
As the new baseball season approaches, we have plenty to look forward to. Even if the team may not be stacked with All-Stars (yet, though who knows what surprises await), there will be exciting moments, plenty of wins, and most importantly, we will get to watch the final major league games of Miguel Cabrera. As