With the Tigers in full rebuild mode, Daniel Norris is still trying to figure out where he belongs.
Norris was scheduled to start Wednesday in Detroit against the Royals, but the game was postponed, and it seems his next start will not be with the big club. With starting pitcher Mike Fiers expected to be back with the Tigers this weekend, Norris seems to be the odd man out, when it comes to the starting rotation. Tigers Manager Ron Gardenhire wants Norris pitching, and it sounds like he will be doing it in a starting capacity down in Triple-A Toledo.
“What we want to see more than anything else is (Norris) to get pitching,” Gardenhire said. “He’ll come out of the bullpen right now, but how much we’ll use him is kind of dicey because we haven’t seen him do it too much. We will try to get him in the right situation if there is one. But he needs to start. We need starting pitching in this organization. We need backups in the system and we’re going to get him back starting.”
Norris on this early season so far:
“Not the way I envisioned it, for sure,” he said Thursday morning. “But a lot of times what you envision doesn’t happen. I am just trying to take it day by day and not look too far ahead.”
It’s no secret the Tigers are desperate for arms, both starting and relief, and for the 24-year-old Norris to still be struggling to find a role with this current roster is a head-scratcher.
Coming into the season, Norris was viewed as a back-end of the rotation arm but his appearances in Spring Training show that Detroit may have different plans for him. He made a total of three starts in Spring Training and only one relief outing. The minimal usage in Spring Training for Norris is a sign that he isn’t making the type of progress the Tigers were hoping for.
The inconsistency of Norris is probably one of the reasons why the Tigers felt the need to go out and sign veteran lefty Francisco Liriano during spring training this season.
Sending Norris back down to Triple-A Toledo, will not do much in terms of growth. He has been with the organization since 2015 and is expected to be a key piece for the future as a left-handed starter. If they send him down to the minors, it will give Norris a few chances to start and get some work in before he is ultimately brought back up to the MLB club. To have him sit in Toledo for longer than a few starts would be a waste, especially with the Tigers having such low expectations this season.
Last season with the Tigers, Daniel Norris went 5-8 with a 5.31ERA in 101.2IP.
