YPSILANTI — Willow Run High School closed in 2013.
The building rests near Michigan Avenue in Ypsilanti. After its final classes that June, Willow Run School District merged with crosstown rival Ypsilanti Public School District, creating Ypsilanti Community Schools.
Eric Haase, a member of the Detroit Tigers, saunters through the hallways and marvels at the evolution.
“It literally looked like they just went to school here and didn’t come back the next day,” says Haase, a 2011 graduate of Dearborn Divine Child High. “I mean, there was still stuff like lessons written on the chalkboard, books on the desk. It was like they walked out of school and never came back.”
“Willow Run ran out of money,” chimes in Conor Dishman, proudly serving as a tour guide with his longtime friend. He graduated from Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard in 2011 and played college ball at Texas Southern.
The old school, saved by a man’s love for baseball, escaped demolition and is alive to this day. The infrastructure is the same — complete with yellow lockers still lining the halls — but the establishment isn’t for traditional education anymore.
These days, it’s called Play at the Cage.
This is where Haase, 29, is trying build on the best season of his career. He played three positions and hit .231 with 22 home runs in 98 games in 2021, posting a .459 slugging percentage, 104 OPS+ and 1.9 bWAR.
Most importantly, he found his identity as a baseball player.
“He finally got his shot that he’s deserved for so long,” said Maria Haase, Eric’s wife of nine years. “It was hard to settle in at first because you always feel like this could end at any second, which, obviously, it still can. But I think this year, now he’s starting to slow down more and be in the moment, instead of constantly thinking about soaking this up while he can.”
Play at the Cage, Haase says, is perfect for baseball players of all levels. The outside of the 50,000-square-foot monster looks like a high school, but the inside features a HitTrax system, Driveline’s weighted ball program, a full-sized turf infield, batting cages, a weight room and more, plus space to expand.
The turf infield is surrounded by netting, allowing for live scrimmages without putting spectators at risk. When the COVID-19 pandemic canceled spring training in March 2020, Play at the Cage hosted simulated games for college and professional players.
“It started out really gritty, but that’s what we love,” says Haase, a volunteer for the building’s four-month transformation in 2016. “We’re used to industrial buildings, no heat, a batting cage and cement floor. Nobody knows about this place. You walk in, and they’re like, ‘What the hell is this place?'”
Haase finds solace in the under-the-radar atmosphere. It’s a 20-minute drive from his home in Livonia, where he mows his grass in the summer, pumps iron in his garage and is a father of four.
“A lot of respect for him and his wife, and what he’s all about,” says Tom Dishman, founder and owner of Play at the Cage. “This is his house.”
‘I know I belong’
Haase wraps up the Play at the Cage tour and steps into a room to shed his street clothes.
For his baseball attire, he wears a blue Detroit Muscle T-shirt, with the brand-name Detroit Over Everything italicized on the back, black gym shorts, white compression pants, orange cleats and orange gloves. Finally, Haase fixes a black Detroit Vs. Everybody snapback on his head. He likes his hat backward, accentuating his beard and gnarly tattoo sleeve up his left arm.
It’s no surprise Haase loves Detroit.
“I’ve been a diehard Tigers fan since I was 8 years old,” Haase says. “It’s awesome for me to play with that chip on my shoulder and feel like I got the whole city behind me. It naturally feels a lot bigger for me than it does for other guys. People don’t understand, there’s nothing like Detroit when the teams are winning.”
The catcher, left fielder and first baseman begins long tossing with Conor Dishman. He is working up a sweat but doesn’t mind a conversation about his most memorable year yet.
After the Tigers promoted Haase from Triple-A Toledo in May, he caught Spencer Turnbull’s no-hitter, crushed clutch home runs and secured American League Rookie of the Month for July. The call-up marked his first long-term look at the highest level.
Before the 2021 season, Haase had 49 at-bats in 26 MLB games. He now has 400 at-bats in 124 MLB games, to go with 2,552 at-bats in 771 games across 10 years in the minor leagues.
“I feel hungrier,” Haase says. “I know I belong with the best guys in the game, but I still feel like I left a lot on the table.”
So, what’s it going to take?
“I think a lot of it starts off the field,” Haase says.
‘His wife is his life’
Cleveland picked Haase in the seventh round of the 2011 draft. He signed straight out of Divine Child, after winning Michigan’s Gatorade High School Baseball Player of the Year and Michigan’s Mr. Baseball awards.
He met his wife, Maria, in their freshman year; they started dating as sophomores.
“He’s always been so serious about baseball, and it showed,” Maria, 28, said. “He was just so different from everybody else in high school at that time. He made it his biggest priority.”
Back then, the couple typically went to the gym for an after-school workout. For two hours every night, Haase took swings inside a 12-car pole barn in his backyard in Westland. Maria would hang out, complete her homework, and if Haase’s father was busy, feed the hitting machine and put baseballs on the tee.
“If I didn’t do that work, it never felt right,” Haase said.
Maria understood.
Haase’s first full year of pro ball in 2012 brought personal changes. His parents, Don and Lori, divorced. He spent the season living alone in a Super 8 motel in Arizona and walking to the local Walmart for his needs.
“I didn’t really have this great support system,” Haase said. “My parents were separated at that point. It was nothing like what I was used to in high school.”
“His family was going through a lot of turmoil,” Maria said, “and then having to start your life while everything’s kind of in shambles was extra challenging. I think that made it a lot harder, being apart at that time and trying to figure out everything.”
At 19, he married Maria at the Dearborn courthouse in September 2012. They had an intimate ceremony in January 2015.
She has traveled with him for baseball ever since, living together in Lake County, Ohio; Raleigh, North Carolina; Lynchburg, Virginia; Akron, Ohio; and Columbus, Ohio. They have four children: Sonny (age 7), Frankie (5), Giorgia (3) and Cecilia (born in January).
“I have a year’s total of big-league experience, but nine years doing it the exact opposite way,” Haase said. “It’s eating whatever’s available to you, trying to pinch dollars here and there, staying in Section 8 housing. That’s the only thing affordable on a minor-league budget.”
“We got into some pretty sketchy places,” Maria said.
The Haases brought their first child into the world in May 2014. When Maria was pregnant with their second, she often went with Haase to Play at the Cage. She would put on a helmet, stand behind a pair of L-screens and put baseballs into the pitching machine for her husband to swing at.
Just like those high school years.
“There are better baseball players than Eric Haase, but there’s nobody that outworks Eric Haase,” Tom Dishman said. “And his family, I mean, his wife is his life. His kids are his life. I can’t say enough about the human being he is. He lives what he believes. He doesn’t preach it. He lives it.”
‘Always a question mark’
A reinvigorated support system helped Haase stay confident in the minors, even though his MLB opportunity was blocked by Cleveland catchers Yan Gomes, Roberto Perez and Francisco Mejia. He wasn’t added to Cleveland’s 40-man roster until after the 2017 season, and even then only to keep him from becoming a minor-league free agent.
In last year’s spring training, the Tigers didn’t give Haase a chance to make the Opening Day roster. It had been that way his entire career. No matter the number of home runs in the minors, Haase was considered minor-league depth.
“There just wasn’t a spot for me,” Haase said. “I was no stranger to that. It was always like that in Cleveland. I pretty much knew I was going back to Triple-A to start every year. It really didn’t matter.”
Haase made his MLB debut for Cleveland at 25 in September 2018. He came up as the team’s third catcher and put a lot of pressure on himself to “show that I’m a big leaguer” in limited opportunities. He hit .094 (3-for-32) in 19 games over parts of two seasons.
For Triple-A Columbus, Haase smacked 20 home runs in 2018, then 28 in 2019.
“When you’re winning at the big-league level, no one really pays attention to what’s going on,” Haase said. “When you’re spinning your wheels in the minor leagues, you’re like, ‘Man, I know this works here, but will it work there?’ It’s always a question mark.”
“I felt frustrated for him,” Tom Dishman said. “I felt like he was getting cheated and stuff. The thing is, he never stopped working. I think that was his motivation. Most people would have said screw it.”
A trade to the Tigers (for cash considerations) in January 2020 signified a marquee moment in Haase’s career, a homecoming and a change of scenery. But this didn’t boost his playing time. He started five of his seven MLB games in 2020 and received 17 at-bats.
Haase continued to wonder if he would ever stick around.
“It was so hard to kind of let go of that, like, ‘Do you belong here?'” Haase says. “And then you realize, these are the top guys in the world. And I’m playing with them.”
‘By the way, I play for the Tigers’
The right-handed-hitting Haase takes swings off a pitching machine inside Play at the Cage. His ability to demolish fastballs is no secret, so he is trying to improve his weakness: breaking balls from right-handed pitchers.
Play at the Cage is Haase’s sanctuary, even after he got his big break with the Tigers in 2021. He went there a few times last season, and during the All-Star break, to catch up with the Dishmans.
This offseason, Haase shows up at the facility every day. Sometimes, his kids join him. When Haase is done training, he returns home for family time.
“My kids deserve that,” Haase says.
He enjoys chauffeuring his children to school and chatting at his kids’ jiu jitsu classes. The best man in his wedding works at the Ford Motor Company transmission factory in Livonia; another close friend is a police officer in Westland. Haase explains his life as “kind of like a normal person’s society, with the kids and everything.”
He is proud of his career but isn’t vain.
“That’s the thing,” Haase says. “It’s like, ‘Oh, by the way, I play for the Tigers. I’m going downtown to hit behind Miggy.'”
For a long time, Haase wasn’t driving to Comerica Park for work. He wasn’t even close to being in the same lineup as Miguel Cabrera, a 19-year MLB veteran putting the finishing touches on a career that will send him to Cooperstown as a Baseball Hall of Fame inductee.
Once, Cabrera asked for Haase’s advice.
“It was a hilarious thing, being on plane rides and whatnot,” Haase said. “It’s card games, guys might have a couple beers, whatever it is. But there was one time where Miggy came up to me, and he said, ‘I’m lost, and you’re on fire right now. What are you doing? I cannot hit a ball on the inside part.’ And I’m going way back pull-side. Like, I’m just clicking.
“I’m backing into a corner like, ‘Dude, you’re asking me how to hit? I grew up idolizing you and trying to do everything like you. Now you’re asking me?’ I called my wife after and was laughing hysterically.
“Obviously, we share a clubhouse. We’re always shooting the (expletive) and whatever. But the next day, he’s doing a drill that I’m doing. I’m like, this is not how it’s supposed to be. And then he starts clicking, and I see the wheels turning. He’s done it for so long in the big leagues, but he still comes to those mental blocks.”
Haase has a lot to say about mental blocks.
‘I know exactly what I need to do’
Remember when Haase said he “left a lot on the table” last season?
He had been training as a catcher for nearly 10 years when, in last year’s spring training, Tigers manager AJ Hinch asked him to play catcher, left field and first base. Haase didn’t shy away from the challenge, but developing versatility on the fly took a toll on him, both physically and mentally.
“I love his grit, his grind,” Hinch, a former MLB catcher, said in June. “He’s intense enough. He’s just a guy that you root for because of the story and the local product and somebody that’s really trying to make his mark here in the big leagues. You keep hitting homers, you get to play.”
Haase played 66 games at catcher, 22 in left, 11 as designated hitter and two innings at first base. (He expects to see more action at first in 2022.) His daily demands included advanced meetings for both pitchers and hitters, outfield drills, infield drills and batting practice, among other duties.
For the most part, Hinch’s plan worked to perfection.
“It felt like every lever he pulled was the right lever,” Haase said. “You start winning games, you start trusting him. He sets up guys to have success.”
But Hinch’s lineup construction wasn’t something Haase prepared for. He hit .208 in his final 40 games, and his “pure receiving numbers” as a catcher didn’t meet expectations. At the end of the season, Hinch told an out-of-gas Haase he wants him to continue playing multiple positions.
Haase is preparing his body and mind to be a “true utility guy” in 2022. He isn’t solely the backup to catcher Tucker Barnhart, a two-time Gold Glove winner the Tigers acquired in a November trade with the Cincinnati Reds.
“It’s not a question mark anymore, like, ‘What does the big-league staff want to see out of me?'” Haase said. “I know exactly what I need to do, and I know what work I need to do to feel comfortable going into those different positions.”
Haase believes he can stick around, regardless of his role.
“If I can be the Don Kelly or Brandon Inge of a World Series team, nothing screams more ‘me’ than being those guys,” Haase said. “If I get hot for a couple months and chosen as an All-Star, that would be awesome. But if we’re 10 games over .500, even better.”
He just wants to win for his hometown team.
“If I can bring winning baseball and a World Series back here, and my role is playing a couple times a week and all over the place — great,” Haase said. “There are guys that shy away from that, but that’s been my personality my entire life. …
“I was always the guy, like, punch me in the mouth and I’m coming right back. That’s all I know, so why would it be different right now because we started winning?”
As Haase finishes his workout, he finds Tom Dishman.
They always speak before Haase drives home.
It’s a simple yet heartfelt exchange.
“Keep the faith,” Dishman says.
“Keep the faith, Coach,” Haase responds.
They smile, and in unison, share one final remark.
“That’s all we got.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.