Evan Petzold | Detroit Free Press LAKELAND, Fla. — Franklin Perez looks healthy. That’s a good place to start. The Detroit Tigers received Perez, catcher Jake Rogers and outfielder Daz Cameron when they traded Justin Verlander to the Houston Astros in 2017. There are unanswered questions about all of them. So far, the deal has yielded little on the Tigers’
Jeff Seidel, Evan Petzold | Detroit Free Press LAKELAND, Fla. — It was enough to make you dream about the future. The Detroit Tigers unveiled an interesting group of prospects on one of the back fields at Tiger Town on Monday morning during the first full-squad practice. It included Daniel Pinero at first base, Kody Clemens at
Chris McCosky | The Detroit News Lakeland, Fla. — Very soon the focus is going to shift from the manager to the players, from concepts and theories to game action, performance, success and failure. But Monday was AJ Hinch’s day. It was about the Tigers’ first-year manager setting his agenda, laying out his expectations and setting
LAKELAND, Fla. — Robbie Grossman has been where some of the Tigers prospects are now, going through their first big league camp and walking on eggshells. He has never been where he is now. Grossman got his first Spring Training at-bats as a teenager in 2009, a Pirates Draft pick out of high school brought
Now, it’s time for us to explore the remainder of the Detroit Tigers farm system and highlight some 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.
Lynn Henning | The Detroit News Al Avila was asked during a media session Wednesday if he wouldn’t mind listing the Tigers’ top three or so draft choices heading into the beginning of the 2021 college baseball season, which got going Friday. This was, of course, asked jocularly, even if no one but the Tigers general
Way back in 2015, the Detroit Tigers selected Texas prep right-hander Beau Burrows with the 22nd overall pick in former GM Dave Dombrowski’s last draft with the organization. While that feels like a lifetime ago, Burrows is still just 24 years old. In prospect terms, that’s not particularly old for a pitcher as long as
Welcome to full-squad session Monday. I woke this morning with a thankfulness that although there are plenty of things to find frustration with when it comes to the front office of the Detroit Tigers, at least they aren’t the Seattle Mariners and the special brand of leadership they have with President Kevin Mather. There’s a
Until they come stateside and reach the full season A-ball circuit, international free agent signings are often a bit of a mystery to MLB fanbases. The top guys will generally have had a lot of eyes on them for a while, and plenty of video to boot, but the majority are known only by reputation
Jeff Seidel | Detroit Free Press LAKELAND, Fla. – It’s strange covering the Detroit Tigers right now. It’s like going to a stadium and looking into a crystal ball, trying to figure out the future, paying more attention to “what could be” for the next 10 years, instead of “what is” for this one. So
Evan Petzold | Detroit Free Press LAKELAND, Fla. — Reliever Zack Hess doesn’t need to put pressure on himself this spring. The Detroit Tigers brought Hess, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the farm system’s No. 30 prospect, to major league spring training as a non-roster invitee. But the 23-year-old isn’t a candidate to break camp on the roster. And Hess
I am a sucker for bobbleheads. I have a whole wall of them, and this wall is ever-growing. Every baseball season adds to my collection. Which is why 2020 was a problem. (Well, it was not the only reason 2020 was a problem.) As the terrific ESPN writer Joon Lee has noted, many bobbleheads were
Miguel Cabrera (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) Tom Brady fires off funny tweet, and it’s peak offseason by Mark Powell Tigers manager A.J. Hinch seems convinced he should play Miguel Cabrera at first base.
Chris McCosky | The Detroit News Lakeland, Fla. — Tigers manager AJ Hinch said it best about reliever Bryan Garcia. “There’s a lot to like,” he said Sunday. “The statistics on the back of his baseball card look pretty good. There’s a lot of momentum for him moving forward.” The statistics on the back of the baseball
Chris McCosky | The Detroit News Lakeland, Fla. — It’s probably incorrect to call it the first “full-squad” workout. For sure, manager AJ Hinch will gather pitchers, catchers and position players together Monday for the official start of spring training. But he will be several players, key players, short of a full squad, thanks to the inevitable complications
Willi Castro, the 22 year-old from Puerto Rico who the Detroit Tigers picked up from Cleveland for Leonys Martin, only played in 36 games in 2020 but shockingly he did enough damage to be voted fourth for the AL Rookie of the Year award. Castro posted an outstanding slash line of .349/.381/.550, an ISO of…
Righthander Bryan Garcia, 25, says that while his 2020 numbers look good, he needs more consistency in 2021. #TigersST
Righthander Zack Hess, 23, says its extremely motivating to see young arms advancing through the system and making it to the big leagues. TigersST
Excuse Tigers relief prospect Zack Hess if he finds himself looking over his shoulder at the radar-gun readings in Spring Training and into the season, wherever he ends up in the farm system. While relievers are known for checking their velocity for ego, Hess has a wager riding on it. The idea came from his agent,
Chris McCosky | The Detroit News Lakeland, Fla. — The thing about using Miguel Cabrera at first base occasionally this season is, it’s not just about appeasing the desires of the franchise player — though there is certainly an element of that involved. It goes deeper. “My plan is to provide an opportunity for him to be