Detroit Free Press

LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers are opening minor-league minicamp this week at the team’s spring training facility. The first pitchers and catchers workout is scheduled for Wednesday in Lakeland, Florida, followed by the first full-squad workout Feb. 21. Players not included on the Tigers’ 40-man roster are permitted to participate in minicamp. Major league players, though, cannot

LAKELAND, Fla. — The Arizona Fall League was a test for Detroit Tigers right-hander Garrett Hill, a 26th-round selection in 2018 out of San Diego State after two years at Santa Rosa Junior College. The former No. 765 overall pick, now a 26-year-old, wanted to know if he belonged with baseball’s best prospects. Hill posted a 1.98 ERA

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

Bill Dow |  Special to Detroit Free Press Frank Beckmann, the play-by-play voice of Michigan football for 33 years who also had long stints calling games for the Detroit Lions and Detroit Tigers, has died at age 72 in hospice care Beckmann suffered from vascular dementia and had several strokes recently. “It’s just so sad losing

The Detroit Tigers have signed free-agent infielder Jack Lopez to a minor-league contract, a source told the Free Press on Wednesday. He will report to minicamp in Lakeland, Florida, around Feb. 21. Lopez likely will begin the 2022 season with Triple-A Toledo. The 29-year-old, selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 16th round of the

Finally, the date is set for Lou Whitaker. The Detroit Tigers will retire Whitaker’s No. 1 jersey on Aug. 6, in a pregame ceremony before facing the Tampa Bay Rays at Comerica Park, the team announced Tuesday. Retiring Whitaker’s number was originally announced in December 2019. A ceremony was slated for the 2020 season, but the Tigers postponed the ceremony

Finally, the date is set for Lou Whitaker. The Detroit Tigers will retire Whitaker’s No. 1 jersey on Aug. 6, in a pregame ceremony before facing the Tampa Bay Rays at Comerica Park, the team announced Tuesday. Whitaker’s number was originally retired in December 2019. A ceremony was slated for the 2020 season, but the Tigers postponed the ceremony because

Roberto Campos can’t help but smile as he tells the story. He was standing in the batter’s box in the first inning July 5 for his first professional plate appearance, 734 days after the Detroit Tigers signed the Cuban-born slugger in July 2019. Campos was supposed to play in the Dominican Summer League in 2020, but the COVID-19

There’s bad blood between Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association. The sides exchanged statements condemning the other Friday, and neither offered new proposals, as MLB’s lockout forges on and collective bargaining agreement negotiations surrounding core economics are at a standstill. At this point, spring training — scheduled to start Feb. 16 — will almost surely

The Detroit Tigers continue to add free agents leading up to the organization’s mid-February minicamp in Lakeland, Florida. The Tigers recently signed right-handed reliever Carlos Sanabria and catcher Chris Rabago to minor-league deals. Although MLB free agents can’t sign contracts during the lockout, minor-league free agents can do so. Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report Feb.

Detroit Tigers prospect Spencer Torkelson, the No. 1 overall pick in 2020 out of Arizona State, expects to make his MLB debut at some point in 2022. The same is true for Riley Greene, the No. 5 overall pick in 2019 out of high school in Florida. Their anticipated debuts could happen as soon as Opening Day. But

Associated Press |  Detroit Free Press NEW YORK – Five players were suspended Friday for violations of the minor league drug program, raising this year’s total to nine. Free agent pitcher Nick Belzer and pitcher Charles Hall of Oakland’s Class A Central Lansing farm team were suspended for 50 games each for a second positive

The Detroit Tigers scouted the Dominican Winter League, featuring MLB players such as Robinson Cano, Marcell Ozuna and Jose Siri, in the Dominican Republic this offseason in search of underrated talent with upside. One player emerged as the top priority to sign: 26-year-old right-handed reliever Luis Castillo (unrelated to Cincinnati Reds starter Luis Castillo, a 29-year-old on the trade block).

Kody Clemens was counting down the days. Throughout the 2021 season, Clemens’ teammates in Triple-A Toledo did their best to convince him the Detroit Tigers would surely add the multi-positional prospect to the 40-man roster, but nothing became official until Nov. 19, the deadline to protect minor leaguers from the Rule 5 draft. The Tigers prioritized keeping Clemens in the organization. “I

A heated 90-minute negotiating session Tuesday between Major League Baseball and the players union produced little progress, leaving the two sides barely any closer than they were two months ago – before the lockout – making it almost a certainty that spring training will be delayed. This was only their fourth negotiating session since Dec. 1

Tucker Barnhart considers himself an unofficial psychologist. It’s one of the reasons why Barnhart’s yearly routine includes arriving early to spring training. He always shows up by Feb. 1, and often in mid-January, with his family to escape the winter weather in his hometown of Indianapolis and connect with his pitching staff ahead of a new season.

Dillon Dingler is already in Lakeland, Florida. The 23-year-old catcher has plenty of work to do. He isn’t supposed to report to minicamp until Feb. 15, ahead of the first pitchers and catchers workout Feb. 16, but he has been active at the Detroit Tigers‘ spring training complex for the past few weeks. For now, only minor-league

The annual Baseball Hall of Fame induction announcement arrived Tuesday, with only David Ortiz earning the necessary 75% of the vote from the Baseball Writers Association of America this year. That means Detroit Tigers fans should expect to see the clip of Ortiz’s dramatic game-tying eighth-inning grand slam for the Boston Red Sox in Game

One of the favorite memories of my career is of Jim Leyland, when he was the Detroit Tigers’ manager, conducting a morning interview in his office while lying on his couch, wearing a bathrobe and smoking a cigarette. The only way to provide you with anything close to an accurate visual image of Leyland’s pose

The Detroit Tigers have shifted gears. Triple-A Toledo manager Gary Jones, hired in early December to lead the Mud Hens, received a promotion Thursday when Tigers manager AJ Hinch added the 61-year-old to his MLB coaching staff as the team’s first base coach, filling Kimera Bartee’s role. Bartee died suddenly from a brain tumor in December at the