Boston – The first call put Hao-Yu Lee on the defensive.
He was with the Toledo Mud Hens Thursday night, in a hotel in Louisville, when manager Gabe Alvarez summoned him to his room.
“My initial thought was, ‘Oh, did I do something wrong?’” said Lee, through interpreter Peter Lin. “Something major must’ve happened. I must’ve done something and my manager is going to scold me. I was pretty nervous.”
The news was good. Alvarez told Lee to get himself to Boston. He was being called up as a precaution until the Tigers could assess the extent of Zach McKinstry’s bruised and inflamed hip.
A few hours later, the second call came. This one sent his heart racing. Ryan Garko, the Tigers’ assistant general manager and head of the player development department, told him McKinstry was going on the injured list and that he would be starting at third base in Fenway Park on Friday.
“I was pretty excited,” he said. “It was pretty tough to go to bed. When normal people check into a hotel super late, their first thought is, I need to go to bed. I don’t know why, but I just opened up my travel bag, took out a bat and started swinging.”
After a few minutes of taking dry reps in front of his mirror, he kind of checked himself.
“I realized I was being pretty goofy,” he said.
Lee, the Tigers’ No. 6-rated prospect, went 0 for 3 with an error in his debut. He did hit one of the hardest balls off Red Sox starter Ranger Suarez, a ball to the wall in right-center that Ceddanne Rafael tracked and caught.
His error, a high throw to first, came with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. The next ball was hit right to him and he handled the play to end the inning.
“I was more focused than nervous the whole game,” Lee said. “I didn’t want to be the guy who cost the team the win. Yesterday’s performance defensively wasn’t on par with my expectations. I’m going to make sure I keep grinding and practicing to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
It’s been a crazy first couple of months for Lee. He started his offseason program early to get ready for the WBC. But in his first practice with Chinese Taipei in Japan, he injured his oblique and was knocked out of not only the tournament, but out of the competition to make the Tigers’ Opening Day roster.
“Everything that happened up to this point was pretty chaotic,” he said. “I just have to stay positive. This is not something you can control. But trying to be positive is.”
After not facing a left-handed starter for the first 16 games, the Tigers will face six in the next 12, counting Suarez on Friday. The right-handed hitting Lee is expected to be back in the lineup Sunday against lefty Garrett Crochet.
“That’s a big stage and I thought he handled himself well,” manager AJ Hinch said.
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
Tigers at Red Sox
First pitch: 1:35 p.m. Sunday, Fenway Park, Boston
TV/radio: Detroit Sports Net/WXYT 97.1.
Scouting report
LHP Framber Valdez (1-1, 3.75), Tigers: The craftsman was on duty Tuesday night. Valdez got one strikeout and just three swinging strikes, which he made irrelevant by turning early, soft contact into seven strong innings (in just 87 pitches). He induced 10 ground ball outs and the average exit velocity on 23 balls in play was a meek 85.5 mph. He’s made four appearances at Fenway over his career and in 86 plate appearances hasn’t allowed a homer. Impressive feat for a lefty given the short and tall Green Monster in left.
LHP Garrett Crochet (2-2, 7.58), Red Sox: It’s been a week since his nightmare start against the Twins (11 runs, 10 earned, nine hits in 1.2 innings). He’s done analyzing it and ready to move ahead. Even though his velocity was down 1.2 mph, he said the issue was more about the predictability of his pitch mix (too many cutters) and the Twins’ smart game plan and plate discipline. He’s thrown his cutter 32% of the time this season, more than his four-seamer (25.7%). And although his chase rate is the same (32.6%) his swing-and-miss rate is down to 22%, from 29% last year.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers’ prospect Hao-Yu Lee makes big-league debut
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
