LAKELAND, Fla. – Monday marked the Tigers debut for Framber Valdez. But as the big lefty sinkerballer took the mound at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium for three scoreless innings against the Braves, he could be forgiven for having flashbacks. Nine years ago, Valdez was throwing sinkers to Jake

The last time Tigers outfielder Wenceel Pérez took the field at Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal, he was a teenager trying out for Major League clubs. It’s where the Tigers scouted the then-shortstop, and where his path to Detroit began. When he takes his spot in the outfield on Tuesday in

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Justin Verlander’s return to the mound in a Tigers uniform is set. The former American League MVP and three-time Cy Young Award winner will make his first appearance of Spring Training on Friday afternoon, when the Tigers host the Red Sox at Joker Marchant Stadium. It’ll be

The Tigers officially entered a new era of broadcast on Monday with the launch of Detroit SportsNet, a year-round TV and streaming home for the Tigers and Red Wings.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The first sign Sunday could be a weird afternoon for Tarik Skubal came when he took the mound to pick up the ball for the first pitch -- and there were two of them. “I was telling [plate umpire] Laz [Diaz], ‘I don’t know what the hell’s

LAKELAND, Fla. -- A.J. Hinch didn’t want a discussion on defensive metrics for Kevin McGonigle on a Sunday morning. He wanted to see plays. “Watch him play,” the Tigers manager said. “And then watch him grow.”

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Miguel Cabrera said he sent a text to Justin Verlander as soon as news emerged of Verlander’s return to the Tigers. “I told him I want to come back, too,” Cabrera said, followed by his familiar bellowing laugh.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Tigers were staring at a week-long winless streak to open Grapefruit League play as MLB No. 2 overall prospect Kevin McGonigle stepped to the plate to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning Friday afternoon. A two-run lead had vanished in the top of the

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Jackson Jobe can see the light at the end of the tunnel as he rehabs from last summer's Tommy John surgery. And the light could be closer than it initially appeared. ”Knock on wood, things have been going about as well as they could,” Jobe said Saturday

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Troy Melton is unlikely to be ready for Opening Day after the promising Tigers right-hander was diagnosed with inflammation in his right elbow. "The doctor suggested one to two weeks of no-throw,” manager A.J. Hinch said on Friday. “While he can still do other things -- lifting,

This story was excerpted from Jason Beck's Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

It’s exactly one month until Opening Day, and MLB.com’s beat writers have been in camp for a couple of weeks now. So we decided to go around the division and ask some questions of the five American League Central beat writers about what they’ve seen in camp to this point.

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.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Troy Melton entered his first Major League camp this month having never pitched in a Grapefruit League game for the Tigers. The hard-throwing right-hander still has not pitched in a game this spring due to what manager A.J. Hinch called general arm soreness.

NORTH PORT, Fla. -- Tigers outfield prospect Max Clark noted Sunday that he’d rather deal with the gusty winds of the Grapefruit League than the blinding Florida sun. On Tuesday, the sun got its revenge, giving Clark a hard time on two first-inning fly balls against the backdrop of a

This story was excerpted from Jason Beck's Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Monday looked like a typical Spring Training outing for Tarik Skubal, who opened his 2026 season with four strikeouts over two scoreless innings in Detroit's 3-0 loss against the Twins. Aside from one start for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, he said afterwards, it will

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The late innings of a Spring Training game can become an intersection of small sample sizes. On one side, top prospects might be trying to make an impression with the at-bats they get in a big league camp that can be more learning experience than proving grounds.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Gleyber Torres was feeling a tad nostalgic this week even before returning to George M. Steinbrenner Field on Saturday for the Tigers’ Grapefruit League opener against the Yankees, his former team. If Torres wanted a reminder of his days as a top prospect and a highly regarded

LAKELAND, Fla. -- From an early age, Justin Verlander talked about pitching into his mid-40s, with Nolan Ryan as a role model for longevity. “I mean, since I was 22 years old, I’ve been saying I wanted to pitch til I was 45,” Verlander said last week during his reintroductory

This story was excerpted from Jason Beck’s Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Kevin McGonigle has done a great job blending into Tigers camp as a top prospect turned non-roster invite to Spring Training. But he couldn’t help but stand out Thursday afternoon as his home run soared down the right-field line. McGonigle got all of a Beau Brieske fastball

The Tigers haven’t always had a collection of young talent like they’ve assembled in recent years, but their franchise history includes plenty of memorable debuts – some from future stars, others from young players who came seemingly out of nowhere. Many of their best young players had rough introductions to

LAKELAND, Fla. – Kerry Carpenter’s explosive swing allows him to see a pitch a split-second longer and react. But his ability to read pitchers and anticipate a pitch is just about as fascinating. “The swing decisions are helped by the more I see [pitchers],” Carpenter explained Monday. “The more I

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Arguably no topic in Detroit sports has better encapsulated the city’s challenge of preserving history while embracing modernization than the Tigers uniform. For more than 30 years, generations of fans, players and team officials have wondered how to balance the history of an American League charter franchise