Detroit News

Lakeland, Fla. — AJ Hinch announced that Garrett Hill will start the Tigers’ Grapefruit League opener at Joker Marchant Stadium Saturday against the defending National League-champion Phillies. “I’m super excited,” said Hill, who made eight starts for the Tigers last year before finishing the season in the bullpen to limit his workload. “It’s going to

Lakeland, Fla. — Cruel game baseball. Year after year, Chasen Shreve has been a solid, useful left-handed relief pitcher. And year after year, he finds himself designated for assignment and looking for a job. He has a 21-12 record with a 3.87 ERA in nine big-league seasons. He’s averaged close to 10 strikeouts per nine

In episode 2 of Tigers Today from Lakeland, Florida, Chris McCosky and Tony Paul talk about Chris Ilitch’s visit to camp, Akil Baddoo looking good, and 6:40 p.m. starts for weekday home games. They also preview Saturday’s Grapefruit opener against the Phillies in Lakeland at 1:05 p.m. Here’s the other highlights: :30 Spencer Turnbull returns

Lakeland, Fla. — It had been 19 months since Spencer Turnbull had stood on a mound and stared down an actual hitter, 19 months since he faced White Sox Yermin Mercedes with two outs in the fourth inning on June 4 at Guaranteed Rate Field. Turnbull struck out Mercedes with a 3-2 sinker, walked back

Lakeland, Fla. — Matthew Boyd has been in the room for several of Christopher Ilitch’s spring training team addresses over the years. This one was different. “Yeah, it seemed a lot different,” Boyd said. “And that’s no knock on his conversations with us before. But, you could hear the fire behind it, just how badly

Lakeland, Fla. — All this stuff will shake out by the end of spring training. Shoot, by then, some new players could be added to the mix, completely throwing these early calculations out of whack. But as we sit here today, with the Grapefruit League season starting on Saturday, it’s hard to see how the

Lakeland, Fla. — It was the first day of live batting practice on the backfields at Joker Marchant Stadium on Tuesday — pitchers facing hitters — and as manager AJ Hinch promised, each of the three mounds being used was equipped with a pitch timer. No time like the present to get used to the

Lakeland, Fla. — Up until last year, Andrew Knapp enjoyed a fairly stable baseball life. He’d spent the first eight seasons catching for one organization — the Phillies. Drafted in 2013, he debuted in 2017 and was J.T. Realmuto’s back-up catcher from 2019-2021. Then the safety net broke. “I had such a crazy year,” said

Lakeland, Fla. — Scott Harris, speaking to the media before the first official full-squad workout of the spring Monday morning, didn’t try to paint rainbows or sugarcoat the Tigers’ prospects for the 2023 season. “Coming off 96 losses, there are no shortcuts back to contention,” said Harris, embarking on his first season as Tigers president

Lakeland, Fla. — Eduardo Rodriguez wasn’t going there. He wasn’t going to drag last year’s drama into this season. He was asked Monday if, after all the events of last season, he felt a sense of peace coming into this spring. “I can’t say peace,” he said. “It’s just another year, just another season. I

Lakeland, Fla. — Miguel Cabrera was asked what he remembered about driving to his first big-league camp back in 2003 when he was a 20-year-old prospect in the Florida Marlins system. “I don’t remember anything, that was a long time ago,” he said, laughing. “The car. I drove a different car. Maybe a rent-a-car.” He

Lakeland, Fla. — You have to stay sharp this spring if you want to lock in on new Tiger Matt Vierling. He might start out doing drill work with the infielders — taking reps at third base, second base and first base. But if you look away for a minute or two at the wrong

Lakeland, Fla. — Jonathan Schoop is 31 years old, entering his 11th big-league season and the final year of his contract with the Tigers. But to hear him talk about it Sunday, it’s just the beginning. “Last year was tough,” he said. “I have achieved a lot in my career, but something like that makes

Lakeland, Fla. – They both used the same word to describe it. Weird. Just weird. The Meadows brothers have arrived. Together. Austin and Parker Meadows, for the first time in their lives, are teammates and sharing a locker room. They drove to Lakeland together from Austin’s house in Tampa Saturday morning. Austin drove and Parker,

Lakeland, Fla. — Tyler Nevin was given a list of jersey numbers to chose from after he was traded to the Tigers from the Baltimore Orioles. He chose, for no real reason, No. 18. On Thursday, he was made aware of the significance of that choice. The last man to wear jersey No. 18 in

Lakeland, Fla. — Jonathan Davis looked at his phone and saw a text message from Rajai Davis. Nice. A former Tigers’ speedster named Davis reaching out to a potentially new Tigers’ speedster named Davis. “He texted me the other day and said, ‘Did you see the new rules?’” said Jonathan Davis, the veteran outfielder who

Welcome to episode 1 of Tigers Today, a new Detroit News podcast featuring Tigers beat writer Chris McCosky and reporter/host Tony Paul. Chris and Tony will discuss the new-look Tigers under Scott Harris, the new president of baseball operations. Today, they talk about pitchers and catchers reporting Wednesday for the first practice at spring training

Lakeland, Fla. — When manager AJ Hinch assembled the pitchers and catchers Wednesday morning before the first official workout of spring, he told them very directly there were jobs to be won on this pitching staff and roles to be fought for. “Health is going to play into that and performance definitely is going to

Lakeland, Fla. — Tigers center fielder Riley Greene had some big moments this offseason. Like catching a 50-inch redfish and massive hammer jack and red snapper some 60 to 70 miles off the Florida coast. Earlier in the week, he and his buddy, Vaughn Grissom, the Atlanta Braves shortstop, were inducted into the Hagerty High

Detroit — The Tigers are moving up the start times for several home games in 2023. Based on feedback from fans and TV and business partners, the team announced Thursday that all weekday night home games will start at 6:40 p.m., up from 7:10 p.m. “We’re constantly listening to feedback from fans and stakeholders and