White and Brieske share tight bond through similar paths

This story was excerpted from Jason Beck’s Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Brendan White stood in the right-field corner at Joker Marchant Stadium, just beyond the outfield fence and outside the Tigers’ clubhouse, and watched Detroit’s game-winning rally unfold in Saturday’s 7-6 walk-off win over the Phillies. White had just finished his post-outing work after striking out two in a perfect seventh inning with two strikeouts, and he had time to reflect.

There was a lot for him to like. For three batters, White looked like the young reliever who had stormed his way to Detroit a couple years ago. He fired three 95 mph fastballs past Phillies non-roster invitee Carson Taylor, spun a sweeper at the top of the zone at 2,875 rpm for a called third strike on Phils top prospect Aidan Miller, then he induced a chase from Philadelphia's No. 3 prospect Justin Crawford on an 0-2 sweeper out of the zone for a flyout.

“I’m most happy for him,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s had a really difficult year to year-plus. And to see him come out and pound the zone with pretty good stuff, see the spin on the breaking ball too, that’s really encouraging for him. When he can do that over and over again, he can be a very versatile option for us.

“I was pumped for him, because he’s put in a lot of work to get back.”

It was one inning in an early Spring Training game, but to White, it was gratitude. Because there was a time last year when he didn’t know if he’d be able to throw like that again.

The harder he threw, the more he felt it. Command was inconsistent at best, nonexistent at worst. After pitching 40 2/3 innings across 33 games for Detroit in 2023, White pitched in just eight games at four Minor League levels in the Tigers’ system last year. He walked nearly twice as many batters (11) as he struck out (six), including a disastrous four-walk outing at Double-A Erie last May 8 in which he threw just eight of 26 pitches for strikes.

White didn’t pitch for six weeks after that outing. He returned June 18 at the Rookie-level Florida Complex League, threw a scoreless inning with one walk and one strikeout, then didn’t pitch the rest of the year.

One exam after another came back with no answers, other than inflammation. A consultation with renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Meister came back noting White's right elbow was structurally sound.

Not until later in the summer did the issue become clear, a restriction of the radial nerve, leading to a procedure in late August. It was a hydrodissection, which uses a fluid injection to free the nerve from surrounding muscle.

It’s not a common procedure, but White was somewhat familiar with it because one of his best friends went through it. Beau Brieske had the same procedure in April 2023 after his right ulnar nerve was restricted during that Spring Training.

They came up in the Tigers’ farm system together. It was White who inspired the football-throwing training habit that Brieske adopted. Now they had something else in common.

“He was dealing with the same exact issues,” Brieske said. “I know what it feels like, where he’s like, ‘This is killing me. It hurts every single time I throw, and nothing is showing up on any screens [in tests] and no one can figure it out.’

“I’ve been there before, and it ended up being a nerve. You’re spinning in circles trying to figure out what’s going on.”

The nerves impacted were different, but the symptoms were similar, as was the surgery to correct it. Now, as White looks to work his way back to the Majors as a non-roster invitee in camp, he can look to Brieske as an inspiration.

Before Brieske became a familiar name as a workhorse reliever in the Tigers’ late-season charge last year, he was a starter in 2022 whose nerve issue sidelined him for half of the 2023 season. He didn’t feel back to his old form until last year, a season that began with him in Triple-A Toledo until he was recalled on May 13.

Brieske threw 95 innings last year between regular season, postseason and Toledo. It was an incredible bounceback from essentially a lost 2023 season. He didn’t feel great in every outing last year, but he knew how to get through it and how to pitch. He found a routine he trusted to get ready for games.

“I always have in the back of my mind how hard that was to overcome,” Brieske said. “There were a lot of games, a lot of days where I had no idea. It was very painful and I had no idea what was happening. I always have that in the back of my mind now as a reminder about the journey I had to come out of.”