Detroit News

Lakeland, Fla. – Tigers lefty Tarik Skubal and Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm have never faced each other in a big-league game, but they sure have some history. Both drafted in 2018 – Bohm in round one, Skubal in round nine – they’ve gone at each other in rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League,

Lakeland, Fla. — AJ Hinch was talking about the competition among left-handed relievers for the final one or two spots in his bullpen. This was Tuesday after Derek Holland had pitched so well in a spring loss to the Yankees. And, out of nowhere, he declared, “The only one guaranteed (a spot) is Daniel Norris.”

One year ago, the sports world stopped. We thought it’d be a minute. It would seem like forever. Only now are things, sort of, getting back to normal. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s latest state order allows up to 750 fans at Detroit Pistons and Detroit Red Wings home games, and up to 1,000 once the Detroit Tigers start

Lakeland, Fla. — The admission came toward the end of his post-game Zoom interview. Michael Fulmer went immediately into the weight room after his somewhat erratic, somewhat encouraging start in the Tigers 7-4 spring loss to the Yankees at Joker Marchant Stadium on Tuesday. He first needed to blow off some steam. “Let’s be honest,” he

Lakeland, Fla. — Derek Holland had been forewarned. Pitching coach Chris Fetter had told him and the other relievers that manager AJ Hinch was looking to throw them into the fire. He was looking to challenge them by sending them into pressure situations. “He said we were going to start treating these like real games,” Holland

Lakeland, Fla. — The odds against Christin Stewart starting the season with the Tigers were long the day outfielder Robbie Grossman was signed to a two-year, $10 million deal. They grew longer when the club subsequently signed outfielder Nomar Mazara. Finally, all bets were off after Stewart struck out 10 times in 17 plate appearances this

He will forever be remembered around here as one-sixth of the package of prospects that made Miguel Cabrera a Detroit Tiger. Matt Walbeck will remember Eulogio “Frankie” De La Cruz for so much more than that. “He was one of those guys that could really light up a clubhouse,” said Matt Walbeck, De La Cruz’s manager

Lakeland, Fla. — For sheer weirdness, nothing during decades of covering Tigers spring camps beat 1995. It was the year when players were on strike. It was the spring when guys wanted so badly to be “big-leaguers” they didn’t mind taking the lockers of established stars who were in the process of guaranteeing the Major League Players

Lakeland, Fla. — As manager AJ Hinch said Tuesday morning, a player being willing to do something isn’t the same as him liking it. Niko Goodrum, who got the start in center field here in the spring game against the Yankees, is more than willing to do anything he’s asked. But that doesn’t mean he likes

Lakeland, Fla. – The odds against Christin Stewart starting the season with the Tigers were long the day outfielder Robbie Grossman was signed to a two-year, $10 million deal. They grew longer when the club subsequently signed outfielder Nomar Mazara. Finally, all bets were off after Stewart struck out 10 times in 17 plate appearances

Editor’s note: This is the third in a weekly series of stories in which Detroit News freelance writer Lynn Henning will rank the top prospects in July’s MLB Draft. One of the few mysteries within Brady House’s baseball portfolio is whether a man 6-foot-3, 212 pounds, who doesn’t turn 18 until June, can stay nimble

Lakeland, Fla. — Baseball is intriguing on so many levels, even in an otherwise drowsy, mid-camp Grapefruit League game like the Tigers 4-0 loss to the Blue Jays on Monday at Joker Marchant Stadium. Before the game, manager AJ Hinch was asked what he hoped to see out of lefty Matthew Boyd, who was making his

Detroit — Hours after GOP lawmakers argued for the state to ease crowd restrictions inside Comerica Park, the Detroit Tigers vowed to detail a plan in the coming days to admit more than the current 1,000-fan limit for Opening Day and beyond. The Tigers on Monday afternoon touted a “comprehensive plan” arranged over several months in coordination with

Chris McCosky | The Detroit News Lakeland, Fla. — Be wary of the beasts of March. Minor-league rosters typically get a middle-of-April infusion of spring training warriors who flame out quickly when the real games start. That’s the conventional wisdom, of course. It’s gets borne out every year. Mikie Mahtook comes immediately to mind. Daz Cameron from

Chris McCosky | The Detroit News Lakeland, Fla. — You snooze you lose sometimes. Jonathan Schoop, holding out hope for a multi-year deal, didn’t re-sign with the Tigers until Feb. 5. No big deal, really. He got $4.5 million for the 2021 season. One problem. His jersey number was gone. Robbie Grossman, who signed in January,

Chris McCosky | The Detroit News Lakeland, Fla. — It’s been a recurring theme throughout camp, especially last week. Michael Fulmer, a power sinker pitcher, trying to throw his four-seam fastball up in the strike zone only to serve it over the heart of the plate — home run by George Springer, home run by Vladimir Guerrero,

Chris McCosky | The Detroit News Clearwater, Fla. — Stuff gets in your head. The book on Casey Mize, since his days at Auburn, is that he’s a strike-thrower. Not only that, he can pitch with command within the strike zone. It’s as much a part of his pitching DNA as his splitter. Then he comes

Chris McCosky | The Detroit News Clearwater, Fla. – If you’ve noticed, the lineup AJ Hinch has been rolling out in most of these recent spring games has featured some combination of three switch-hitters at the top of the batting order. Robbie Grossman, Jeimer Candelario and Willi Castro, not always in that order, have been mainstays

Chris McCosky | The Detroit News Clearwater, Fla. – Baseball is an unforgiving game. If there is a hole in your game, it will be exposed and exploited. Over and over and over until you close it. Nobody knows this better than Tigers utility man Niko Goodrum. Sometime in 2019, teams figured out he has a

Chris McCosky | The Detroit News Lakeland, Fla. — Julio Teheran and Jose Urena knew there was a group of elite starting pitching prospects knocking on the big-league door when they signed with the Tigers this offseason. And as well as Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal have pitched this spring, you couldn’t blame either of them