Detroit Tigers pitcher Casey Mize admitted to being quite disappointed in himself after his most recent start against the Chicago White Sox, in which he allowed three runs in six innings.
However, manager A.J. Hinch would hear none of it.
“That’s pretty harsh on himself,” Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “I didn’t know he said that. I haven’t been here for all his starts, but it wasn’t the most disappointing start this year. I love that he holds himself to a high bar. You want to make sure it’s not just all negative all the time, whenever things don’t go perfectly. But I’ll never complain about a player holding himself to a higher bar than anybody else around them.”
Of course, Mize is still an infant by MLB standards, having only appeared in a total of 12 games between this current season and the 2020 campaign. But in that stretch, he’s shown signs of being the future starter the Tigers envisioned when they made him their 1st overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft.
“That’s a great sign of a guy who gets what it takes to be elite at this level,” Hinch said. “He’s got to keep working and get on to the next start in Boston.”
His scheduled start on Wednesday was pushed back to Thursday, in which he pitched through the 6th inning against the White Sox.
“It’s a development inning for him,” Hinch said. “We want him to do well, but he was throwing the ball as well as he’s thrown in the last couple of weeks.”
He’ll continue his learning curve as the Tigers navigate their way through the current rebuild.
“If he wants to be a dude at this level, he’s got to navigate some traffic and stay in the game,” Hinch said. “Pitch count was under control. Competitively, he was throwing the ball great. Even when I had (reliever Bryan) Garcia (warming) up that inning, he paints 95 (mph) inside. Like, he was throwing the ball great.
“And if you want to be elite at this level, that’s another example of what’s necessary.”
– – Quotes via Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press Link – –
