https://www.detroitathletic.com/blo...etroit-tigers-be-worried-about-daniel-norris/
Should the Tigers be worried about Daniel Norris?
Detroit Athletic
Should the Detroit Tigers be worried about their phenom, Daniel Norris? He had his start on Tuesday cut short because of lingering pain in his back and it was announced later that the left-hander will begin the season on the disabled list.
In a way, it?s very unfair to say this, but when (if?) he becomes healthy, Norris is a huge component to the 2016 Tigers. With Max Scherzer and David Price long gone, and Justin Verlander gasping to regain some of his former Cy Young brilliance, the Tigers need Norris?the main piece acquired in the Price deal with Toronto?to step up and take a major role in a rebuilt rotation. A pitcher like Norris could be the difference between also-ran status and legitimate contention in a very tough division. Why is this burden unfair? Well, first off, Norris is all of 22 years old. And second, he?s competing for the No. 5 spot in the rotation, not the second or third spot behind Verlander and Jordan Zimmermann.
Unfair or not, the Tigers need Norris to give them in the vicinity of 25 to 30 starts this summer. Or at least 20 to 25 starts since he has to start the season on the disabled list and rehab Triple-A Toledo. Other than Verlander, he has as much talent as anyone in Tigers camp, and has as much potential of being a No. 1 starter as any of the current Tigers. All of the other potential Tigers starters carry questions, either because of injuries, or limits in what they can physically do. Verlander is not the pitcher of his prime, Zimmermann lacks the pedigree of a No. 1, Anibal Sanchez has a history of injuries, and Mike Pelfrey is barely adequate as a back-of-the-rotation starter.
Norris has the stuff to be an ace, perhaps not in 2016, but within a few years. One of the top left-handed pitching prospects in the game, he throws a fastball in the range of 91 to 95 miles an hour, and features three other competent pitches: a slider, a circle change, and a curve ball. Having picked up all of these pitches by the end of his high school career, Norris is particularly advanced for a 22-year-old. Unlike most hurlers his age, he is more pitcher than thrower, though he does have a tendency to try to mix in all of his pitches at once, which can sometimes lead to high pitch counts. The Tiger believe that he will lose that tendency, given time and maturity.
Of course, Norris will have to make the team to begin with, and there is no guarantee of that happening this spring, especially with his back preventing him from going deep in his start against Toronto. He is currently involved in a battle royale for the fifth spot in the rotation, along with holdovers Shane Greene, Buck Farmer, and Matt Boyd. Greene is a nice pitcher, a potentially very good No. 3 starter, but he is attempting to come back from a major circulatory problem in his throwing shoulder. As for Farmer, he has struggled in his two stints with Detroit, and is coming off a 2015 season in which he put up mediocre numbers at Triple-A Toledo. At his best, Farmer does not have the ceiling of a pitcher like Norris. The same could be said of Boyd. All of these capable arms might seem to give the Tigers some depth in the rotation for the first time in years, but the back end of the rotation is still murky.
There is an additional reason to root for Norris. He just might be the Tigers? most colorful pitcher since the days of Mark ?The Bird? Fidrych, who made his big league debut 40 years ago. When Norris arrived at the Blue Jays? spring camp in 2015, he revealed to the media that he lived in a 1978 Volkswagen camper that was usually located behind a Florida Walmart. Reminiscent of the Matt Foley character from Saturday Night Live fame?he?s the one who ?lived in a van down by the river??Norris seemed to take pride in his willingness to live a simple life out of the camper, which he nicknamed ?Shaggy.? He explained that his decision to buy the antique car for some $10,000 came from a desire to escape the ?pressure cooker? of life in the major leagues.
Norris? preference for a simple life reminds me an awful lot of Fidrych, who never acted like a star and showed very little interest in material goods during his all-too-short life. Norris also made a few other revelations in 2015, ones that might separate him from the legendary Bird. Because of his long beard (which is much shorter these days), Norris has sometimes been confused with being a homeless man. He also likes to shave with an axe, a precarious little habit that so far has not resulted in permanent injury.
Not everything about Norris is colorful or offbeat. He is an accomplished photographer, a fan of nature, and enjoys embarking on long road trips. It?s all rooted in a simple lifestyle that some might call a throwback to earlier generations.
There is another reason to root for Norris. He is a cancer survivor. Diagnosed with thyroid cancer in April of last year, he decided to hold off on treatments (with his doctor?s permission) so that he could pitch the entire season. At season?s end, he underwent surgery to remove the cancerous growth from his thyroid. All went well; on October 29, Norris announced that he was cancer free.
So, take your pick on Norris. He has enormous talent. He?s colorful and fun, at a time when baseball desperately needs offbeat characters. He has also beaten cancer. There is every reason to like him. And every reason to root for him, because if he can overcome the setback of this stint on the disabled list, he just might be the difference for Detroit in 2016.
