Alex Avila: Detroit Tigers’ Justin Verlander is leader as teammate
On “Days of Roar,” former Detroit Tigers catcher Alex Avila shares how legendary pitcher Justin Verlander has matured in his clubhouse leadership.
PHOENIX – Players were introduced, fans were going crazy and fireworks went off.
Detroit Tigers rookie Kevin McGonigle was watching the Arizona Diamondbacks go through Opening Day festivities in Chase Field, while lined up with his teammates, and he turned to Spencer Torkelson.
“Do we have that?” McGonigle asked Monday, March 30.
Everything is all so new to him.
“Oh yeah,” Torkelson answered. “Our home opener is so sick.”
The Tigers will open their season at Comerica Park on Friday (1:10 p.m., Detroit SportsNet) — and yes, Kevin, we have to agree with Torkelson: Opening Day (well, technically, the home opener) in Detroit is sick. Or rather, a great sickness creeps across the land and everybody falls ill, requiring a day off. Cough, cough. Sorry boss, gotta take the day off. Got a bad case of Tigers fever — even if they are on a four-game losing streak.
Because Opening Day in Detroit is many things, Kevin. It’s a massive party. It’s a baseball game wrapped in pageantry. It’s an unofficial holiday. And it’s summer.
OK, maybe not summer. Not exactly. But the reminder that summer might one day return, even if it happens to rain or sleet or snow. Or shoot, even break out in sunshine. Or maybe, all four. This is Michigan. All of that could happen during one game. You’ll get used to it.
“I’m so excited to see how it is,” McGonigle said.
Weekend celebration
This is going to be such a fascinating weekend for the Tigers.
Because this year, it’s more than one game. This celebration is going to last the entire weekend.
The Tigers will open on Friday and then Tigers legend Justin Verlander is scheduled to pitch Sunday night, on NBC’s national “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcast, against the Cardinals, marking his first start as a Tiger at Comerica Park since 2017.
Yeah, that will be something to see: Must-see JV, back in the D. The return of the legend.
“I don’t know which one I’m more excited for,” Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal said. “I don’t know if I’m more excited for ‘Sunday Night Baseball’ or the home opener. Just the fan in me. As much as I play the game, I am a fan of this game. I feel like I relate, you know, I feel the same emotions a lot of people feel. I expect both of them to be sellouts. Even if it’s 40 degrees, that’s kind of what our fans are good at. I don’t really think they care about the weather. They’re here to support our guys. So I’m excited for both those games.”
Well, that makes two of us.
Off to a rough start
The Tigers opened the regular season by losing four of their first six games.
So, is there any reason to panic?
No. This is largely the same team as in 2025, a squad that started on a West Coast trip (just like this year), finishing with an 2-4 record (just like this year), and it didn’t stop them from going to the postseason.
But there’s no question, they have to be better. More than anything, the Tigers just need to stop swinging at bad pitches.
“I think we’ve got to get in the strike zone,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said Wednesday after getting swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks. “There’s a lot that goes into the last few games. Started out as a promising trip, turned rough here, and we get a day off [Thursday] and we’ll head home.”
Finally, home sweet home.
The Tigers opened their season with what has felt like a strange, incredibly long road trip that lasted 49 days since pitchers and catchers reported for spring training. From Florida. To the Dominican Republic. Back to Florida. To Arizona. To California. Back to Arizona.
“I think if anything, it will be nice for our whole group to get home,” Hinch said. “We’ve been on about an 8½-week road trip when you count spring training, so we’ll be anxious to get moved into places and get settled.”
Opening Day through rookie eyes
My kids have asked me: What is McGonigle like?
So, I have to think most of Detroit is thinking the same thing.
So, let me tell you, I’ve known him for a few years now and he has grown tremendously. He is ridiculously composed and poised for somebody who is 21 years old. But it’s more than that. McGonigle is polite and respectful. He has the fresh perspective of a rookie but he carries himself like an old veteran. He just seems so comfortable. In the clubhouse. Talking to the media. And on the field. He doesn’t seem overwhelmed by anything. Yet he has this wonderful, authentic, genuine quality.
Put another way: He’s just a good kid. Detroit is going to love him.
Especially if he keeps hitting and making terrific defensive plays at third and short.
“He never quits on the play, which is a great characteristic to have,” Hinch said. “He can get on the ground. He comes up and throws accurate. When the speed of the game is speeding up, he stays with the same rhythm and cadence to complete the play.”
Skubal agreed.
“He’s a hell of a player,” Skubal said. “I’m gonna say it every time you guys ask me. And what he can do in the box is impressive, but the stuff that he does on the field at third base, it was pretty impressive, especially since I don’t really know if he played there too much in the minor leagues.”
Why focus so much on McGonigle?
Well, because he is the newcomer to a team that has grown so familiar. It’s like he’s the shiny new toy on Christmas.
And he’s already making history,
McGonigle was the second-youngest player in the history of the franchise to make his MLB debut as an Opening Day starter, back on March 26 in San Diego, and the youngest in 112 years since first baseman George Burns made his MLB debut as a starter on Opening Day 1914.
And he has already gone through a long list of firsts. His first hit. His first double. His first run. And his first great play — actually, he has made several.
But it’s so much more than that.
Like the trip to the Dominican Republic. “It was the first time ever going out of the country for me,” he said. “So it was a really cool experience.”
Just being in MLB is a new experience for him. Flying on the Tigers plane. Staying in ridiculous, fancy hotels. Having his cleats cleaned. Everything.
And, remember, we are talking about a 21-year-old kid.
“Has anything surprised you?” I asked him.
“Oh my gosh, the food’s unbelievable — pregame, postgame, you know, every everything, compared to, you know, minor leagues, the food’s way better,” he said.
McGonigle will have a big group of family and friends and even former coaches in Comerica Park for the home opener.
“He’s never played in front of our fans in Detroit,” Hinch said. “He’s never been on these extensive road trips. He’s never played five games in a row, you know, in the field. And things that are way different now in the big leagues than they are in the minor leagues, and the best way to do it is surrounding yourself with the best teammates.”
Yes, he has that on this close-knit team that is full of good dudes.
“There’s just a constant barrage of interest in him, whether you’re on the road or at home, the blur of the first week is relatively the same,” Hinch said. “If anything, home will be better for him, because you have a stable place to host your family or a stable routine, but it’s new for him. He’s never been in our home clubhouse. So, a lot of firsts.”
Indeed.
Welcome to Opening Day, Kevin.
Welcome to Detroit. Welcome home.
You are gonna love it.
It’s sick.
Contact Jeff Seidel: [email protected]. Follow him on X @seideljeff
