The Detroit Tigers sent Michael Fulmer to the hill on Thursday afternoon to face the Toronto Blue Jays. Certainly, the Tigers’ brain trust was hoping to see some positives as they build a rotation. However, Fulmer flashed a lot of the form from 2020 where he was plumbing the depths of baseball with an ugly…
Evan Petzold | Detroit Free Press DUNEDIN, Fla. — The expected role for Renato Nunez was made clear by the Detroit Tigers from the moment they signed him to a minor-league contract this offseason. The 26-year-old doesn’t need to be the everyday first baseman. But for Nunez to make the 26-man roster for Opening Day and cash in on his $1.3
Chris McCosky | The Detroit News Dunedin, Fla. — If you were hellbent to do so, you could come up with logical and reasonable arguments against Tarik Skubal starting the season in the Tigers’ rotation. He’s still young (24). He went from Double-A to the big leagues last year and only threw 32 innings over seven
Pitching isn’t only about how hard you throw. But it sure doesn’t hurt to be able to crank it up when needed, right? Evaluating a fastball isn’t only about the radar-gun reading, though that’s the thing most people see and talk about. Those triple-digit readings on the scoreboard are sure to cause a buzz to
Núñez was 12 when the Tigers became Venezuela’s team three years later, riding the clutch hitting of Magglio Ordonez and the two-way play of Carlos Guillen to the World Series. He was a 26-year-old slugger with 43 home runs over his last two seasons when the Orioles designated him for assignment last November. His difficult
DUNEDIN, Fla. — The highly rated young talent on the field at TD Ballpark on Thursday didn’t disappoint. For the first three innings of the Tigers’ 10-6 loss, it was Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays’ impressive lineup swinging for the fences. If Skubal is going to join Guerrero, Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio
Evan Petzold | Detroit Free Press DUNEDIN, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers lost 10-6 against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday at TD Ballpark. The game only lasted seven innings. The Tigers dropped to 6-4 in Grapefruit League play. What happened Right-hander Michael Fulmer started for the Tigers and went two-plus innings, but he gave up three
The Detroit Tigers farm system is vastly improved from the state it was in back in 2017 when the teardown started. However, at the premium positions they still have precious little to offer in terms of hopes for the future. There really isn’t a player in the system who looks like a likely starting centerfielder,
After hitting .349 with a .932 OPS in 2020, Willi Castro continues to be locked in at the plate during the 2021 Spring Training season. The Tigers 23-year-old shortstop launched a 458-foot home run in his first swing of the spring schedule, and hasn’t slowed down since. He’s caught the eye of AJ Hinch, who
Chris McCosky | The Detroit News Lakeland, Fla. — You kind of expected Renato Nunez to be at least a little embittered. A guy hits 43 home runs, knocks in 121 runs, has a combined 106 OPS-plus, ranks in the top 20 percentile in barrels (exit velocity of 95 mph or better) and hard-hit rate in
Now, it’s time for us to explore the remainder of the Detroit Tigers farm system and highlight some of the interesting names from beyond the top 20 (see what I did there). The “Beyond the Top 20” series will breakdown some of the prospects who missed our list but deserve some further discussion.
The team at MCB has created a ton of Detroit Tigers prospect content over the past month. As part of that process, we have all spent a significant amount of time thinking about the Tiger’s farm system and the players in it. For me personally, one thought kept entering my mind, geez, 2020 really created a…
DUNEDIN, Fla. — Detroit Tigers second baseman Jonathan Schoop, following a lengthy delay, has been fully cleared to join spring training camp. The organization re-signed the 29-year-old to a one-year, $4.5 million contract this offseason. He faced trouble getting his work visa to enter the U.S. from Curacao, his home country. Upon his arrival, he needed to
Over the winter, the Detroit Tigers signed Robbie Grossman, the 31-year-old switching-hitting outfielder who most recently played with the Oakland Athletics. Grossman perfectly represents the type of player that the Tigers were targeting all off-season: short-term, low-risk, veterans.
Evan Petzold | Detroit Free Press CLEARWATER, Fla. — Detroit Tigers right-hander Franklin Perez jogged out of the bullpen Wednesday to make his highly anticipated spring training debut. Three and a half years ago, many believed Perez — the centerpiece of the 2017 Justin Verlander trade with the Houston Astros — would be the franchise’s future ace.
The Detroit Tigers will start the 2021 baseball season with a payroll of just over $79 million for their opening day roster, and $96.1 million for the 40 man roster, including player benefits. Those numbers are down from $107 and $114 million in 2020, respectively. After pro rating salaries for the shortened season, the Tigers
Chris McCosky | The Detroit News Clearwater, Fla. — Among the smorgasbord of takeaways from the Tigers’ 6-4 spring loss to the Phillies Wednesday is, skipper AJ Hinch is never going to flinch when it comes to using defensive shifts. And why would he? They helped him to five straight winning seasons, two trips to the
Spring training is in full swing and on Wednesday the Detroit Tigers got their second glimpse at one of their most prized pitching prospects in Matt Manning. More importantly, the fans—at least those with MLB.tv— got a peek at his new breaking ball, rumors of which have been churning in the mill over the past
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Long at-bats are the utensils with which veteran hitters can chew up young pitchers, waiting for that one mistake they can crush, even in Spring Training. For Tigers right-hander Matt Manning, it was a springboard. As Phillies second baseman Jean Segura fouled off one fastball after another, sending his leadoff at-bat into
Free Press sports writer Omari Sankofa II and columnist Shawn Windsor discuss standouts from the first half of the Detroit Pistons’ season, what they’re looking forward to during the second half, the NBA trade deadline, return of rookie Killian Hayes and the 2021 draft. Filmed March 10, 2021. #DetroitPistons #KillianHayes