Matt Manning was born and raised in California. He signed a $3.5 million contract with the Tigers at the age of 18 and moved to a private community in Lakeland, Fla., the site of the club's spring training complex.
In a normal offseason, Manning might head home. He might get away from baseball for a while. But Manning has been away from the game for long enough.
"I’ve already had too much time off during the Toledo season and this season," Manning said Tuesday during a Zoom call from Lakeland, where the Tigers are in the midst of instructional league. "So I’m just going to get right back to it."
The 2020 season was always going to leave Manning wanting more. His only competition came in the form of his teammates on the Tigers' taxi squad in Toledo. Then he suffered a forearm strain in August and was shelved for the rest of the summer.
Not the year of development that Manning -- or the Tigers -- were hoping for. But the 22-year-old has made the most of his unwanted downtime.
"I’ve been working on my mechanics and I've been getting to a place where I think it’s going to be more consistent," Manning said. "I’ll be able to just take a step back and evaluate it and get ready for next year."
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The adjustments felt necessary. One of the top right-handed pitching prospects in baseball, Manning was hit hard back in spring training, then again in summer camp in Detroit. It's not a cause for concern.
It's a good reminder that growth isn't always linear, that success at one level doesn't guarantee anything at the next.
"I think recently I’ve taken a step with my diet and my work ethic," Manning said. "I think I’m more mature now in that area of getting all my work done, and just being more precise and a lot more routine-oriented."
The best news for the Tigers is that Manning is healthy. The forearm injury was nothing more than inflammation. He said it "stunk going down," but in a normal season he only would have missed a few starts.
Asked if he expects to be 100 percent for the start of spring training, Manning said, "I'm 100 percent right now."
Manning isn't far from the majors. Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal, his rotation mates in 2019 in Toledo, debuted for the Tigers this season. Assuming good health, Manning should join them next season. He said he enjoyed watching those two "get their feet wet" in the bigs.
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"They’re going to come back from this offseason knowing exactly what they need to do and come in here even better – probably a lot better, to be honest," Manning said. "They'll be really good. Seeing them up there, it gave me joy to see how well they did."
Manning has also kept a close eye on the playoffs, where young pitchers with big arms have given him a glimpse of his own future.
"It’s good to see all these guys throwing," he said. "They’re all doing well. I think the way I pitch, it fits very well into that kind of game style – having a good, strong curveball and being able to throw a nice changeup off that."
That's the long-term vision. The short-term one is fixed on today and tomorrow, on getting his arm "as healthy and as strong as I can get it for next spring training." So this California kid is staying in Florida, preparing for a season that can't come soon enough.