Norris And Boyd, Connected At The Hip, Reflect On Journey To Detroit [VIDEO]
By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
Imagine if Daniel Norris and Matt Boyd had never hit it off. Imagine if their journey from the Minors to the Majors had been marked by nothing but mutual dislike. Imagine if the two young pitchers had been constantly at odds, unable to coexist but forced to be together.
Imagine how awkward that would be now.
"I don't like him at all," Boyd deadpanned, before breaking into a laugh. "Nah, nah, nah. Of course I do."
Norris and Boyd, who came of age together in the Blue Jays' organization and ended up in Detroit via the David Price trade, have been locked at the hip for nearly their entire professional careers. They've struggled together. They've succeeded together.
Heck, they've even lived together.
"When I signed with the Blue Jays in 2013, my first stop was (Single-A) Lansing," Boyd recalled. "Daniel was the first guy to kind of welcome me in, he let me stay at his place."
There were times, Norris admits, he wished he hadn't.
"I kind of regretted befriending him because every night when we were in Single-A, he'd ask me to take him to Buffalo Wild Wings because I had my car up there," he laughed, prompting Boyd to interject.
"I didn't know what else was open," he said, defending himself four years later. "It was my first week playing pro ball."
That was in July. Norris, 20 at the time, and Boyd, 22, were promoted to Class-A Advanced Dunedin (Fla.) in August, which is where they began the following season.
"And we've just been good buds since then," Boyd added.
Their paths almost seem connected by fate. From Dunedin, Boyd was promoted to Double-A New Hampshire in April of 2014. Norris joined him there in June.
Norris leapfrogged Boyd later that season, earning a promotion to Triple-A Buffalo before making his MLB debut with the Blue Jays in September. But they quickly re-converged in 2015 when Norris was sent down to Buffalo in May and Boyd was promoted there in June. Boyd made his MLB debut later that month.
In July, the two southpaws were packaged in the deadline deal that brought Price from Detroit to Toronto. They were briefly separated - Norris stayed with the Tigers, Boyd was sent to Triple-A Toledo - only to be reunited five days later when Boyd was called up to the Bigs.
Norris made his Tigers debut on Aug. 2, allowing one run over 7.1 innings and picking up the win. Boyd made his Tigers debut on Aug. 5, allowing one run over 7 innings and, yep, picking up the win.
It was around that time that their new teammate Justin Verlander decided to welcome them to town.
"He took us both out and took care of us," Boyd recalled. "He got us suits, he welcomed us. To have a guy like him, with his status and his track record, to know that he's got your back and to really welcome you into a team back when we did get traded, it was awesome."
Norris and Boyd finished out the 2015 season with the Tigers, Norris pitching through Thyroid cancer in the process. (He made a full recovery that winter.)
2016 didn't begin as planned for either pitcher. Norris, felled by a back injury in March, was sent to Single-A Lakeland (Fla.) for a rehab assignment, while Boyd, not quite up to snuff in Spring Training, was assigned to Toledo.
They bounced between the Majors and the Minors for much of the season, Norris struggling to stay healthy, Boyd struggling to find a rhythm. Norris was ultimately called up for good in August, Boyd in September, the two of them joining forces with Verlander and fellow youngster Michael Fulmer to anchor the Tigers' rotation down the stretch.
Over their respective final 10 appearances, Boyd went 4-3 with a 4.34 ERA and Norris went 3-2 with a 3.04 ERA.
They credit each other for their continued growth.
"I wouldn't be where I am without him because we watch each other, we watch film on each other and we give honest feedback," Norris said. "I think that's the thing. If he has a bad game or I have a bad game, he's not going to be like, 'Hey, it's fine, you did some good things.' It's like, 'Hey, this is what I saw, this is what you can get better at.'
"That's good to have that kind of honest opinion, instead of just a pat on the back and a get 'em next time."
Said Boyd, "That's 100 percent right."
For all the parallels in their paths, Norris and Boyd differ in that only the latter went to college. Norris, on the other hand, was signed right out of high school.
"It's been awesome to hear his experience of it," Boyd said. "He got to see some awesome stuff and, gosh, he's a first-rounder, that's awesome."
"Second round," Norris reminded him, with a laugh. "But."
"But it's been cool," Boyd continued, "and I think that's also kind of the cool part. We came from different backgrounds and we had different paths, but we're still doing our dream and we're chasing that goal together of getting a ring for the city of Detroit."
The two of them will head down to Lakeland next month when pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training. Then, assuming all goes well, they'll make their way back north -- first to Chicago, where the Tigers kick things off against the White Sox, and then to Detroit, where they play their home opener versus Boston.
Norris will likely make his season debut on April 7 at 1:10 versus the Red Sox. Boyd will likely make his 24 hours later against the same team. If this all seems like more than coincidence, allow Norris to explain.
"I don't think that we've been (together) every step of the way and where we are now by chance. For me, I think it's part of God's plan for us. I think we've been really good accountability partners, whether it's on the field, off the field, and it's just been incredible," he said. "It's been an incredible ride to see both of us grow as pitchers and off the field as people."
After an offseason of uncertainty, the Tigers will bring back almost the exact same roster in 2017. Both Norris and Boyd are looking forward to it.
"It's the boys," Boyd said with a smile. "We got a good squad and I think especially in today's day and age you don't see a whole roster come back like ours did. I think its special. We got a lot of camaraderie and we all love each other, so we're excited."