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Who is John Schreiber and Why Should You Care?

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I was engaging on a popular Tigers Facebook page when I suggested that John Schreiber would be the first Tigers prospect to find his way to Detroit this season.  Barring an injury to a position player that could lead to Christin Stewart and/or Mike Gerber getting the call, I stand by that prediction.  One of the users on that Facebook page responded with "Who?"  So it was at that point I realized that, outside of a very intimate group in the Tigers Twitter community, "John Schreiber" isn't a name that many people have heard...yet. So who is this guy and why do I think he will be the first one to get the call-up this season?  Interestingly, Schreiber is a Michigan native who played his high school ball at Gibraltar Carlson High School, just south of Detroit. Only one college came calling after he graduated H.S. in 2012 and it was Henry Ford Community College, where Schreiber spent his first season of collegiate ball laboring with a 7.36 ERA in 29.1 IP. The ...
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Closing February with a boom!

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On Monday, February 25 th , the Tigers broke out the sticks yet again, as they tallied 15 hits at the Orioles’ Ed Smith (that’s right, Ed Smith) Stadium in Sarasota.   A weird collision at home plate between Jeimer Candelario and O’s pitcher Kevin Gausman in the first nearly marred the otherwise successful day.    Fortunately, it has been called a bruised knee, and Candelario is listed as day-to-day.   Leonys Martin continued his bid for a roster spot by lacing three singles in four at-bats, while James McCann, JaCoby Jones, and Jim Adduci each drove in a pair of runs.   The best news of the day was that Michael Fulmer was popping 94 mph pain-free sinkers in his Spring debut.   Despite giving up a solo shot in the first, the Tigers’ ace needed just 14 pitches, 10 of which were strikes, to get through two innings of work.   Baltimore’s stud 2B Jonathan Schoop smashed a 3-run jack off Tigers 2014 2 nd round draft pick Spencer Turnbull his first ever M...
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I've never heard of half these guys, and the ones I have are way past their prime

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This season’s spring action got underway on Thursday, February 22 nd , when our Tigers took on Division II collegiate outfit, the Florida Southern Moccasins, at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland.  Eight Tigers pitchers obliterated the overmatched hitters, en route to 19 strikeouts on the day.  Four Tigers errors, including two of the throwing variety from catcher James McCann, enabled the Mocs to carry a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the 7 th .  That’s when Florida Southern’s centerfielder lost a couple balls in the sun that led to a 3-run inning.  Three more insurance runs in the 8 th sealed the victory.  We’re not going to read into this one on any level. A day later, the Tigers traveled to Steinbrenner Stadium to take on the Yankees in front of 10,000 senior citizens.   The pitchers continue to be ahead of the hitters, as the two squads combined to go 2 for 19 with runners in scoring position.  The Tigers managed just one run, on an RBI si...
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Life after Trammell

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By the time I was nine, I was a pretty good ballplayer, relative to my peers in the Enfield Little League back in Connecticut.  At this age, in recreational Little Leagues, each team is usually stocked with one or two kids who can really play; a handful who aren’t entirely incompetent; and a few who really don’t want to be there.  I could really play at that age, and thus I spent most of these formidable years of my youth at shortstop.  Shortstop is a really fun position on 60-foot base paths.  Most of the hitters are right-handed, so there’s lots of action.  While it’s technically a longer throw than the one from third base, it’s a smoother transition from fielding the grounder, coming up for a crow-hop, and delivering an accurate toss across the diamond than the one from the hot corner.  At least I always thought so.  The catcher may be the leader on the field, but the shortstop is his vice president, keeping the chatter alive, communicating the...
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Not really missing Dave Bergman

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It didn’t take long for that same “coach” to realize that, at age six, the greatest value in having someone who could consistently catch a ball thrown his way was at first base and not catcher.  Although I’m pretty sure we weren’t keeping score and every kid got an at-bat every inning, even a parent volunteer can’t resist his competitive nature sometimes and wants to put his best lineup out there.  So I spent my first and only season ever at first base.  First base was the only position I never really felt comfortable playing.  I was always worried that the base runner was going to stomp on my Achilles for some reason.  Furthermore, I was born with an eye condition known as amblyopia (or lazy eye, if you want to be a jerk about it).  Structurally, my right eye was completely normal.  However, the pathway between my brain and my right eye never developed properly.  Thus, my vision out of that eye has always been extremely blurry and basically ...
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Missing Lance Parrish

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I don’t remember much from when I was six years old.  But I do remember some snippets from my first season of organized baseball.  At the first practice, the coach was trying to assess who could play catcher without constantly having to run to the backstop to retrieve passed balls.  “Does anybody want to catch?” he challenged the group of little kids, most of whom had never touched a real baseball before and were wearing plastic gloves, potentially on the wrong hand.  “I can catch!” I quipped, raising my hand.  The coach thought I misunderstood the question, and that I was declaring that I had the ability to catch a ball that was tossed my way – not that I was specifically stating my willingness to play the catcher position.  So he followed up my answer with a clarifying version of the same question.  “I meant to say, is there anyone who wants to play catcher?”  I always resented that guy for that.  I knew what you meant, pal, and I was prep...
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Here's a list of players we'll be inviting to camp

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So here we are, February 6, 2018.  I’m in Columbus, OH, as usual, where we are expecting 1-3” of snow mixed with some sleet tonight.  One week from today, however, in Lakeland, FL, the forecast shows 84 degrees and the Detroit Tigers’ pitchers and catchers will be reporting for Spring Training.  Spring is the time of renewed hope when you’re a Tigers fan, a time when I can wipe away the sorrows that linger from the torturous experience I left behind in 2017, and every other year of my life as a baseball fan for that matter.  Is this the year the Tigers finally bring home the hardware?  I have no tenable prognosis for this club that suggests it will be.  It doesn’t really matter though, because the journey of Father & Son navigating the undulation of emotions in a single baseball season supersedes the significance of wins and losses.  This is a year in the life of two eternally linked Tigers fanatics.    I’m not quite sure how Dad...
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