Pittsburgh — Michael Lorenzen was on the field at PNC Park at around 2:30 Tuesday evening, going through his standard between-begins schedule, including losing the warm up area hill.
“Only sort of in a brief delay,” he said. ” You simply don’t have the foggiest idea where you will go, what’s valid and what’s false.”
After an hour, he figured out what was valid. The Tigers exchanged Lorenzen to the Philadelphia Phillies for 20-year-old infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee.
Lorenzen stated, “The Phillies are a good team, a really good team.” It will be fun to play again with those guys, many of whom I played with when I was younger. However, it’s exciting. I’m excited for the opportunity because of the wonderful atmosphere and city.
Lorenzen admitted that he still has a lot to process when he appeared exhausted to address the media following the officialization of the trade.
“There’s simply so much going on,” he said. ” I think my adrenaline has gone through the roof and I’m starting to crash as I talk to everyone and say goodbye to everyone. I figure it will hit me more toward the beginning of the day. I’m attempting to take everything in and sort out all the operations — the flight (to Miami where the Phillies are playing), my own family, while I’m pitching.
“It’s hard to take in everything there is still going on.”
The Phillies were one of the teams whose scouts had been following the Tigers for about ten days. Jason Foley and a few other Tigers relievers were also on their radar. Philadelphia-based reports suggested that Lorenzen would initially join a six-man rotation.
“I feel like I’m tossing the best ball I’ve at any point tossed,” he said. ” What’s more, I feel like there’s actually space to develop and I’m improving. Ideally I can go to Philly and apply that and they’ll get the advantage of that.”
Lorenzen, 31, who is only in his second full season as a starting pitcher, attributed his breakout season to the Tigers’ pitching staff.
“The staff here, they kept their word to me,” he said. ” They said, ‘You will come here and we will improve you.’ That’s what they did. I informed President Scott Harris of that and thanked him.”
Harris considered Lorenzen’s short, useful residency in Detroit a “major win for our staff and our entire association.”
Harris stated, “I said this offseason that I wanted to rebrand the Tigers as a place where players know they can come and get better.” Our most memorable test was Michael Lorenzen and he confided in us. He came from California, where he grew up. He came to Detroit and he believed that AJ (Hinch), our instructing staff and our whole front office staff planned to improve him.
“And sure enough, he came to Detroit, settled in, improved, and played in his first All-Star Game. Now, he’s joining the Phillies and attempting to win the World Series. He’s likewise assisting us with getting better as an association since he assisted us with getting to a youthful position player prospect (Lee) who ought to accompany us for quite a while and gets an opportunity to truly assist us at the major association with evening out. Lorenzen made 18 starts for the Tigers and had a 3.58 ERA and a 1.098 WHIP. He is a prime trade chip because he was signed by the Tigers for $8.5 million for a single year.
He stated, “Michigan has been incredible, and Detroit was incredible.” Both my wife and I adored every aspect of it. We value the fans and the city definitely.”
In terms of the Tigers’ comeback, they acquired a young, right-handed, multi-positional infielder who embodies the offensive identity they are attempting to establish, which includes advanced bat-to-ball skills and plate discipline.
Lee, ranked No. 5-positioned prospect in the Phillies framework (per MLB Pipeline), is in his third expert season, endorsed out of Taiwan in 2021. He was slicing .283/.372/.401 with a .773 Operations at High-A Jersey Shore. In 17 attempts, he has stolen 14 bases.
“We like Lee’s bat a lot,” Phillies team president and former Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski told the AP. Perhaps he’ll head toward third base, yet he can truly hit. He’s a decent, youthful player. It’s not something we needed to do, however in some cases you have provide for get.”
He struck out multiple times and strolled multiple times in 297 plate appearances this season, in spite of being over two years more youthful than the typical hitting in South Atlantic Association.
“Lee is a player that we’ve been after for quite a while,” Harris said. ” He will immediately travel to West Michigan, and he will be of tremendous assistance to us. He will be one of our top possibilities. Furthermore, approaching that degree of ability is a major success for the association.”
The Tigers likewise procured a right-given hitting moutfield prospect from the Dodgers, Eddys Leonard, for cash contemplations. Leonard, 22, hit 11 homers with 44 RBI at Twofold A Tulsa. He has outfield positions at third, short, and second.
He will join Triple-A Toledo.
