Detroit Tigers catcher Eric Haase was in the middle of mowing his lawn on Monday when general manager Al Avila called him.
“Hey, you’ve been chosen for (American League) Rookie of the Month,” Avila said.
“OK, great,” Haase said. “That’s awesome.”
Haase hung up the phone, put his headphones back in his ears and continued cutting the grass at his Livonia home. Once the job was complete, the 28-year-old realized how much attention he was getting via text messages and social media. But the recognition wasn’t solely for winning AL Rookie of the Month.
His wife, Maria, posted a Twitter video of Haase push-mowing his lawn. Their three children — Santino, Francesca and Giorgia — were playing in the backyard. As of Wednesday afternoon, the video had 178,300 views, 485 retweets and 4,808 likes. (Haase met his wife at Dearborn Divine Child.)
“I love doing it,” Haase said. “It’s funny that most people thought it was so strange that I would be cutting my own lawn, but that’s just one of those things that I enjoy doing, and working on the house. It’s not something my wife makes me do on the day off.”
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Manager AJ Hinch gave his reaction to the video.
“It just goes to show you can play as well as you can on the field, but mama’s gonna make you do the chores at home,” Hinch said. “Pretty good look for Eric. He got a little hardware in the morning and trimmed the grass while the kids played. Good reminder that these players are people.”
In July, Haase hit .265 with nine home runs and 29 RBIs over 23 games, adding three doubles, six walks, 26 strikeouts and a .945 on-base plus slugging percentage.
Drafted by Cleveland in 2011, Haase has played 10 seasons in the minor leagues. He previously got the call for three big-league stints, playing nine games in 2018 with Cleveland, 10 games in 2019 with Cleveland and seven games in 2020 for the Tigers.
Until 2021, Haase never had a real opportunity. He was simply considered organizational depth and an established Triple-A player. The Tigers taught him left field and first base in spring training, just in case they decided to promote him in the future.
“I knew that I could play at this level, but it was always such a question mark,” Haase said. “I had such sporadic at-bats. I wouldn’t play for a couple weeks, then play. It was really hard for me to make adjustments. It’s like, ‘OK, if I don’t get a couple hits, I might not be in (the lineup) tomorrow.’ It was a strange dynamic.”
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Over 60 games, Haase is hitting .247 with nine doubles, one triple, 18 home runs and 46 RBIs. He leads the Tigers in home runs, with Jonathan Schoop (17), Robbie Grossman (16), Miguel Cabrera (11) and Akil Baddoo (10) trailing him.
He is the first Tiger to win AL Rookie of the Month since Brennan Boesch in May and June 2010.
“A lot of the credit goes to my teammates for putting me up in those big situations over and over again,” Haase said. “Overall, up and down, we’ve just been having a lot better at-bats. I think, ideally, that’s been leading to a lot of our success.”
Miggy’s schedule
As Miguel Cabrera is two home runs away from No. 500, Hinch shared the 38-year-old’s latest schedule: first base Wednesday at Comerica Park and designated hitter in Thursday’s series finale against the Boston Red Sox.
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The plan, which could always change, is to give Cabrera a day off Sunday in Cleveland. The Tigers travel for three games against Cleveland (Friday-Sunday) and three games against the Baltimore Orioles (Tuesday-Thursday).
It’s unclear if Cabrera will play all three games in Baltimore.
“We’re not going to ask him to hold off his homers or his hits on the road,” Hinch said. “But there’s great hope that it can happen here. It’s a fine line when we get to the road trip. If he hasn’t hit another homer, I’d like two homers on the road. That would not be bad.
“Regardless, when we start pecking away at this numbers, we’re going to celebrate it at home.”
Meeting the Lions
Before arriving at Comerica Park for Wednesday’s game, outfielders Akil Baddoo and Derek Hill visited Allen Park — home of the Detroit Lions’ training facility — for an appearance at practice.
“I don’t want them to strap on pads and do one-on-one drills,” Hinch said. “But it’s nice when the sports teams interact, especially this time of year. For us in midseason, you get a little bit of a break. They’re just starting out their season. We had (Lions quarterback Jared) Goff in here the other day. We had the coaches here. We would love any of the Red Wings or Pistons to be involved.
“We want to create another great era of sports in our city. I personally love it.”
Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.