Catcher Greiner hopes to stand tall with Tigers in more ways than one
The new man behind the plate for the Detroit Tigers was hard to miss on Tuesday as the club held its first Spring Training workout in Lakeland, Fla.
At six-foot-six, Grayson Greiner is the tallest player to ever catch for the Tigers. “Grayson Greiner, behind the plate, is going to get an opportunity to show us if he can be at the big league level and compete,” Tigers general manager Al Avila said.
A year ago, Greiner wasn’t even in the plans for the Tigers, who had James McCann in place and John Hicks backing him up. He got to Detroit in May when Miguel Cabrera’s season came to an end due to an injury and Hicks filled in at first base. Greiner became the backup to McCann in August when Hicks had seasonending surgery.
“James was awesome,” Greiner said of McCann. “I can’t thank James enough for kind of showing me the ropes. He went through something similar when he first got to the big leagues, as everyone does.
“You’ve got to grind through it and learn how to be a big leaguer and James was awesome with that with me. Teaching me the work ethic, the preparation and the studying you need to do to be successful.”
The 26-year-old Greiner only got into 30 games with Detroit last season, but the club’s thirdround pick in 2014 was elevated after the Tigers did not want to hand McCann a raise in the offseason and opted to not tender him a contract. He has since signed with the Chicago White Sox.
“I don’t want to put any pressure on myself,” Greiner said of being pegged the starting catcher. “I just want to do what I’ve always done; show up, work hard, be a good teammate. The main thing I want to do is develop a really good rapport with the pitching staff.”
But as the starter, he’s also going to take on a bigger leadership role even with so few major league games under his belt. “If I am in fact the starting catcher, I’m going to have to come out of my shell a little bit,” Greiner said. “I’m more of a naturally reserved, quiet guy, but I think I can change a little bit, be more of a vocal leader and communicate with those guys, communicate with all our teammates. I’m just not going to put a lot of pressure on myself, just want to have fun with my teammates and do everything I can to help the team win.
“Guys we’ve got coming over (free agents Tyson Ross, Matt Moore and Rule 5 pickup Reed Garrett), that’s what spring ’s about. Getting to learn those guys, getting to learn their personalities and repertoires and developing that trust and that rapport is very important.” For Moore, a former all-star looking to regain his form on a one-year deal with the Tigers, throwing to Greiner is something he’s looking forward to.
“If you ask me, I’d probably pick a bigger target than the small guy,” Moore said. “I’m not the command artist, so I do need some help down there.”
The Tigers still want to see if the right-handed-hitting Greiner, who had off-season wrist surgery, can hold up to a full season and hit consistently.