Young Arms Guiding Tigers Through Playoff Race
By Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
They say experience is crucial this time of year. They say the best players are those who have been here before.
This is especially true, they say, of starting pitchers.
The Detroit Tigers might disagree.
In the thick of a crowded playoff race, Detroit is leaning heavily on a trio of youngsters in the starting rotation. And those youngsters are rising to the challenge.
On Friday night, 23-year-old Michael Fulmer delivered seven innings of one-run ball against the Kansas City Royals in an 8-3 Tigers win. Daniel Norris, also 23, picked up on Saturday afternoon where Fulmer left off, holding the Royals to two runs over 5.2 innings. And Matt Boyd, 25, will grab hold of the baton Sunday.
With the Tigers striving for a wild card spot and the finish line in sight, the games grow more important by the day.
Well, depending on who you ask.
"I don't really see it that way, I just see it as another start," Fulmer said on Friday night. "Obviously every time I go out, just try to get a win for the team."
Fulmer's cool demeanor belies his lack of experience. The same could be said of Norris and Boyd. None of the three had pitched in these kind of high-stakes games in the MLB before this season began, and here they are, in late September, shouldering the Tigers' playoff hopes.
If they're raw, they're hardly rattled.
"It doesn't surprise me at all," said JaCoby Jones, who overlapped with the three pitchers at various points in the past year in Detroit's farm system. "They're pitching up here like they were pitching down there. They're not afraid to attack hitters early and pound the zone with strikes."
In Fulmer's case, this has been clear for the past four months. The frontrunner for the A.L. Rookie of the Year Award carried Detroit's rotation throughout the summer (along with Justin Verlander) and owns the best ERA in the American League. But the personal accolades mean nothing to him.
"I could care less honestly," Fulmer said on Friday. "Just the wins for the team. We got a win tonight and that's all that matters."
Norris and Boyd didn't find their big-league footing as quickly as Fulmer, but they're standing tall now. Norris, in particular, has been in a groove of late, posting a 2-0 record and a 3.40 ERA in his last six starts. The Tigers have won five of them.
"He's learning," Brad Ausmus said on Saturday. "He's in the thick of a pennant race as essentially a rookie and doing what he should be doing and giving us a chance to win games."
After dealing with numerous physical setbacks earlier in the season, Norris is enjoying every moment of the Tigers' stretch run.
"It's huge. Every day I thank the lord that we wake up and get to play baseball in this hunt right now. It's fun, it's exciting. It's a really cool opportunity, for sure," he said.
Next up is Boyd, who will take the hill on Sunday in the series finale. He will look to pitch the Tigers to a much-needed win as he, Fulmer and Norris try to pitch them into the playoffs.
