Tigers enjoy perks of 'Casey's Cafe' as Mize settles into contract year

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The locker between Tarik Skubal and Justin Verlander’s, the one that houses the espresso machine Casey Mize purchased with Skubal at the start of Spring Training, now has a name: Casey’s Cafe.

No, really. There’s a sign denoting it.

“The media team got that for me, which was cool,” Mize said Wednesday. “That’s funny. Trust me, I would not do that myself. They put that up. I appreciate them for that.”

In fairness, it’s hard to find a coffee term that plays well with Tarik.

“Skub has bought us a bunch of new stuff,” Mize said. “He’s got us a better grinder. We have a nice machine up in Detroit, too. It’s coming along. We’re learning as we go.”

What began as a trial-and-error effort at a good brew each morning before workouts is picking up steam, so to speak. The new grinder Skubal bought arrived on Wednesday, and it’s even bigger than the espresso machine. Skubal also bought a scale to help measure everything correctly during the tedious operation. The level of excitement from Skubal in finding the right mix on Wednesday morning might have matched the excitement he displayed after his two inning-ending strikeouts on Monday.

“We’re learning as we go, but we’re diving in,” Mize said. "It’s fun.”

An abundance of caffeine would be a fine excuse for a bout of jumpiness and command woes on the mound. But Mize’s Wednesday outing against a Jays lineup that featured a fair number of regulars was more a case of early-spring execution. Between two walks, a double and a hit batter during the 4-4 tie, Mize had his share of traffic over two innings in a 35-pitch outing that featured just 18 strikes. He escaped with a pair of double-play ground balls – one on the splitter, the other on his depth slider.

“Not enough strikes,” Mize said of his appearance. “It seems like I always do this in spring. I’ll walk everybody, and I don’t really do that [in the season], but I’ll do it in the spring. Need more strikes.”

But the fact that he could lean on those pitches for outs says a lot about his progress and where he stands this season compared to the same point a year ago. Instead of offseason rehab or an arsenal revamp that he’s had to undergo in past winters, Mize finally had a chance to focus on smaller refinements and build upon recent success. The depth slider, classified as a slurve on Statcast, was a project for him a year ago, but became a legit out-producing pitch against right-handed hitters as the season went along. Opponents hit .232 with a 30 percent whiff rate against it for the season, hitting just .167 when facing it in September.

Mize worked in his full arsenal on Wednesday, incorporating all five pitches.

“Most of the time last year, I kind of had multiple options, whereas in the past I’d only have one pitch or two pitches,” Mize said. “Now I feel like I had three or four in most of the outings last year. It seemed like the margins were smaller now of good outings versus bad, and I feel like a little bit closer to turning the bad into the good than I ever have.”

That improvement has him heading into a contract year at the highest point of his career, both individually and as a team. While Skubal’s potential free agency was the dominant story of the offseason and has the chance to resurface in the summer at the Trade Deadline, Mize is in the same situation contractually. But his feels different, not just because of the track record, but because of the health record. Mize has made just 87 MLB starts over parts of six seasons, including the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign in which he debuted. He also lost close to two seasons to Tommy John and back surgeries.

“I look back when I was hurt, and that time was really, really slow. And then when things are going good, it seems like it kind of goes fast,” Mize said. “Last year was pretty quick for me. Yeah, it’s crazy to say that I’ve been part of this team in the big leagues, now my seventh season. It goes fast in that regard.”

On free agency, Mize said, “I’m certainly aware of it. I’ve had people ask me: Does that add more pressure or less? It feels like another year to me. I just keep doing what I always do and try to help us win games. If I’m able to do that, then that’ll be positive for me on a personal level whenever that time comes. But I haven’t given it too much thought.”