Maeda's Tigers debut 'a good starting point'

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Kenta Maeda is admittedly old school when it comes to Spring Training. While many of his younger Tiger teammates arrived far along in their throwing programs, some having faced hitters already, Maeda uses camp to build up with a goal of being stretched out for Opening Day. He was the last Tigers starter to pitch this spring by design, giving him extra time to ramp up.

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With that in mind, Maeda's two innings in Friday’s 4-2 win over the Phillies -- his first game appearance in a Tigers uniform -- provided what he called a good starting point. While the velocity was a tick down from his regular-season average, he’s more focused on command at this point.

“The four-seam fastball was a little off today,” Maeda said through interpreter Dai Sekizaki. “I didn’t really have a great feel for my four-seam, but as for the secondary pitches, I think all of them were spot-on. The four-seam is something I can work on for the next outing.”

Maeda’s slider -- or more accurately, sliders -- did most of the work Friday, comprising 14 of his 30 pitches. He threw the traditional slider he has been throwing for years, plus a variation he has worked on.

“It’s a secret,” Maeda said half-jokingly. “But it breaks a little more, bigger movement if you will.”

The sliders combined to get two swinging strikes, both on first-inning strikeouts, and six of his seven called strikes.

“When he pitches ahead [in counts], he’s going to be in position to throw any pitch he wants,” manager A.J. Hinch said.

Maeda allowed an unearned run on two hits in two innings. He hit a batter and struck out two.

“I think today was a good starting point,” he said. “There’s obviously some stuff that I still need to work on, but considering this is the first one, I think it went pretty well.”

Dingler returns behind the plate

Top catching prospect Dillon Dingler had been solely a hitting prospect for the first week of Grapefruit League play, limited to DH duty while rehabbing from an offseason procedure to remove loose bodies from the elbow. He was cleared to catch in games this week, and made his first appearance behind the plate Friday for the final few innings.

“It felt awesome,” Dingler said. “This day was circled on the calendar for a couple weeks here. It felt great to finally be able to get back here.”

Dingler put the arm to work on a pickoff attempt. He also threw to third base to start a trip around the horn on a Brenan Hanifee strikeout, but he overthrew third baseman and former Double-A Erie teammate Jace Jung.

“Yeah, I think I let the game speed me up there,” Dingler said.

Dingler should have plenty of chances get some practice on that. He figures to catch a steady diet of games catching now that he’s fully cleared, a big difference from previous Spring Trainings.

“He’ll catch again in two days and we’ll do sort of a normal buildup for him,” Hinch said. “I’ve been waiting to get him in games for the last couple years. It’s good to see him healthy.”

Quick hits

• Right-handed prospect Keider Montero continues to impress, closing out Friday’s win with four strikeouts over two innings of one-run ball. His slider and curveball were both moving well, averaging 2847 and 2940 rpm of spin, respectively.

• The Tigers will piggyback starters Matt Manning and Casey Mize, in that order, for Sunday’s game against the Yankees in Tampa. They both started on Tuesday, when the Tigers had a pair of split-squad games.

• Third-base coach Joey Cora was away from the team Friday so that he could return to college. He’s being inducted into the Vanderbilt Athletics Hall of Fame this weekend. Double-A Erie manager and Eastern League champion Gabe Alvarez coached in Cora’s place Friday.