Tigers expect Mize to be ‘pillar’ for team
To no surprise, the Detroit Tigers selected right-handed pitcher Casey Mize from Auburn University with the first overall pick in Monday’s Major League Baseball draft.
The 21-year-old Mize, an Alabama native, went 10-5 in 16 starts this season at Auburn with a 2.95 earned-run average and 151 strikeouts in 1092/3 innings.
“The Detroit Tigers are proud to select this young man with the first overall pick,” Scott Pleis, Detroit’s director of amateur scouting, said in a release. “(Monday) is a culmination of many years worth of hard work and dedication to the craft of pitching. Casey is truly a special player with a phenomenal arm and impressive collegiate baseball pedigree, but perhaps most importantly has a top-level makeup.” The six-foot-three, 220-pound Mize was named a first-team allAmerican by Baseball America and was a first-team all-Southeastern Conference performer.
“We project that his arsenal will play up at the major-league level — including what we feel are four true ‘plus’ pitches,” Pleis said. “Casey has tremendous upside and his tools have the potential to take his career to special places. Pitchers with his control and command are extremely rare and we’re all excited to see him get to work and begin his career as a Tiger.” Monday marked just the second time the Tigers held the No. 1 pick overall. In 1997, the club selected right-handed reliever Matt Anderson out of Rice University with the top pick.
“All of us in the Tigers organization are thrilled to select Casey with this pick and are confident that he will become a pillar in our player-development system that’s going to bring winning baseball to Detroit for seasons to come,” Tigers general manager Al Avila said. “Being a college pitcher — especially coming from the Southeastern Conference — we know Casey has seen elite competition before. “I’d also like to commend our scouting staff for the extraordinarily thorough job they’ve done canvassing the country over the last year in preparation for this pick and the others that follow.”
TIGERS ADD PITCHERS
The Tigers signed right-handed pitchers Junichi Tazawa and Gerson Moreno to minor-league contracts Monday. The club also sent infielder Pete Kozma to triple-A Toledo after he cleared waivers. Tazawa, who turns 32 Wednesday, appeared in more than 300 games with the Boston Red Sox before signing a two-year deal for $12 million with the Miami Marlins before the 2017 season. He struggled with the Marlins last season and was released last month after allowing 20 earned runs in 20 innings this season and giving up six home runs. Despite still being owed $7 million this season, Detroit will only be responsible for a pro-rated portion of the Major League Baseball minimum salary of $545,000 for whatever time he spends with the Tigers. As for the 22-year-old Moreno, the Tigers released him last week to open a spot on the team’s 40man roster. The club later announced Moreno, who was once a promising prospect, would need Tommy John surgery to repair an elbow ligament.
Monday ’s move allows the Tigers to keep Moreno in the system while making a roster spot available.
LIONS ADD SAXTON
The Detroit Lions added tight end Wes Saxton to the roster Monday before the start of Tuesday’s mandatory mini-camp. Undrafted out of the University of South Alabama in 2015, the sixfoot-three, 248-pound Saxton has spent time with the Buffalo Bills, Washington Redskins and New York Jets, but has only appeared in one game and has not recorded a reception.
The 24-year-old joins a tight end field in Detroit that features LaSalle’s Luke Willson, former Atlanta starter Levine Toilolo, former fourth-round pick Michael Roberts and Hakeem Valles, who spent last season with Arizona.