The Tigers’ hot start goes national tonight when TBS picks up their 6:40 p.m. ET game against the Red Sox. The broadcast team includes former Tigers great Curtis Granderson, who returns to where his career took off two decades ago. Ahead of his return to the Motor City, he took a few minutes Monday to share memories of his time here and his views on the current club (answers edited for brevity): Q: What does it mean to come back to Comerica Park and do a game where you starred as a player for the first part of your career? Granderson: It's crazy to think about. I've been up in the booth for an inning or two for a number of different reasons, but I'm actually going to be calling and breaking down the game. It's kind of surreal, because you know the first time I ever got a chance to do any sort of broadcasting was after a Tigers season -- I think it was after the ‘07 season, we didn't make the playoffs and I got asked to come to TBS to do a couple games and get some pre and post and enjoyed it, and I said, 'You know what, this might be something cool to do whenever my career finishes up.' And fast forward, I get an opportunity to continue to stay with TBS, and my first game this year is going to be at Comerica. So it’s just so cool to see it from that side of things and watch the game, call the game, enjoy the game and hopefully make the game exciting for the fans watching. |
Q: When you come back and you look out at center field, does it remind you of old times but also remind you, ‘Man, I covered a lot of ground out there.’? Granderson: I remember when I stepped on the field in 2002 after I got drafted -- and if you remember, that was when the flagpole was still in play out there -- and I remember Dave Dombrowski coming up to me and he said, ‘Hey, do you think you can play center field here?’ And I'm scared to death. I'm coming from a college field where our field is only 400 to straightaway center, and this field is, I think the flagpole was at 438 or something like that. I'm like, there's no way I can play out here, but I can't say that. So I’ve gotta go, ‘Yeah, I can play.’ So finally getting a chance to make it to the big leagues in '04, I'm like, 'Alright, well here we go. Let's try to find a way to make it work.’ And then fast forward, obviously they made some modifications and moved it, but to be able to play it, I had to credit [then-outfield coach] Andy Van Slyke. In 2006, I remember he talked about just how hard he got worked with the Pirates organization, so he brought that mentality over to us and it was so extreme that I remember Jim Leyland and Lloyd McClendon going, ‘You’ve gotta calm this thing down, we're gonna hurt all our outfielders running after everything and trying to catch everything.’ But that push helped make Comerica smaller for me and gave me the ability to cover so much ground out there. You don't really get a grasp of how much ground there is, but now utilizing your analytics team for your organization hopefully helps you be more strategically placed on where you think the ball might be hit. That helps make it a little bit smaller out there. Credit to those guys out there that can provide that information. |
Q: Are you surprised by how well Javy Báez has been able to play out there? Granderson: I think one of the things that people forget, his athletic skill set on the infield and what he's been able to do as a Cub, as a Met, as a Tiger, that can translate, especially as you go out to a position like center. I think it translates better there than it does left and right because now everything is true; it's a very similar angle to what you saw in the middle infield. You go to left and right and the ball starts to slice a little bit and you’ve got the lights in your face, stuff that you never had to deal with. And he always did a great job going back on the ball in the infield and going left and right, so now you just put him out there. And I think it also relaxes you a little bit. You think about over the course of the game, you may get four, maybe five fly balls, versus in the infield, you're getting two or three ground balls possibly an inning. Especially now, it gives him an opportunity to go back out there and just have fun, and I think you're seeing it also translate offensively for him. |
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Q: What's it like watching this team from a distance? Is there anything that reminds you of the 2006 team that you were on? Granderson: So, if you look at that 2006 team, we got off to an amazing start and we're playing well and the place is rocking, but all the skeptics were like, ‘Well, you haven't beat anybody in the AL East yet. You haven't beat the Yankees. You haven't beat the Red Sox.’ And sure enough, I'm getting a chance to call a game where the Tigers are going to be playing against the Red Sox. Now, is it the same Red Sox team as back then? No, but it's a team in second place in the East that has a chance to get back to the playoffs again. And this also starts an amazing stretch for the Tigers. They're going to play them, Cleveland, St. Louis, Toronto, Kansas City, all teams at or above .500. And it's gonna finally test them, which is exactly where we were almost at the same time in 2006. So I think the cool thing about that is it’s a chance to see: Are we legit? Are we as good as we think we are? Well, here's a chance for us to go out there and measure up there. You have a chance to go out there with Tarik Skubal and say, ‘OK, we know we’ve got an ace. We also know we got some experience with Jack Flaherty.’ And he's not in the role that he has been delivering up to this point, but we know it's coming. And then offensively, especially if you look at last year versus this year, when that team -- the Tigers’ 2024 team -- got in the postseason, one of our biggest notes was, ‘OK, they pitch, but they don't necessarily hit the ball that well. They're gonna have to go ahead and beat you in a number of different ways.’ This 2025 [team], this is a different squad. This team not only pitches, but they're gonna hit, and they’re going to hit the ball out of the ballpark. I think that's the cool part about seeing this team, and then you look at the ‘06 team: You had Magglio [Ordóñez], you had Pudge [Iván Rodríguez], you had guys that could hit the ball out of the ballpark mixed in with the young ace like [Justin] Verlander, mixed in with the veteran pitcher like Kenny Rogers. And it's a lot of similarities over here. So excited to see it. |
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