Detroit Tigers: Daniel Norris Will Start Sunday
By Matt Snyder
The Detroit Tigers completed their first massive trade of this deadline period earlier on Wednesday, acquiring pitching prospects Daniel Norris, Matt Boyd, and Jairo Labourt from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for David Price.
Dave Dombrowski spoke with the media and revealed that Norris, who had been pitching in AAA with the Blue Jays, will be joining the Tigers’ rotation right away.
Daniel Norris will start Sunday for the Tigers. Matt Boyd is headed to Toledo rotation. Jairo Labourt to Lakeland rotation.
— Chris Iott (@Chris_Iott) July 30, 2015
Dave Dombrowski said they debated who to pitch -- Norris or Boyd -- Sunday in Price's spot in the rotation.
— Chris Iott (@Chris_Iott) July 30, 2015
Norris has pitched 23 innings for the Blue Jays this season with a 3.86 ERA. His strikeout numbers have been a little bit low (6.9 K/9) and his walks have been high (4.6 BB/9), but he’s struck out 9.2 batter per nine innings in over 100 career innings at the AAA level.
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Elevated walk rates have tended to be an issue for Norris, but his minor league career rate of 3.8 BB/9 will play if his strikeout rate ticks back up. The Tigers will likely give him the rest of the year as on-the-job training on how to get big league hitters out.
Boyd will serve as depth in the minor leagues for now. He’ll probably get some big league innings at some point down the stretch, even if it’s simply in a relief role as a September call up.
Labourt, obviously, is going to be a few years away from big league action. He’ll be in High-A Lakeland for now.
Prospects are never a sure thing, and all three of these guys might flame out, but it still represents a great return for the Tigers. All they gave up was two months of David Price in a year in which they’re weren’t going to be competitive. That’s a not a lot to give up for the potential to have 18 total years of control on pitchers with relatively high upside.
Next: Tigers Trade Price to the Blue Jays