By George B. Eichorn
“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.” ― Hal Borland
A sure sign of spring is the return of the Detroit Tigers. Moving vans traveled I-75 from Comerica Park to Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida, loaded with gear and brimming with optimism that the club can do better than its woeful 2022.
This marks the 58th consecutive year the Tigers have trained in Lakeland, located between Orlando and Tampa/St. Petersburg. The Ilitch family and Lakeland community leaders oversaw millions of dollars in upgrades over several years at the sprawling facility. Now it hosts the Tigers for almost six weeks – through the team’s last exhibition game March 26 – and the Flying Tigers Rookie League team through their regular season.
The first workout for pitchers and catchers was February 15 with February 20 as the first full-squad practice. Bally Sports Detroit (7 games) and WXYT-FM and AM will carry the broadcasts.
Returning as skipper is A.J. Hinch but several new coaches were hired in hopes of elevating the Tigers in the areas of hitting, pitching, catching, defense and plate discipline especially. The Tigers took too many pitches and had too many strikeouts.
New President of baseball operations Scott Harris has tweaked the roster heading into the team’s Grapefruit League opener February 25 against reigning National League champion Philadelphia Phillies, 1:05 p.m. in Lakeland. No one knows which offseason acquisitions turn out to be Harris’ best moves yet it’ll be fun to follow in Tigers camp.
Youngsters Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, Akil Baddoo, Kerry Carpenter, Jake Rogers, Spencer Turnbull, Matt Manning and Tarik Skubal are back and form a decent nucleus.Starter Matthew Boyd is back in a Tigers uniform. Infielder Nick Maton, outfielder Matt Verling and catcher Donny Sands came over from the Phillies in the Gregory Soto-Kody Clemens trade. Starter Michael Lorenzen was also brought over. Infielder Tyler Nevin and outfielder Johnny Davis will get tryouts. Third baseman Justyn-Henry Malloy and pitcher Jake Higginbotham join Detroit from Atlanta in the Joe Jimenez trade.
Many Tigers from last season are gone, including: Soto, Clemens, Jimenez, Jeimer Candelario, Harold Castro, Willie Castro, Drew Hutchison, Andrew Chaffin, Tucker Barnhart, Dustin Garneau, Daniel Norris, Daz Cameron, Kyle Funkhouser, Victor Reyes, Michael Pineda, Alvin Rodriguez and Bryan Garcia. Losing Soto, Jimenez and Chaffin – their three top late-innings games – puts a big strain on Hinch’s bullpen.
The World Baseball Classic is held this month and next; concurrent with spring training. Tigers slated to play for their countries include DH Miguel Cabrera and pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez (Venezuela), shortstop Javier Baez (Puerto Rico), second baseman Jonathan Scoop (Netherlands), infielder Andy Ibanez (Cuba), infielder John Valente (Italy), pitcher Chavez Fernander (Great Britain), and pitcher Jack O’Loughlin (Australia).
You have to love spring training. Fans can get up close to many of their favorite Tigers in Lakeland as players stroll from the clubhouse to practice fields and back.
I will never forget the 1969 baseball centennial record album which MLB produced. Actor Jimmy Stewart started the recording by saying baseball “begins in the spring…every spring for a hundred springs before the last of the last snow disappears.”
The Tigers and all MLB clubs enter this new season of spring training with optimism and joy as baseball is back!
Reach George Eichorn at geichorn@yahoo.com or @Sandgsports99 on Twitter.
