LAKELAND, Fla. — The conversation stung deep into the offseason. The Detroit Tigers were in Cleveland on the eve of the American League Division Series when manager A.J. Hinch called Casey Mize into the office.
There was a time when Mize was the organization’s most hailed prospect. A No. 1 pick who was supposed to lead the Tigers out of a painstaking rebuild and restore their postseason promise. Last season’s Tigers broke a 10-year playoff drought. Mize, however, was not on the roster for the ALDS.
After ups and downs, injuries and rehabs, good days and bad, Mize had a 4.49 ERA last season. He struck out less than seven batters per nine innings. Mize had surely pictured himself in this moment, the Tigers in the playoffs. Instead of leading the rotation, he learned he would be watching from inside.
“It was bittersweet,” Mize said Saturday at spring training, “because we were doing something magical and amazing and I was so happy. I just wanted to be a part of it. Just to know what I wasn’t on the roster, I felt like an outsider in a way. And I never want to feel that way again.”
The conversation in Cleveland drove Mize all winter. It was one of the many factors that helped Mize stage a redemptive spring. Now the decisions are final. Along with Jackson Jobe — the Tigers’ new, shiny prospect — Mize will officially begin the season in the rotation.
“I feel like I went into this offseason with a plan to get better, and I feel like some of that is starting to pay off,” Mize said. “Obviously with the performance this spring, but also just how I earned this spot, I think it just gives me some good confidence going into the season. I’m certainly happy with how things have gone, but we’re just getting started.”
Just a few minutes after Mize spoke, Jobe stood in a corner outside the clubhouse and talked about the anticipation of his first MLB start. Mize and Jobe are different pitchers. Jobe even got a taste of playoff experience out of the bullpen last season, making the roster over Mize. But in a way, Jobe is in the position Mize was in a few years ago. His stuff is dynamic. He is also still learning.
This spring, Jobe flashed a powerful, upper-90s fastball and a curveball that tops 3,000 rpm. But he struck out only eight batters and surrendered four home runs in 12 1/3 innings.
“You just kind of never know,” Jobe said, asked if he ever doubted he would make the rotation. “There’s so many decisions that need to be made, and we have so many great arms. Tried not to think about it too much. Just tried to learn as much as I could this camp.”
The Tigers resisted any temptation to start Jobe in Triple A. With the Prospect Promotion Incentive surely in the back of everyone’s minds, the Tigers will push Jobe to learn and adapt at the major-league level. Like Mize last season, Jobe must improve his ability to finish hitters with two strikes. The Tigers want him to remain aggressive. But despite his viral quote this spring — “I’m done with trying to dot a gnat’s ass. Here’s my stuff. If you hit it, good. Odds are, probably not.” — the Tigers also want him to be more precise with his command.
“There’s a difference between being a general strike-thrower and a guy who executes one pitch at a time,” Hinch said. “When you have plus stuff across the board, you still have to stay locked in on execution. Quite honestly, I think you can get away with a few more things in the minor leagues than you can in the big leagues. We saw a little bit of that throughout the spring.
“But the reality is he’s one of the best prospects in baseball for a reason. He’s now in a rotation that expects to be good. And he can hold his own perfectly fine. And this is the challenge for him. But this is also what’s best for our team.”
Detroit Tigers pitcher Jackson Jobe pitches during the first inning against the New York Yankees at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. (Mike Watters/Imagn Images)
While the 22-year-old Jobe learns the ropes, Mize will try to prove what he did in spring can carry over to the regular season. Much last year, when Mize also earned a rotation spot in the final days of camp, his fastball showed life and power for the better part of the past six weeks. But unlike last season, his secondary pitches have gained newfound potency.
That’s a product of Mize’s offseason deep dive, when he visited the Tampa branch of Driveline Baseball and the Maven facility in Atlanta in search of new tweaks and knowledge. This spring, the patented splitter that helped Mize get drafted first in 2018 looked arguably the best it has in his professional career. Throwing the splitter closer to 90 mph, the pitch has regained its diving action and has looked like a formidable swing-and-miss weapon.
“It’s a reminder of what that pitch has been able to do for me in the past, and I know what it’ll be able to do for me in the future,” Mize said. “If I have this feel for this pitch over a consistent period of time, I feel pretty good about what the results can be.”
Mize has also added variety to his slider, now throwing a sweeping version of the pitch to pair with his traditional bullet slider. Last season, Mize’s whiff rate ranked in the bottom 21st percentile of MLB pitchers. This spring he struck out 18 batters in 16 innings. He allowed only two runs all spring, both in his final outing against a strong Boston Red Sox lineup.
“He carries the weight of the world on his shoulders from time to time because he expects so much out of himself,” Hinch said. “He has had a certain edge to him this spring because it hasn’t been a perfect journey for him. I don’t know what it’s like to be in his shoes and have a whole organization anticipate your arrival and then go through a couple different injuries. But I know he’s tough and I know he cares. And I know when his back is against the wall, he will fight back.”
Mize serves as proof of prospect pitfalls. Development is rarely linear, and dominance does not always happen in an instant. But Jobe will join the rotation as a dynamic pitcher with an unlimited ceiling.
They both join Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty and Reese Olson in what could be a formidable starting five.
“Jackson is probably the most exciting pitching prospect in the game,” Mize said. “And if I do my thing, I might be able to round out this rotation and really take us to the next level.”
Worth noting
• The Tigers informed Kenta Maeda he will begin the year in the bullpen, which opened the door for Mize and Jobe. Maeda had a 6.09 ERA last season and will make $10 million this year. While Maeda gave up up loud contact at times, the Tigers leave Lakeland feeling good about his gains in velocity and swing-and-miss. He entered Saturday with a 5.68 ERA, 19 strikeouts and one walk this spring. “Sometimes the natural reaction for people in our sport is when you don’t make a rotation, then you slide to the long-man role or this stuffed away guy in the pen, and that’s not true,” Hinch said. “He can still earn his innings. He can earn important innings.”
• The Tigers optioned Keider Montero on Saturday morning, officially ending the rotation competition. Montero had a strong spring — striking out 17 batters in 14 innings — but was always a likely candidate to begin the season in Triple A for further refinement. “He’s really good,” Hinch said. “He’s got good pitches. And he’s going to work on execution and and having some shorter at-bats as opposed to some of the longer at-bats that we saw through parts of the spring.”
• It will be at least four more weeks before outfielder Parker Meadows is cleared for full baseball activity. Meadows, out with a nerve issue in his upper right arm, recently underwent a nerve conduction test in Phoenix. He is currently doing light baseball activity but unable to throw. “The guys that have dealt with it, the doctors who have dealt with this as a career, feel very confident that a full recovery is coming,” Hinch said. “It takes time. What do we like the least this time of year? Time. We want it to go faster.”
• The Tigers, in theory, have two more big roster decisions remaining. With Ryan Kreidler optioned Saturday, non-roster invite Jahmai Jones is in a competition for two spots with Spencer Torkelson and Justyn-Henry Malloy. The Tigers also have a difficult call in the bullpen, where right-hander Brenan Hanifee is battling for a spot with left-handers Brant Hurter and Andrew Chafin. It also remains possible the Tigers could add a player from the outside before next Thursday’s opener in Los Angeles.
(Top photo of Casey Mize: Junfu Han / USA Today Network)
