The Tigers were in the midst of May injuries when they took the field at Comerica Park for a Sunday game against the Rangers, but their starting lineup was a milestone of sorts.
Spencer Torkelson took his usual spot at first, Kevin McGonigle at shortstop and Colt Keith at third. Hao-Yu Lee, called up a few weeks earlier, started at second base. All four starting infielders had come up in the Tigers system -- Torkelson, McGonigle and Keith as Draft picks, Lee as a prospect acquired in a trade a few years ago. All four infielders had come up working with Hall of Famer Alan Trammell.
The Tigers have fielded the same infield a handful of times. It was the latest sign of how much Trammell means to an organization for which he spent 20 years as a player, three as a manager and the past 12 as a special assistant.
“I think it just shows what kind of baseball person he is,” McGonigle said. “Almost every infielder in here worked with him, and I'm sure all of us have taken a lot of things that he's taught us into the game we play today. I think it shows a lot. I think it shows the attention to detail the players have in this organization, the baseball mind that Tram has. I don't think this organization would be in the spot it is today without him.”
The current title arguably understates Trammell’s role. Trammell spends Spring Training in camp working with the Major and Minor Leaguers, roams around the farm system every summer as an infield instructor, watches and works with prospects in the Arizona Fall League and consults with the front office on offseason decisions.
“Being coached by a Hall of Famer is definitely an honor,” Lee said through translation from Peter Lin. “This is something that I get to tell my kids in the future.”
In many ways, Trammell has taken on Al Kaline’s role as Mr. Tiger. But to many current players, he’s the big-hearted, knowledgeable coach and instructor who, they all discover, had a Hall of Fame career. They discover it on their own -- or more often through their parents -- because Trammell never brags.
“My first day at the alt site [in 2020], my parents asked me how'd it go, and I said, 'Yeah, I worked with this guy, Alan Trammell,'” Torkelson recalled. “My dad's like freaking out, because he knows Alan Trammell of course. And then that's when I looked up his Baseball Reference page, and it's pretty impressive.”
McGonigle had a similar experience shortly after meeting Trammell in his Draft camp.
“I'll be honest, my dad knew a lot about his play and his career. But coming up as a guy not watching baseball in that era, I didn't really know too much about him,” McGonigle said. “But once I told my dad, 'Hey, I just met Alan Trammell today, a Hall of Famer.' He was like, 'No, you didn't!' He was freaking out. And of course, my dad started sending me some stat lines of him and some video of him.
“So of course after I was drafted, once I got to know Tram a little bit, I started realizing the career he had. It's very inspirational for kids like us, for kids who get drafted and want to showcase our play out in the biggest level of baseball. To have him around was a huge help.”
What stands out to many young players isn’t the resume, but the personality. Trammell’s positivity is contagious, and it’s a big help for many struggling kids.
“Tram was one of my first kind of mentors in this organization,” Torkelson said. “Right when I got drafted, they drafted me as a third baseman. I hadn't played a lot of third base in college, so I worked with him every single day for at least a year. And he was unbelievable.
“He's very positive. Like, when I was feeling terrible, I'd screw something up, and he would show me the right way to do it. He was never hard on me, but he was the best. Still when he comes around, he's very positive. He's a really good teacher, and he's so knowledgeable.”
Virtually everyone in the system has a Trammell story.
“I wasn't hitting very good in the Minor Leagues. I wanted my swing to feel perfect,” Torkelson said. “And he was like, 'You know, your swing is going to feel perfect 20 percent of the games, and even then, you're not going to get a lot of hits. So you've gotta find ways to get hits with your C swing and your D swing, because you're going to have those more than you have your A swing.’ And that was just really cool coming from a player with his type of success.”
Said McGonigle: “My favorite thing he told me was actually not about defense; it was about offense. I came in the dugout one game in Single-A and I was like, 'That was a lucky hit.' He said, 'Kevin, there's no such thing as a lazy knock in this game.' I was like, 'Oh, I love that.' So I've carried that on all the time. I always tell everyone that. That's definitely my favorite line by Tram.”
Keith’s memorable experience is a little different.
“I hit him one time in the back of the neck during batting practice,” Keith said. “It was in Spring Training '22 or '23. I hit a fly ball to center field and hit him in the back of the neck. He was picking up a ball or whatever in center field. It was kind of a worst-case scenario. And he was fine, just had a big bruise the next day. Everybody was joking I was going to get released because of it. …
“He didn't even say anything. Everybody else did, though.”