The Tigers announced today that lefty Daniel Norris has been cleared to return to the team’s 60-man player pool. He had been recovering from COVID-19 and awaiting consecutive negative tests.
It’s good to see Norris already clear of infection and ready to return to action. The timing is such that he’s likely to require some further work before he’s able to suit up in regular season action, but he can now begin building towards that goal.
This was already shaping up to be a decisive season for the 27-year-old southpaw. The former top prospect is in the middle of his arbitration years but still hasn’t fully established himself as a reliable rotation piece. And the Tigers have several young guns nipping at his heels.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Detroit organization handles its staff this year. Norris is sure to get a good look in some capacity. If the club wants to maximize his exposure to MLB hitting, perhaps it will deploy him in some kind of piggyback or multi-inning relief role while he builds up his pitch count early in the season.
good thing is he probably wolnt need a lot of buildup. i imagine he’ll piggyback with Fulmer.
Yep. Sounds right
Was his quarantine living in a van down by the river? I still love that story about him, just simplify life, live life like a minimalist.
Tigers are 3 years away. Look out AL Central.
Still need more young hitting after Greene & Torkelson. Love the young pitching (Fulmer Mize Manning Faedo Skubal Burrows et al). Tigers fan since ‘66, but watch Chisox & Nick Madrigal this year.
Good for him. Might be wise to give him a look out of the bullpen. With the arms coming up through the Tigers system they have that flexibility to give him a chance in the ‘pen.
Make Norris into a closer. He has that mentality. His first 3 innings can be “lights out”.. Maximize his value. One inning should be a piece of cake for him. Then. Tigers can decide whether to keep him or deal him for more young position player talent. Jimenez can set up until they make a decision on Norris.
Don’t let some other team discover his best role
(Andrew Miller)…
Tigers only have 3 pitchers who can likely log some innings this year: Boyd, Nova, and Turnbull. Fulmer is still coming back from TJ surgery so they will be careful with him. Alexander is the most likely guy to fill in for an injured Jordan Zimmermann and he is a AAAA pitcher at best. So the pen is going to get taxed. Best thing for Norris and the Tigers is to piggy back him with either Alexander or Fulmer. Should be able to get 6 innings out of that combination to start, ramping to 8 innings pretty quickly. That could at least provide some rest for the rest of the bullpen
Buck Farmer should be an option too.
The Tigers may not think Norris is a good pen option. Plus he doesn’t throw overly fast (90-92). He will need a week or two to build up, but if he can’t give 5 innings regularly, they are likely to cut bait on him. He is just too injury prone. His options are running out.
Buck Farmer is right where he needs to be. He is perfect for a setup role and that suits him well. I think Fulmer will be much better then people anticipate this year. I believe he sees the writing on the wall with these younger pitchers nipping at his heels and will respond. He is in tip-top shape and I think he gets back to his 2017 form in 2020. But what people need to understand when talking about all the pitching we have coming in DET is that not all of these prospects will automatically succeed when they do come up to the big club. I think alot of people are assuming that Mize, Manning, Skubal, Faedo, etc. will just all come up and dominate. We still very much need Turnbull and Norris (and Boyd if he’s still a Tiger) to continue there growth and be a part of what we have going here as well. Atleast 2 of them will most likely still be needed even when we are contending again!