The Detroit Tigers waited two years for this moment.
But right-handed Casey Mize, number 1 in the 2018 draft, has waited his life.
Both parties got what they wanted at the Guaranteed Rate Field against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday when Mize made his highly anticipated MLB debut. The organization expects him to be the cornerstone of the franchise in the years to come, and he has shown that he has a shot at that status.
Mize gave up three runs with seven hits in 4⅓ innings on his first MLB appearance and hit seven hits without a stroll. He became the first Tiger in history to have at least seven strikers and no walks on his Major League debut.
He put the Tigers in a position to claim their 10th win of the season and win a seven-game losing streak in a matchup against White Sox Righty Dane Dunning, a 2016 first-round election (# 29 overall), which also made his choice big league debut.
“I always expect that I will enable the team to win,” said Mize on Tuesday. “This is what I will try. This is what I want to challenge myself to – just enjoy the moment, be where my feet are and realize that everything I have worked for is happening.
“So, you know, try to enjoy it and win a ball game because that’s what everything is about.”
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The Tigers number 2 dominated last season in 21 starts and 109 innings for High-A Lakeland and Double-A Erie, recording an ERA of 2.55, a whip of 0.942, 106 strikes and 23 walks.
And the 23-year-old continued his success at the highest level of baseball.
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Here are three takeaways from Mize’s MLB debut:
Trust brings control
Mize knew this excursion would take place eventually, and he made sure he was ready. Unlike left-hander Tarik Skubal’s debut on Tuesday, Mize hit the hill with a sense of peace, which is likely a by-product of number 1 overall selection and preparation for that moment over the past two years.
Even so, Mize wasn’t overwhelmed.
He was dominant.
After Mize recorded strikeouts with his splitter and cutter in the first inning, Edwin Encarnacion discharged a 415-foot homer to start the second inning – Mize hung a curveball and the veteran bat didn’t miss him. But even Nomar Mazara’s subsequent double didn’t bring him down when Mize responded with three consecutive outs to end the second frame.
Three of the four hard-hit balls Mize allowed on his debut came to Jose Abreu (first inning), Encarnacion (second) and Mazara (second) in the first two innings. He avoided a downward spiral and allowed only one hit, a weak infield single from Eloy Jimenez, in the third and fourth innings.
[ Detroit Tigers’ Casey Mize gives a glimpse into his psyche entering his MLB debut ]
In the fifth, Mize gave up two runs on RBI singles from Tim Anderson and Yoan Moncada after the Tigers took a 3-1 lead over a homer from three runs from Jeimer Candelario in the inning.
These two runs forced his exit on 73 parking spaces.
Bad splinter
As Mize watched Skubal’s debut from the stands on Tuesday, he selected a couple of thugs to throw his splinter at. Based on his performance, he made a perfect rating.
“I already had that in the back of my mind,” Mize said on Tuesday. “But I still have to go out and execute so I just have to see how it feels tomorrow, but there are definitely a couple of thugs that I think can be a really big advantage for me.”
His first notable splinter came to Moncada in fourth place in the first inning. In total, he used the outstanding playing field 19 times to achieve 14 swings (with six failures). Its splitter reached a top speed of 87.3 miles per hour and an average of 85.9 miles per hour.
In the fifth inning, Mize’s Splitter did not fall as much against Zack Collins and Anderson as he would have liked, resulting in a double and a singles respectively. The hits enabled the White Sox to reduce the deficit to 3-2 with an out.
A punch later, Moncada deployed an 85.9 mph splitter in the strike zone to tie the game.
Although Mize was late in missing out on some of his shards, there is no doubt that he can rule this field of play and develop his dominance further in the years to come.
Adaptation to Anderson, others
The Tigers breathed a sigh of relief in the first inning when Anderson, the batsman, flew to right field.
For the first time in two games, Anderson did not start with a home run.
Anderson started the game with a batting average of 0.379 and was 11:19 (0.579) with one doubles, one tripple, four homers and six RBIs in four games against the Tigers that season. But that didn’t worry Mize, who was as confident as ever against one of the league’s most feared players.
In the third inning, he forced Anderson to bind with a three-pitch strikeout – and ended with an 87-mile splinter that fell below the strike zone.
What made Mize’s debut so impressive was his ability to make adjustments as he went through the order a second time. He proved this with his strike against Anderson, and when he knocked out Encarnacion, swinging on a slider in fourth, a pitch mize purposely threw far out of the zone to chase him down.
[ Making sense of Tarik Skubal’s rocky debut with Detroit Tigers ]
Evan Petzold is an intern in sports coverage with the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. The Free Press has launched a new digital subscription model. How to get access to our most exclusive content from Detroit Tigers.
