'Wanting to be a part of it': Cobb joins Cinderella Tigers
Alex Cobb took the mound at a sold-out Comerica Park for Game 3 of the AL Division Series, trying to block out the atmosphere. Not only was the then-Guardian making his first postseason appearance since 2013, but it was also his fourth appearance of the 2024 season.
¡°I tried not to soak it in, honestly,¡± Cobb said on Thursday. ¡°I convinced myself this was a Tuesday evening start against the Detroit Tigers.¡±
Try as he might, he couldn¡¯t help but appreciate the atmosphere. He¡¯ll now see what a regular Tuesday start at Comerica Park looks like, having joined the Tigers on a one-year, $15 million deal. But as the 37-year-old right-hander adjusts to his new home, he has loftier goals in mind.
¡°They became the Cinderella story for all of baseball, where I feel like the whole league was rooting for them,¡± Cobb said. ¡°We were in the same division, and it was fun to see them kind of conquer the uphill battle that they had ahead of them. You start to see the fight in the team, and whenever you see something like that, and you see the guys playing together the way they are, it excites you as a player in the league. They obviously have a good clubhouse and a good culture going on. You can see yourself wanting to be a part of it.¡±
Cobb is now a big part. He¡¯s the latest in a line of veteran starters to come to Detroit hoping to jump-start their careers, following Jack Flaherty and Michael Lorenzen. Cobb is older than both, and six months older than new teammate Kenta Maeda. But he also has effective pitching in his recent past. He posted back-to-back 2.5 bWAR seasons and was a 2023 All-Star selection in San Francisco.
¡°I think every team pitches you on that idea,¡± Cobb said of improvement through adjustments. ¡°I think what separates Detroit is the fact that I know Scott [Harris], his background, and I have talked to other free agents, people that have gone through the process with them that said it was different here.
¡°I haven't gotten into it with them yet; I¡¯m excited too. But [others] suggest that it is not the same as the pitch that other teams give you, that their data¡¯s a little bit different and they have the staff that knows how to take that and translate it into an athlete¡¯s terms of understanding.¡±
Cobb tossed 301 innings with a 3.80 ERA and 3.41 FIP over two seasons in San Francisco. His 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings was nearly a full K above his career rate. He tossed a six-hit shutout of the Cardinals on 109 pitches on April 24, 2023, and went into the All-Star break that year with a 2.82 ERA.
It was some of the most sustained and effective pitching of his career. Like other stretches, it ended with an injury, though he kept on pitching.
¡°I had a couple little things that happened here and there, but I was able to make the most of my starts,¡± Cobb said. ¡°And towards the end of the year in ¡¯23, started getting some pain in my hip and ended up needing surgery.¡±
What followed was a morale-sapping roller coaster of stops, starts and new injuries. The Giants traded him to Cleveland last July while he was on a rehab assignment returning from his left hip surgery. He made one more rehab start in the Guardians system, then just two starts for Cleveland before fracturing a nail on his right hand. After he returned for another start, a middle finger blister sidelined him again, ending his regular season. He returned for his aforementioned start in Detroit, made an ALCS start at Yankee Stadium, then ended his season with a low back strain.
¡°It just seemed like all year I was kind of almost cursed,¡± Cobb said.
He entered the offseason uncertain how much interest he¡¯d get from teams. A red-hot pitching market helped open eyes. The interest, he said, has pushed him in the gym, where he has started what he called ¡°preventative rehab mode¡± to work on his hips and agility to hopefully ward off future issues.
If he stays that way, he can tinker on pitches.
¡°I think what takes away from my strikeout rate is when my splitter and two-seamer start blending together. I¡¯m well aware of that,¡± he said. ¡°I think we have some other pitch groups that we can work on to get more separation. ¡ And I think incorporating a four-seam [fastball] in different situations would benefit me a lot. I¡¯m excited to hear what they have to say and their suggestions.¡±