DETROIT – There will be 30 pitchers and six receivers on the field at Comerica Park on Friday morning in the first official training for the Detroit Tigers since spring training was suspended 111 days ago.
The rest of the club, 14 infielders and nine outfielders, will join them on Monday in staggered practice.
It will be a spring training like no other, in part because it is not in spring (the official nickname is “Summer Camp”) and in part because there is less than three weeks to prepare for the season.
How much rust will pitchers have after more than three months off the field?
Probably less than you think. After all, it’s easy enough for pitchers to find a launch partner, even in the midst of a pandemic. Some coaches were more concerned that pitchers would do too much during firing, not too little.
Still, the “acceleration” process for one season has been significantly altered by 2020, and it remains to be seen how effectively pitchers will respond.
This is what we will watch out for during pitcher-catcher practice this weekend at Comerica Park.
1. Veil
OK, we don’t have radar guns on our cell phones and we probably won’t be allowed to get close enough to coaches to ask about speed readings, given the strict requirements for social distancing.
But it will be interesting to see if pitchers who shot 98 mph three months ago are still doing so.
Some pitchers have the luxury of relaxing in season. But the players who fight for jobs, who fight for their careers do not have that luxury.
Shao-Ching Chiang is an interesting case. The Taiwanese pitcher was not invited to the list this spring and was vying for a job in the bullpen under the zip on his 98mph fastball. If he falls back into the low 90s, where he spent much of his career, his path to a job is much more difficult.
2. Michael Fulmer: Are you ready to go?
It’s been 16 months since Fulmer underwent Tommy John surgery and he fully intends to be on the list, and perhaps even in the rotation, in the shortened 2020 season.
The hard part will be showing that you are ready to go without the benefit of minor league rehab starts.
Look for the Tigers to organize an intra-squad game for Fulmer as soon as practical.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Ivan Nova prepares for a spring training baseball game against the Boston Red Sox Wednesday, March 4, 2020, in Fort Myers, Florida. (AP Photo / Elise Amendola)AP
3. Starters galore
If Fulmer is healthy, the Tigers will have at least seven viable starting pitcher candidates: Matthew Boyd, Spencer Turnbull, Daniel Norris, Jordan Zimmermann, Ivan Nova, Tyler Alexander, and Fulmer.
Alexander will likely end up getting a bullpen / swing man job. That could also be Fulmer’s fate, if the Tigers decide to stick with a five-man rotation. (Of course, if Fulmer does really well this spring, the Tigers might consider hitting Zimmermann or Nova to the feather. Both are veterans who are unlikely to be with the club in 2021.)
But what about everyone else? We are not talking about elite prospects like Matt Manning, Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal. They will continue to be holders.
But what about young pitchers like Beau Burrows, Kyle Funkhouser, or even Anthony Castro? Your best hope for a job now and in the future probably lies in the bullpen. But the Tigers will need to keep a certain number of pitchers stretched to get started.
In a normal year, it was a good idea to have the need for 10 starters: five in Detroit and five waiting on the wings in Toledo. But this is not a normal year. And while a pitcher like Mize or Manning could end up making their 2020 debut, the Tigers probably don’t want to find themselves in a situation where they have with no other choice but call one of your best prospects.
In that sense, the summer camp will produce a similar question to the spring training: who will be in the “rotation” in Toledo this year, despite the fact that Toledo is only a satellite camp and not a home for the mud hens.
4. New faces.
The big arrival will be the general selection n. # 1 Spencer Torkelson, which formally begins Monday with full workouts.
But on Friday we will see catcher Dillon Dingler, the first pick of the second round.
The 21-year-old got an invitation to summer camp as part of the 60-man player pool. You’ll be able to rub elbows (well, not literally) with both veteran pitchers and young prospects with whom you’ll be working extensively for years to come.
It will also establish an interesting juxtaposition with the other Tigers capture prospect, Jake Rogers, 25.
In a perfect world, the Tigers had wanted Rogers to spend much of the year in Toledo. Ideally, he would hit very well, win a summer promotion to Detroit, prove he belonged in the big leagues, and enter 2021 as the favorite to win the starting job.
So what happens in the less than perfect world of 2020? The Tigers surely need to find an opportunity to get Rogers a few at-bats in Detroit, if possible. But there are only 60 games and the Tigers have a lot of catchers.
5. Will old habits die?
This is the first practice under the new health protocols. That means not spitting. Do not lick hands. There are no face-to-face pitcher / catcher conferences. Visits to socially distant mounds.
It’s going to be really weird and it will take a while to get used to.
Expect at least one player to be wrong on Day 1. Also expect some players to be going through nicotine withdrawal as practice continues. Old habits are difficult to break.
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