LAKELAND, Fla. — Bright sunshine. Warm breeze. Birds chirping. And a baseball game in Joker Marchant Stadium. Ahhhhh, yes please, more of that. It’s like a magical elixir for the soul. Yes, it was only an intrasquad scrimmage of Detroit Tigers minor leaguers. But it was something, and right now, at a time when MLB is
The primary cause of the stalemate between major league baseball players and owners is MLB’s failure to agree to a reasonable increase in the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT) threshold. The owners “final and best” offer included a paltry hike of less than five percent, from $210 to $220 million in 2022, followed by no increase
LAKELAND, Fla. — Detroit Tigers prospect Andre Lipcius learned a lot about his swing last season. The 23-year-old infielder was picked in the third round of the 2019 draft following three seasons at Tennessee. The COVID-19 pandemic canceled his 2020 season, making last year’s campaign his first full pro season. Lipcius hit .243 in 116 games. TRENDING: Tigers union rep Tucker
Spencer Turnbull was off to a strong start to the 2021 season, working 50 innings of 2.88 ERA ball with a massive 57.2% ground-ball rate over his first nine starts — one of which was a no-hitter against the Mariners. After those productive first two months, the right-hander landed on the injured list with what was
For the past few weeks we’ve been projecting the rosters for each of the Detroit Tigers’ four full-season minor-league affiliates. Rogelio has been handling the pitching, while I’ve been projecting the lineups. Today we turn our attention the West Michigan Whitecaps, Detroit’s High-A affiliate.
Lakeland, Fla. — It was almost like a scene from a bad movie. One minute Spencer Turnbull was at the pinnacle of his career, throwing a no-hitter in Seattle on May 18, and the next minute, poof — gone. Never heard from again. That might seem a bit dramatic, but it had to feel that way to
Coming out of the 2020 pandemic-shortened — or in the case of Minor League Baseball, cancelled — season, no one really knew what to expect from players as they returned to action in 2021. Some prospects showed up ready to go and took big steps forward. Others struggled or got hurt. The beautiful thing about
LAKELAND, Fla. — The chirps of the birds that have called Joker Marchant Stadium home all winter blended with the pop of pitches hitting catchers’ mitts, both at home plate and in the bullpens. Between, music from the stadium sound system was just loud enough to notice, but not loud enough to drown out the
Ronald Blum | Associated Press New York — Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem and chief union negotiator Bruce Meyer met for 1 1/2 hours Thursday and discussed the major issues in the stalled talks to reach a deal that would end Major League Baseball’s lockout. Union general counsel Ian Penny and MLB Executive Vice President Morgan Sword
Lakeland, Fla. — Andre Lipcius almost seemed embarrassed to talk about it. “It’s a spring training at-bat,” he said. True. The Tigers split the minor league minicamp into two teams — Team Horton and Team Trammell — and played a controlled, six-inning scrimmage at Joker Marchant Stadium Thursday. But on a team with top prospects Riley Greene, Spencer
The third overall pick of the 2021 MLB Draft is finding his way through his first spring training as a professional. Jackson Jobe sits down with Dan Dickerson in an exclusive interview for Tigers TV.
LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers are at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium for an intrasquad scrimmage at 10:30 a.m. Thursday featuring the franchise’s top prospects. The two groups are Team Horton, wearing gray uniforms, and Team Trammell, wearing white uniforms. There is one unofficial umpire (director of coaching Ryan Sienko) stationed behind home plate. Right-hander Beau Brieske received
LAKELAND, Fla. — Sometimes, one small question can take a story in a surprising place. I was standing outside the Detroit Tigers complex, talking to Jordan Marks, a right-handed pitching prospect. He grew up in Sarnia, Ontario, across the St. Clair River from Michigan; and his grandfather is a huge Tigers fan. It seemed like such
The Major League Baseball lockout will be over at some point. When the games return, Opening Day — metro Detroit’s favorite spring holiday/party — will be rescheduled. Will it feel different? Maybe a little. More likely, though, stadiums across the country — including Comerica Park — will be packed, because that’s what we do. By July (or
One of the great debates among the fanbase was whether the Detroit Tigers would opt to start their young position player prospects on the MLB roster or if the organization would continue to slow play their development by assigning them to Triple-A Toledo, a destination in which both already have experience.
LAKELAND, Fla. — The Major League Baseball Players Association on Tuesday rejected a collective bargaining agreement offer from Major League Baseball leading up to the owners’ self-imposed 5 p.m. deadline, leading MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to cancel the first two series of the regular season. Detroit Tigers catcher Tucker Barnhart is an MLBPA player representative. He has been in a leadership
The Major League Baseball lockout will be over at some point. When the games return, Opening Day — metro Detroit’s favorite spring holiday/party — will be rescheduled. Will it feel different? Maybe a little. More likely, though, stadiums across the country — including Comerica Park — will be packed, because that’s what we do. By July (or
Lakeland, Fla. — If Michael Fulmer had his way, he’d be down here, going through his usual spring training paces on the back fields, throwing his bullpens and live batting practices and easing himself into Grapefruit League games. But this isn’t about Michael Fulmer right now. This is about something much bigger. “Frustrating is a
LAKELAND, Fla. — There were no bats flying over dugouts and screens on the back fields at Tigertown this time as Dylan Smith worked his way through a handful of hitting prospects in Minor League minicamp. But he wasn’t getting hit around, either. Smith gave up a solid line drive to Austin Meadows, but not
Dan Dickerson goes one-on-one with Dylan Smith, who has taken an unusual path to become the Tigers 3rd round pick in the 2022 draft. Now, the hard-throwing right-hander out of Alabama is impressing many while embracing the new training techniques in the Tigers system.