Detroit Free Press

LAKELAND, Fla. — Hey Matt Vierling, you are gonna play right field today. Yes, coach. Hey Vierling, you are going to bat leadoff against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yes, coach. Hey Vierling, you are going to play third base in a few days, so grab your other glove. We want you to get in some work

LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers clipped the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-7, on Wednesday at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium, on Nick Maton’s walk-off home run. The Tigers are now 2-3 in Grapefruit League play. What happened Maton hit his second home run of the spring, a 401-foot solo shot to right-center field on the first

LAKELAND, Fla. — Detroit Tigers outfielder Steele Walker has been sidelined indefinitely with a fracture in his hand. Walker, 26, was hit in the hand by a 90.5 mph changeup from Toronto Blue Jays left-hander Paul Fry in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game. The Tigers promoted him from minor-league spring training to participate as a

LAKELAND, Fla. — It’s like trying to follow a social butterfly. One that never stops moving. Former Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland sits in the dugout on the backfields at TigerTown, taking to Miguel Cabrera, the only player left from when he managed this team. Now, he is between fields, talking to Javier Báez. Before

DUNEDIN, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-4, on Tuesday at TD Ballpark. The Tigers dropped to 1-3 in Grapefruit League play. What happened Although the Tigers scored first, the Blue Jays rattled off four runs through the fourth inning to take a three-run advantage. Two runs were scored against left-hander

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Detroit Tigers right-hander Garrett Hill looks different this spring. He joined teammates Jake Rogers and Tyler Alexander as players in the clubhouse with mustaches, thanks to inspiration from his younger brother. Cameron Hill, a firefighter, put him up to the test this offseason. “I bet you can’t grow one,” Cameron said. “Watch this,

LAKELAND, Fla. — No matter where he is, Riley Greene just looks so dang comfortable this spring. In the Detroit Tigers clubhouse. With his boys. Sitting between Spencer Torkelson and Ryan Kreidler. It’s the way he carries himself. Like he belongs. And he has enough maturity now, enough self-awareness, to be able to step back

LAKELAND, Fla. — Detroit Tigers infielder Wenceel Perez hasn’t participated in workouts. He probably won’t play in spring training games. But he’s a prospect to watch this season. “It’s really tough,” said Perez, recovering from a back injury. “This is the first time that I’ve gotten hurt. I have been working hard to get to

LAKELAND, Fla. — No matter where he is, Riley Greene just looks so dang comfortable this spring. In the Detroit Tigers clubhouse. With his boys. Sitting between Spencer Torkelson and Ryan Kreidler. It’s the way he carries himself. Like he belongs. And he has enough maturity now, enough self-awareness, to be able to step back

TAMPA, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers lost to the New York Yankees, 8-5, on Monday at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The Tigers dropped to 1-2 in Grapefruit League play. What happened Last season, the Tigers averaged 0.68 home runs per game en route to 110 on the season, last (by far) in the majors. The new-look

Grapefruit League: Detroit Tigers (1-1) vs. New York Yankees (2-1) When: 6:35 p.m. Where: George M. Steinbrenner Field, Tampa, Florida. TV: MLB Network (local blackout). Radio: None. ⋅ BOX SCORE First-pitch weather forecast: Sunny, 76 degrees. Probable starting pitchers: Tigers RHP Beau Brieske (3-6, 4:19 ERA in 2022) vs. Yankees RHP Luis Severino (7-3, 3.18

LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers don’t have a problem. They’re just strategizing. In this year’s spring training, Riley Greene will sometimes play somewhere other than center field and sometimes hit somewhere other than the leadoff spot. He still could be the Opening Day center fielder and leadoff hitter, but the Tigers want to evaluate all

LAKELAND, Fla. — Inside the Detroit Tigers‘ clubhouse, Justyn-Henry Malloy reaches into his locker and pulls out his Mizuno glove. He runs his finger over the stitching. A sky-blue ribbon — promoting prostate cancer awareness — is stitched into the leather. “My pops is currently kicking cancer’s butt right now!” Malloy says proudly. Henry Malloy,

LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 10-6, on Sunday at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. The Tigers dropped to 1-1 in Grapefruit League play. What happened Nick Maton wasted no time. In his first plate appearance with the Tigers, following an offseason trade from the Philadelphia Phillies, the 26-year-old worked

LAKELAND, Fla. — One week before the Detroit Tigers‘ first spring training game, Staci and Kenny Meadows — the parents of Austin and Parker Meadows — got into a debate about watching their sons play together for the first time. The parents live in Loganville, Georgia. The brothers play in Lakeland, Florida. It’s a 7-hour drive. “We might

LAKELAND, Fla. — Warning: The following column contains glancing references to math and physics. Yeah, I know. Math makes my head hurt. But this is fun science — the kind that explains why a fastball can dance like a wiffle ball. But we are going to explore it through the one person who can explain

LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2, on Saturday at Joker Marchant Stadium in the first game of the Grapefruit League schedule in spring training. The game, the Tigers’ first played under MLB’s new rules mandating a 15- or 20-second pitch clock, lasted 2 hours and 17 minutes. “That’s a quick game,

LAKELAND, Fla. — Brendan White is the latest underrated Detroit Tigers pitcher to know. The 24-year-old, a 26th-round selection in the 2019 draft from Siena College, didn’t crack any top prospect lists this offseason, but if a new pitch in his arsenal clicks, he could emerge as an impact reliever for the Tigers this season. White

LAKELAND, Fla. — On Friday morning, Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris and manager A.J. Hinch held their player meeting with 21-year-old third baseman Colt Keith, the youngest player in their camp. “He can really hit,” Hinch said. “We emphasized (in the meeting) that his approach currently works, so now it’s experience and facing

LAKELAND, Fla. — A Lamborghini Urus rests beneath palm trees, beside a flower bed at the Detroit Tigers‘ spring training facility. The four-door super sport utility vehicle — mostly matte black, with some red accents — has an eight-cylinder twin-turbocharged engine underneath the hood. The back windows are tinted. The black wheels are accentuated by more