Top prospect Liranzo's 1st HR a no-doubter ... to everyone but him

LAKELAND, Fla. -- A day later, the joy was still on Thayron Liranzo¡¯s face.

The Tigers were pretty happy about their top catching prospect¡¯s first Spring Training home run, too.

It¡¯s not just that the top position prospect in Tigers camp saw his hard work rewarded. His 417-foot drive to the tiki bar atop the deck in right-center field at LECOM Park on Sunday would¡¯ve been impressive for any level of hitter, especially coming off a changeup.

Liranzo¡¯s swing provided the velocity, all 105.7 mph of it.

The scary part was that he didn¡¯t feel he got all of it.

Asked whether he knew it was gone off the bat, Liranzo -- MLB Pipeline¡¯s No. 81 prospect -- was iffy.

¡°At the beginning, I was a little bit doubtful,¡± Liranzo said through translation by Tigers manager of Spanish communications and broadcasting Carlos Guillen. ¡°I hit it with the barrel, I hit it with my arms extended, but I did not hit it with my full power. But as soon as I saw the ball flying over the center fielder, I knew it was gone.¡±

Once he rounded the bases, the emotions kicked in.

¡°I got back to the dugout and just had a couple minutes to think, ¡®Dude, I just hit a home run in the Major Leagues,¡¯¡± Liranzo said. ¡°It was exciting, it was fun and I¡¯m thankful to God for giving me this opportunity. My first time ever in a big league camp and I hit a home run? It¡¯s unbelievable.¡±

It was a reminder of Liranzo¡¯s hitting prowess in the Arizona Fall League, where half of his 18 hits in 15 games went for extra bases, including two home runs. Yet it wasn¡¯t so much the raw power, but Liranzo¡¯s process that left Tigers manager A.J. Hinch happy.

¡°I'm more impressed by [Liranzo] having a plan and going up there and executing it than I care about whether [it¡¯s] a homer or a double or a single,¡± Hinch said. ¡°But it was pretty impressive to go on top of the building in right-center.¡±

The less-than-pull power Liranzo put on his swing was partly by design. Instead of swinging at full power all the time, he has learned the value of taking something off the power to gain better contact.

¡°I just realized how to control that intensity, which I'm doing right now, just managing the intensity of my swings just to have good at-bats and have good swings,¡± Liranzo said.

Liranzo credited not only catchers Jake Rogers and Dillon Dingler with helping him learn in camp, but also Wenceel P¨¦rez and Eddys Leonard with giving him advice.

¡°I'm the youngest one in camp,¡± the 21-year-old said, ¡°so they take good care of me. Also, by looking at how they perform and how they prepare for the game, that has been important for me.¡±

Oops, wrong button

The Blue Jays sent a fairly stacked lineup of regulars to Joker Marchant Stadium on Monday for Tarik Skubal¡¯s second start. Skubal nearly made it through the entire batting order unscathed until No. 9 hitter Ernie Clement singled with two outs in the third. Skubal finished with three scoreless innings on one hit with three strikeouts, throwing 25 of 37 pitches for strikes.

¡°I want to face the guys that we¡¯ll face in the big leagues,¡± Skubal said. ¡°I¡¯m not here to offend guys making the trips. There¡¯s going to be future big leaguers that are over here. But I want to face Vlad [Guerrero], I want to face Bo [Bichette], I want to face [George] Springer, [Anthony] Santander.¡±

Skubal¡¯s seven swinging strikes included a curveball that sent Bichette falling over on his swing.

Skubal¡¯s second start of the spring was his first with Rogers, his catcher for all of his starts last year. It should¡¯ve been like riding a bike, but Rogers provided levity with some confusion on Skubal¡¯s final pitch of the second inning, a 97 mph sinker that Alejandro Kirk skied out to left.

¡°[Rogers] called the wrong pitch and shook himself off twice,¡± Skubal said. ¡°Then he called the wrong pitch again a third time, but I was already going. We got an out, and [on the way back to the dugout] I said, ¡®What did you try to call?¡¯ He said, ¡®Curveball.¡¯ I said, ¡®No, that was a sinker. It wasn¡¯t even close.¡¯

¡°He said, ¡®Well, it worked. Whatever.¡¯¡±