Tigers' Long continues unlikely path forward with his stop in the Arizona Fall League

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – In late June, the Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League were stuck in a rain delay. Once things resumed, they lost in extra innings and headed back to the locker room after 1 a.m. Maddox Long finally checked his phone and saw a handful of messages from his agent and his dad, so he jumped on FaceTime and got the news from his entire family seated inside his living room back home in Arkansas: 

He was a Detroit Tiger. 

The news that his pro ball journey had begun kicked off a whirlwind. Less than a week later, he made his first appearance for the club’s Rookie-level Florida Complex League club, pitching his way to Single-A Lakeland by the end of July. After two outings there, Long was on the move again up to High-A West Michigan. All told, he posted 11.8 K/9 (and just 2.9 BB/9) while running a 3.74 ERA across 33 2/3 innings.

But things weren’t done there. He had impressed enough that the Tigers wanted to see more, tabbing him for a stint in the Arizona Fall League, giving him a chance to face some of baseball’s top prospects. 

“I haven't really allowed myself a lot of time to just be like, ‘Holy cow, this is crazy,’” Long said. “I was in this cycle of, ‘I don't think it's ever gonna happen.’ And then next thing you know, you're in High-A out of nowhere, I'm throwing well and then it's like, ‘Hey, you're in the Fall League’ and it's just felt like it kind of happened out of nowhere.” 

Of course, it’s been years and years down an arduous path of baseball for Long, who had never been west of Texas in his life before arriving in Arizona for the Fall League.

His college career began at Division II Ouachita Baptist, before transferring to the JUCO ranks for a one-year stop with the University of Arkansas Rich Mountain. He settled in at his third Arkansas program, Harding University, where he went on to become a two-time D2 All-American.

Long’s pro ball vision crystallized during a stint in the summer wood-bat Northwoods League in 2023. His fastball was in the low 80s in high school, and despite his size, he wasn’t pumping velo past hitters. But once he started getting outs against top-tier college hitters by the tried-and-true method of changing speeds and eye levels, things got serious. 

“It basically just changed my life because I wasn't any different of a player,” Long said. “I was like, ‘Maybe I am good at baseball.’ … I know I have confidence to get guys out with this stuff.”

About that arsenal. A starter for the entirety of his baseball career prior to joining the pro ranks, Long and his 6-foot-5, 275-pound frame are built for durability. Never operating with much of a pitch limit, he’s honed a mix-and-match approach that has led to him having, as he describes it, “infinite pitches” in his repertoire.

“Being somebody that never threw hard, I had to learn the feel of the baseball,” Long said. “If you go look at my [data], all the pitches will get labeled as something, but sometimes they’re different. … If I had to say, I have six pitches, but I also just have so many variations. It's weird because I have a feel for all of them.”

The reality is that if Long -- at age 25 -- is going to keep his dream going, he’ll need to impress wherever he goes. And he’s certainly done that in the Fall League. Through his first six outings, the right-hander ran a 1.59 ERA and logged 14 punchouts in 17 frames, ramping his fastball up to 91-93 mph, maxing out at 95.4.

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“I've always wanted to be a big leaguer and I knew that my route was gonna be very non-traditional,” Long said. “I got my master's degree … but no part of me ever had any intentions of using it. I've always thought – I don't know how it's gonna happen but I feel like it's in the Lord's plan for my life to be on the baseball field for the next, at least 15 to 20 years. 

“You always have those little bits of doubt as a baseball player of just like, ‘Man, is this gonna work out?’ But 95 percent of me is like, ‘Yeah, this is what I'm doing the rest of my life.’”