Friday, March 29, 2024
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MLB Preview: Detroit Tigers (0-0) at Tampa Bay Rays (0-0)

DETROIT TIGERS NOTES:

TIGERS OPEN 2023 SEASON AT TAMPA BAY:
The Tigers begin the 2023 regular season this afternoon as they face the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Following this weekend’s three-game set against the Rays, the season-opening, six-game road trip continues with three games at Houston (April 3-5).

ROSTER MOVES: The Tigers have made the following roster moves:

*Placed RHP Beau Brieske on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to March 27, with right upper arm discomfort

*Placed RHP Michael Lorenzen on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to March 27, with a left groin strain

*Placed INF Tyler Nevin on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to March 27, with a left oblique strain

*Selected LHP Chasen Shreve and RHP Trey Wingenter to the 40-man roster

*Optioned LHP Tyler Holton to Triple A Toledo

*Designated RHP Edwin Uceta for assignment

OPENING DAY NOTES: Today’s contest against the Rays marks the 123rd Opening Day in Tigers history. The club enters action today with a 60- 61-1 record in the previous 122 openers. Detroit has won its season opener in nine of the last 11 seasons, which is tied for the second-best win
percentage in such games across all teams in baseball since the start of 2012 (first, Houston at .909). Tigers manager A.J. Hinch is undefeated in nine career Opening Day contests.

TIGERS-RAYS ON OPENING DAY: The Tigers and Rays are facing each other on Opening Day for the third time. The two teams have split their previous two meetings in season openers with Detroit picking up an 11-6 win on March 31, 1998 and the Rays claiming a 9-5 victory on April 2, 2002.

MIGGY’S LAST SEASON: Miguel Cabrera will begin his 21st and final Major League season this afternoon. The future Hall of Famer announced at the end of 2022 that the 2023 season would be his last. Cabrera continued to make history last season, becoming the 33rd member of the 3,000 hit club on April 23 vs. Colorado, while he became the 18th player in MLB history to reach 600 doubles on May 7 at Houston. He is one of only three players in big league history with 3,000-or-more hits, 500-or-more home runs and 600-or-more doubles, joining Hank Aaron and Albert Pujols.

NOTES ON THE SEASON OPENING ROSTER:
Information about Detroit’s 26-man, season-opening roster:

  • The roster consists of 13 pitchers (Tyler Alexander, Matthew Boyd, JosĆ© Cisnero, Mason Englert, Jason Foley, Garrett Hill, Alex Lange, Matt Manning, Eduardo Rodriguez, Chasen Shreve, Spencer Turnbull, Joey Wentz, Trey Wingenter and 13 position players (Javier BĆ”ez, Miguel Cabrera, Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene, Eric Haase, Ryan Kreidler, Nick Maton, Zach McKinstry, Austin Meadows, Jake Rogers, Jonathan Schoop, Spencer Torkelson, Matt Vierling)
  • 8 are on an Opening Day roster at the Major League level for the first time (Carpenter, Englert, Greene, Hill, Kreidler, Maton, Rogers, Wentz)
  • 9 were not active with the team in 2022 (Boyd, Englert, Maton, McKinstry, Rogers, Shreve, Turnbull, Vierling, Wingenter)
  • 15 have less than three years of Major League service (Carpenter, Englert, Foley, Greene, Haase, Hill, Kreidler, Lange, Manning, Maton, McKinstry, Rogers, Torkelson, Vierling, Wentz
  • 6 have five-or-more years of Major League service (BĆ”ez, Boyd, Cabrera, Cisnero, Rodriguez, Schoop
  • 4 have been selected All-Stars (BĆ”ez, Cabrera, Meadows, Schoop)

SPRING TRAINING RECAP: The Tigers finished their Grapefruit League schedule with a 14-16-2 record. Detroit finished the spring with 46 home runs, which ranked second in the Grapefruit League (Philadelphia, 51). The Tigers were also second with 179 runs scored (Atlanta, 180). Individually, Nick Maton ranked tied for second in the Grapefruit League with five home runs and tied for fourth with 12 runs scored, while Riley Greene ranked tied for third in the Grapefruit League with 14 RBI.

TIGERS AND RAYS: The Tigers and Rays begin their six-game season series this afternoon. The two teams will also play a three-game series at Comerica Park from August 4-6. Tampa Bay won five of the seven meetings from Detroit last season, including two of the three games at Tropicana Field. The all-time series has been evenly contested with the Rays holding an 85-84 edge.

TIGERS ON THE IL:
ā€¢ RHP Beau Brieske (right upper arm discomfort, 15-day IL on March 30, retroactive to March 27)

ā€¢ RHP Michael Lorenzen (left groin strain, 15-day IL on March 30, retroactive to March 27)

ā€¢ RHP Casey Mize (right elbow sprain, 60-day IL on February 17)

ā€¢ INF Tyler Nevin (left oblique strain, 10-day IL on March 30, retroactive to March 27)

ā€¢ RHP Freddy Pacheco (right elbow sprain, 60-day IL on March 27)

ā€¢ LHP Tarik Skubal (left elbow strain, 60-day IL on March 14)

TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER

Eduardo Rodriguez ā€¢ 0-0, 0.00 ERA (0IP/0ER)
ā€¢ Rodriguez will make his second consecutive Opening Day start for the Tigers this afternoon against the Raysā€¦made his first career Opening Day start last season against the White Sox, throwing 4.0 innings and allowing three runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

ā€¢ Had a strong Spring Training, making five starts and posting a 1-0 record with a 1.47 ERA (18.1IP/3ER) and 21 strikeouts.

ā€¢ Has faced the Rays 14 times in his career, posting a 2-5 record with a 5.59 ERA (67.2IP/42ER) and 80 strikeoutsā€¦in eight career starts at Tropicana Field, he has a 2-3 record with a 4.93 ERA (38.1IP/21ER) and 47 strikeouts.

ā€¢ Started 17 games for the Tigers last season and had a 5-5 record with a 4.05 ERA (91.0IP/41ER) and 72 strikeouts.

ā€¢ Since 2018, he has a .676 winning percentage, which ranks seventh among all Major League pitchers over that span (min. 100 starts).

TAMPA BAY RAYS NOTES:

FIRST THINGS FIRSTā€”The Rays are 13-12 on Opening Day, winning two straight and four of the last sixā€¦Tampa Bay is 1-1 against Detroit on Opening Day, including a 9-5 win on 4/2/02 and an 11-6 loss in the clubā€™s inaugural game on 3/31/98.

VS. DETROITā€”Last season, Tampa Bay went 5-2 vs. Detroit, its most victories over the Tigers since 2017 (5-2)ā€¦the Rays are 12-4 at home against the Tigers since the beginning of the 2017 season, outscoring Detroit 77-45 over that stretch.

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART ISā€”Since the beginning of the 2017 season, the Rays are 264-170 (.604) in home games, the fourth-best home winning percentage in the majors, trailing only Los Angeles-NL (297-139, .681), New York-AL (286-150, .656) and Houston (280-153, .647).

PITCHERS PARADISE ā€” The 2022 Rays pitched to a 3.41 ERA, fourth in the majors behind Los Angeles-NL (2.80), Houston (2.90) and New York-AL (3.30), and second in club history behind the 2012 Rays (3.19)ā€¦Tampa Bay finished among the majorsā€™ top 10 in ERA for a sixth-straight season and among the majorsā€™ top five for a fourth-straight season.

SUSTAINED SUCCESS ā€” Tampa Bay has reached the postseason in a franchise-best four straight seasons and in eight of the last 15 seasons since 2008ā€¦only four other clubs have reached the postseason as often since 2008: Los Angeles-NL (12), New York-NL (11), St. Louis (10) and Atlanta (8)ā€¦the Rays are one of three AL teams (Astros, Yankees) and one of six in the majors (Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers) to make the postseason in each of the last four seasons (2019-22).

REBRANDING ā€” Since becoming the Rays in 2008, the club owns the fourth-best record in baseball at 1,267-1,062 (.544), including two World Series appearances (2020, 2008)ā€¦ this success comes after the Devil Rays amassed the majorsā€™ worst record at 645-972 (.399) over the clubā€™s first decade of existence (1998-2007).

DOWN ON THE FARM ā€” The Rays enter 2023 ranked by Baseball America as having the No. 6 farm system in the leagueā€¦they have six players ranked among the leagueā€™s Top 100 prospects, including RHP Shane Baz (No. 31), INF Curtis Mead (No. 35), RHP Taj Bradley (No. 44), INF Carson Williams (No. 52), INF Kyle Manzardo (No. 60) and INF Jonathan Aranda (No. 96).

MANAGER ā€” Kevin Cash enters his ninth season as the manager of the Raysā€¦his career 640-554 (.536) record is the best winning percentage of any manager in club historyā€¦ he is 114 wins shy of matching Joe Madden for the most managerial wins in franchise historyā€¦Cash is the second-longest-tenured manager with his current team behind Clevelandā€™s Terry Francona (11th season)ā€¦three other current managers are former members of his coaching staff: Rocco Baldelli (Twins), Derek Shelton (Pirates) and Matt Quatraro (Royals).

COACHES ā€” Assistant hitting coach Dan DeMent (2nd season), process and analytics coach Jonathan Erlichman (5th season), assistant pitching and rehab coach Rick Knapp (2nd season), bench coach Rodney Linares (5th season, 1st as bench coach), hitting coach Chad Mottola (7th season), assistant hitting coach Brady North (2nd season), first base coach Chris Prieto (2nd season) and pitching coach Kyle Snyder (6th season).
Ā¬ Major league field coordinator Tomas Francisco enters his first year following four seasons as Tampa Bayā€™s minor league catching coordinator.

Ā¬ Bullpen coach Jorge Moncada enters his first year following seven seasons as a minor league pitching coordinator in the Rays system.

Ā¬ Third base coach Brady Williams enters his first year following three seasons managing Triple-A Durham.

LOWEā€™S HOME RUNS FOR HOPEā€”For every home run Rays infielder Brandon Lowe hits, he and his wife, Madison, will donate $250 to the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. The Rays Baseball Foundation will also match $250 per home run in support of Loweā€™s ā€œHome Runs for Hopeā€ campaign. The Crisis Center of Tampa Bay provides a range of services to ensure that no one in the community has to face a crisis alone. It is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year as the community gateway to help. People who are struggling with a variety of crisis situations including sexual assault or abuse, domestic violence, financial distress, substance abuse, medical emergency, suicidal thoughts and other emotional or situational problems can connect to hope and healing.

THE BIG GAME JAMES CLUB ā€” Prior to this afternoonā€™s home opener, former Rays pitcher James Shields will symbolically retire as a Ray and throw out the Ceremonial First Pitchā€¦in 2010, James and his wife, Ryane, along with the Rays, donated a suite to begin a special club for foster kids called the ā€œBig Game James Clubā€ā€¦following Shieldsā€™ trade from the Rays in 2013, the suite was renamed the ā€œHome Run Clubā€ and the team is going to return the club to its original name ā€œThe Big Game James Clubā€ moving forward.

TODAY’S STARTER: LHP SHANE McCLANAHAN (0-0, -.–)

ADVANCED TALK ā€” Last season, McClanahanā€™s 0.93 WHIP ranked second in the AL and was the lowest in franchise history, passing Blake Snell (0.97) in his 2018 Cy Young seasonā€¦he totaled 146 strikeouts on offspeed and breaking pitches, third in the majors behind Los AngelesALā€™s Shohei Ohtani (175) and Chicago-ALā€™s Dylan Cease (169)ā€¦his average fastball velocity was 96.7 mph, eighth in the majors and first among lefties (min. 1,500 pitches)ā€¦McClanahanā€™s 34.3 whiff percentage ranked second in MLB last year, trailing only Milwaukeeā€™s Corbin Burnes (35.2%).

SPRING TRAINING RECAPā€”Enjoyed a strong spring, going 1-0 with a 0.93 ERA (9.2IP, 1ER) across three Grapefruit League startsā€¦fanned six batters in his final spring tune-up on 3/18 vs. Boston (5.0IP, 2H, ER, 2BB, 6SO).

OPENING DAY STARTā€”McClanahan was named the clubā€™s Opening Day starter by manager Kevin Cash on 3/24ā€¦McClanahan is the first Rays pitcher to make consecutive Opening Day starts since Chris Archer made four straight from 2015-2018 and is the sixth to do so in club history (also: David Price, 2013-2014; James Shields, 2008-2010; Scott Kazmir, 2006-2007; and Wilson Ɓlvarez, 1998-1999).

VS. TIGERSā€”In three career starts vs. Detroit, he is 1-2 with a 2.95 ERA (18.1IP, 6ER), striking out 17 batters against two walks while holding opponents to a .185 average (12-for-65)ā€¦in two starts against the Tigers last season, he went 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA (13.1IP, 5ER)ā€¦in his last start at Detroit on 8/6, McClanahan took the loss after allowing four runs on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts across 6.1 innings.

VS. AL CENTRALā€”McClanahan is 4-5 with a 3.54 ERA (56IP, 22ER) in 10 career starts against AL Central opponentsā€¦in six starts last season, he went 2-3 with a 4.29 ERA (35.2IP, 17ER), striking out 41 batters against eight walks while holding opponents to a .216 average (29-for-134)ā€¦he matched a career high with 11 strikeouts on 4/30 vs. Minnesota, taking the loss after allowing three runs on four hits and two walks over 5.0 innings.

HEY NOW, YOUā€™RE AN ALL-STARā€”In 2022, McClanahan became the second pitcher in club history to start an All-Star Game, following David Price in 2010ā€¦McClanahan became the ninth Rays starting pitcher to make an All-Star Team, joining Charlie Morton (2019), Blake Snell (2018), Chris Archer (2015, 2017), David Price (2010-12, 2014), Matt Moore (2013), James Shields (2011), Scott Kazmir (2006, 2008) and Rolando Arrojo (1998).

TALE OF TWO HALVESā€”In 18 starts prior to the 2022 All-Star break, McClanahan went 10-3, pitching to a 1.71 ERA (110.2IP, 21ER) with 147 strikeouts against 19 walks while holding opponents to a .176 average (69-for-391)ā€¦in 10 starts following the All-Star break, he went 2-5 with a 4.20 ERA (55.2IP, 26ER) and 47 strikeouts against 19 walks.

STRIKEOUT ARTISTā€”Last season, McClanahan struck out seven or more batters in a franchise-best 11 consecutive starts from 5/11-7/8, going 7-1
with 1.13 ERA (72IP, 9ER) and 94 strikeoutsā€¦he surpassed Tyler Glasnow, who had two such streaks of eight starts (4/6-5/14, 2021 and 8/13-9/23, 2020)ā€¦his 194 strikeouts in 2022 tied for seventh in the AL and were the most by a Ray since Charlie Morton (240) in 2019.

MODEL OF CONSISTENCYā€”From 6/9-7/13, 2022, McClanahan made seven straight starts in which he threw 6+ innings, had 6+ strikeouts and allowed one earned run or fewerā€¦the streak tied Minnesotaā€™s Johan Santana in 2004 for the longest in AL history and was one shy of Los Angeles-NL Sandy Koufax (6/13ā€“7/12, 1962) for the longest streak in the majors since Baseball Reference data is available (1901).

CHANGING IT UPā€”McClanahan threw his changeup on 25.4 percent of his pitches last year, compared to 8.0 percent in 2021ā€¦opponents hit just .145 (24-for-166) and produced only four extra-base hits (3 2B, 1 HR) against the offeringā€¦he posted a 44.6 whiff pct. on the changeup, while 61 of his 194 strikeouts (31.4 percent) came on the pitch.

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