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.

Someday, a Wilmer Flores strikeout at Comerica Park will have an entirely different meaning than the one the Giants infielder took when he swung at and missed a Drew Hutchinson slider Tuesday night.

Someday, maybe soon, Wilmer Flores, will have a chance to face -- or maybe even play with -- Wilmer Flores, his younger brother and the Tigers’ No. 3 prospect.

“I was looking forward to this day,” the elder Flores said on Tuesday afternoon as he prepared for the Giants-Tigers series in Detroit. “You never know if something happens and he gets the call. You never know when I’ll come back to Detroit. It would've been cool to see him here, but he'll get there eventually.”

It’s a unique situation, but it’s about more than a name. The two brothers, born 10 years apart, have different middle names, as does another brother named Wilmer. But while Wilmer Alejandro Flores is a veteran Major Leaguer who was an international amateur signing by the Mets out of Venezuela at age 16 in 2007, Wilmer De Jesus Flores was a late bloomer who had to play college ball in the United States to draw the attention of pro scouts.

“In Latin countries, when you're 17-18 years old, you're basically old,” the elder Flores explained. “They want you when you're like 14-15. I think when he was 14, he was hurt or they just didn't like his arm action. ...

“There's a lot of guys with talent like him, but they're 17-18 years old and they just don't get the opportunity. Fortunately, he had me and we brought him here so they can take a look at him here. He took advantage of it.”

That opportunity came at Arizona Western College, a junior college in Yuma. Longtime Major League catcher Bengie Molina played a season there out of high school before turning pro. Veteran reliever Sergio Romo also spent time there. Flores pitched in just 11 2/3 innings over six games for Arizona Western in 2020, walking 12 batters but striking out 16 before the COVID-19 pandemic halted the season. But the hard-throwing arm was intriguing enough for Tigers scout Joey Lathrop to recommend the Tigers sign him.

The 2020 Draft lasted just five rounds, but teams could sign unlimited players after that for a $20,000 bonus. Wilmer De Jesus Flores was one such signing by the Tigers, one that clearly looks now like a bargain.

“I don't know scouting. I don't know pitching,” Wilmer Alejandro Flores said. “He's worked hard. You can ask anybody that's played with him. He's a worker.”

The elder Flores admittedly didn’t have much of a chance to watch his younger brother pitch in college, or even last year in the low Minor Leagues. He’s obviously busy with his own career. Now that the younger Flores has risen quickly up the Tigers’ farm system, however, he watches every game online when he has time. He watches as a fan, he said, not an evaluator.

“Whenever we talk, I just ask him how he's feeling and if he's healthy, if his arm's feeling good,” he said. “Everything else, he does it on his own. I don't need to tell him anything about pitching, because I don't really know. I'm sure he has a lot of good coaches over there, and with his attitude, he learns quick.”

That includes English. While Wilmer Alejandro Flores famously learned the language in part by watching "Friends" on television, the younger Flores has progressed from using a translator as recently as Spring Training to doing interviews on his own at Double-A Erie, partly through classes in the Tigers' system, partly through real-world experience.

“He's smarter than me, definitely,” Flores said.

That doesn’t mean he escapes the sibling rivalry, though. While the elder Flores is nicknamed Catire for his blond hair as a child, the younger Flores is nicknamed Chiquito as the “little” brother -- in age only.

“He is a little brother,” the elder Flores laughs. “He's 6-4, 6-5. But yeah, he's the little one.”