Around 9:00 on Thursday night, Casey Mize got a phone call. A.J. Hinch and Scott Harris were on the other end of the line. Hinch asked Mize, the former No. 1 pick who's overcome a series of injuries, surgeries and setbacks to live up to his pedigree in his seventh year with the Tigers, what he was doing for the All-Star break. Mize told Hinch that he was headed home to Florida to relax.
"I was like, 'Direct flight or one-stop to Atlanta?'" said Hinch. "It was going to be direct, but now it’s going to be a one stop. And I asked him if he wanted to pitch for the American League on Tuesday. These guys know I’m not messing with them when I do it, but I still had to repeat it again that he was an All-Star. And he’s like, 'Of course I’ll be ready.'"
Mize was officially announced on Friday as the MLB-best sixth All-Star for the Tigers as a replacement for Red Sox starter Garrett Crochet, who won't be available to pitch on Tuesday. For Mize, who will join teammates Tarik Skubal, Riley Greene, Javy Baez, Gleyber Torres and Zack McKinstry in Atlanta, the All-Star Game will coincide with his bullpen day after he starts Saturday against Seattle, "so it’s no problem at all," he said. "It will be good timing."
"It was pretty easy cancelling those flights and making these plans instead," he said with a smile.
Mize has been through a lot since the Tigers selected him with the first pick in the 2018 draft, including successive surgeries on his forearm and back in 2022 that wiped out almost two full years of his career. He battled a hamstring injury last year and was left off the Tigers' postseason roster when they made the playoffs for the first time in a decade. Despite another hamstring issue this season, Mize has finally put it all together: He's 9-2 with a 2.63 ERA for the top team in baseball.
And now he's been recognized as one of the top players in baseball.
"I’m pretty proud, obviously," he said. "Just super grateful. It’s been a long journey and a long way to go, but I feel like this is pretty validating of some hard work and some tough times and turning them into success and good times. I’m part of a great group here and just happy to be a contributor, especially to the level of being thought of as an All-Star."
Last season was humbling for Mize, even as his body felt better than it had in a while. He failed to fool hitters. He struggled to miss bats. His four-seam fastball, which sets up the rest of his arsenal, yielded a batting average of .300. His slider was slugged. His signature splitter was slapped around the yard.
Mize got in the lab in the offseason, developed some new twists and turns to his slider, reprioritized and added some velocity to his splitter, and has kept hitters off balance for most of the year. Their average against his four-seamer is down to .194.
Still, there have been bumps. After cruising through most of April, Mize hit his latest hurdle in May when he landed on the IL. He stumbled a bit after his return, but has found his stride again since. Mize has allowed five earned runs in his last four starts, with an ERA over that stretch of 1.82. His last outing was his best of the season, seven innings of shutout ball in the Tigers' 1-0 win over the Guardians last weekend.
"When I came back I wasn’t quite as sharp as I wanted to be," Mize said. "We were talking about a downtick in some stuff and production, and throughout that whole process we were just trying to make some — not even changes — just reminders of, 'Hey man, these were some things you were doing when things were going really well, let’s reset and get back to that,’ and we were able to reanalyze some things we were doing poorly.
"I've had a good month or so since. Obviously looking forward to keeping that rolling tomorrow and throughout the second half."
After Hinch and Harris congratulated Mize Thursday night, Hinch urged him to reach out to his family and any teammates he wanted to tell before they found out via the internet. It's a good bet that Mize hit up the pitcher who sits next to him in the clubhouse: Hinch said it's especially rewarding to watch Mize earn his first All-Star nod alongside "his best friend Tarik Skubal," and several other players who have contributed to the Tigers' 59-35 start.
"It’s hard in this sport sometimes to get those moments and get that type of recognition," said Hinch. "I know it disrupted his prep going into (Saturday), but it was probably the best way you could possibly do it, on an off-day, getting his head around making the All-Star team is pretty remarkable."