He won't do it alone. He can't do it alone, and Casey Mize knows that. He also knows his significance to the project at hand, a project that finally feels like it's moving in the right direction.
The Tigers want to own the AL Central again. They want to play in the World Series again. They want to sell out Comerica Park and give this hurting sports town something to cheer about, the way they did for so many years before Mize came on the scene.
And Mize wants to help them do it.
"That’s the goal, is to get Tigers baseball back to those times, and I think that’s really a possible thing for us," Mize told 97.1 The Ticket on Friday. "We’re laying the foundation and we have a lot of pieces that can get the Tigers back to that. It’s just going to be step by step. It’s going to take a lot of experience and honestly maybe a lot of failure and just learning from that and moving forward.
"Like I mentioned, I can learn a lot from my last start, some of the failures and some of the positive things. And that’s just a small sample size of what this whole thing could look like. There’s going to be a lot of opportunity for young players to learn and build and hopefully get this thing rolling and start winning a lot of ballgames and bring Tigers baseball back to what it should be."
Mize showed Detroit a flash of what's to come in his big-league debut this week against the White Sox. While he didn't pitch the Tigers to a win -- something he said he's still 'frustrated' about two days later -- he became the first pitcher to record seven strikeouts and no walks in his first MLB start since Stephen Strasburg in 2010. Something about first overall picks.
His next start will come Monday agains the Cubs at Comerica Park. Fans or no fans, he's pumped for his home debut.
"No doubt," said Mize. "I love that park and I love the stadium and looking forward to pitching there. We pitched there during summer camp and I just feel more comfortable there, because it’s home."
Mize made his debut one day after fellow top prospect Tarik Skubal made his. There are more young arms on the way. It's not too hard to look a few years down the line and envision the Tigers with one of the most dominant rotations in baseball.
The question is whether they have enough position players to complement it.
Mize is confident they do. He pointed to first-rounders Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson, plus Isaac Paredes and Willi Castro as proof.
"Riley Greene might have been the best player in summer camp," said Mize. "He performed potentially the best out of everybody there, so definitely an exciting player. Tork, 1-1 (in the draft), big-time power, he’s been working his tail off with (Alan) Trammell at third base. Just being around a Hall-of-Famer every day, he’s going to really benefit from that. So those are obviously two special, special players"