Lakeland, Florida. — Similar to a countdown at Cape Canaveral, the Tigers waited in reverse order on the night of July 14:
… eight … nine … 10 …
No one had yet decided on a 19-year-old shortstop who, in the words of the late Ernie Harwell, should have been long gone when Detroit selected him 11th overall in the 2024 MLB Draft.
The Tigers were lucky — two lucky moments, actually. The ninth-ranked Angels and the 10th-ranked Nationals passed on a player Detroit desperately wanted, and were lucky enough to snag when they brought in Bryce Rainer. He brought his 6-foot-3 frame, left-handed bat, and all the skills major league scouts ideally want in a shortstop to the Tigers’ shortstop-needy ranks.
Rainer checked into TigerTown on July 22, an hour after a flight from Los Angeles to Dallas and Tampa launched him into a dramatic new life as a professional baseball player.
“It was pretty cool,” Rainer said Friday as he sat on a metal bench in the backyard fields area of TigerTown’s 85-acre site. “I didn’t realize it was actually its own city. Everything is so close together.”
And so his talents are packed tightly into this long, 195-pound mass of efficiency. There’s the left-handed swing that leaves his bosses amazed at the speed and arc with which balls leave his bat. There’s the fluid, “quick” ease with which he catches ground balls and fires throws. And there’s his speed on the base path.
More: See where the Tigers farm ranks in Baseball America’s midseason talent rankings
There’s a lot to like about a young man from Southern California – Simi, to be exact – which is “a 35- to 40-minute drive without traffic,” Rainer explained, from the elite high school he was privileged to attend: Harvard-Westlake. Frankly, though, that probably wouldn’t have been possible if Westlake (more than $50,000 a year) hadn’t wanted a gentleman and gifted athlete to play baseball there.
Sitting in the shade Friday, another day of 90-degree temperatures in Lakeland and nearly equal humidity, Rainer agreed that this transition from being a stay-at-home athlete to a professional baseball player living in a dorm with other young men who also have baseball as their desired career was a bit too much for him.
“I think LA prepares most people for a lot of different circumstances that they’re going to face throughout their lives,” he said, sitting back after practice in blue Tigers shorts and a Tigers T-shirt.
“It’s quite a melting pot of different cultures and places. The biggest change for me has honestly been the weather. It’s not necessarily hotter here. It’s a little more humid, which I wasn’t used to. And if that’s the biggest change I have to deal with, I think it’s going to be a pretty easy one.”
If being thrown headfirst into the world of professional baseball has had a personal disadvantage, it has – not surprisingly – to do with his longing for his family in Simi.
There’s his brother Colton, who will soon be 17 and with whom Bryce has a particularly close bond. And there’s his sister Keira, who will soon be 14 and whom his big brother adores. And there’s his father Michael, manager of a Trader Joe’s not far from Harvard-Westlake. And there’s his mother Lisa, a registered dietitian.
Fortunately, there may not be a girlfriend who causes separation anxiety.
If homesickness became a problem in Lakeland—and it does for many new recruits—Rainer says that playing baseball on the road during the summer (emphasis on traveling) helped him.
“It’s something everyone has to do at some point in their life,” he said with a half shrug. “I was prepared for it.”
He was also prepared for his new training program. Get up early, have a nice breakfast, drink plenty of fluids and then head out to the backyard for exercises and instructions.
No games yet. The Florida Complex League, a head start for up-and-coming talent, ended two weeks ago. Now there’s a 20-game Bridge League as the Tigers, Phillies, Yankees and Pirates take turns playing at their respective venues.
But there is no lineup for Rainer yet. The initiation is still taking place on the back pitches. He was told vaguely that he can expect to play in games in a relatively short period of time. But nothing specific was said. And nothing about this alignment bothers Rainer.
Except perhaps one problem that most players drafted in 2024 have.
They haven’t competed since May or June. Commissioner Rob Manfred, by moving the MLB Draft to All-Star week, has ensured that most prep and college players will miss a significant number of important games in their first professional summer.
“Some of us haven’t played in a while,” Rainer admitted. “The last time I played was in early May. That’s almost three months. I can understand that some people might not be upset about it, but if you don’t play games after the draft, it’s another five months of offseason and for some people that can be a long time without playing.”
“But it’s not like I’m the only one struggling with this. A lot of people have to deal with it. Everyone has to adapt.”
All of these lessons – not just about playing baseball, but about what is expected of a professional player in all facets of life – were learned in a compressed period of three weeks.
Rainer has noticed that the Tigers’ coaches are working more on his defense than on his hitting style. At least for now.
“I can only give one example,” he said, mentioning his work with Tigers infield coach Angel Berroa. “After working with him, I realized there were some things I needed to make adjustments to.”
“I’m a big guy. So I had to stand a little lower when catching ground balls. I was wincing a little bit when catching balls. I was kind of jumping up, so we worked on that.
“Plus, the ball flies out of your hand. You want to throw the ball to first base, but you have a smaller target than I was used to. We really worked on that target.”
He had a great spring at Westlake, where he posted a .505 batting average in 33 games, with 28 walks, 14 strikeouts and a stellar OPS of 1.336.
The Tigers are taking their time when making any significant swing adjustments or mechanical tweaks, which are more of an offseason project as Rainer requires maintenance work – which currently appears to be minimal.
There was also no hasty change from metal to wooden bats.
“I actually prefer wooden bats to metal bats,” Rainer said. “To be honest, most people do. And it’s either straight or it’s not.”
What he loves most about professional baseball – aside from making a living playing his favorite sport and having $5.79 million in his account that the Tigers paid him after he signed his contract – is this day-night rhythm of near-constant bliss.
When he’s not playing baseball, he’s hanging out with his new buddies. He rooms with another Tigers draft pick, outfielder Jackson Strong. The guys, who all live in Fetzer Hall, play cards, watch TV, play video games, play pool, fish for bass or catfish in the adjacent Lake Parker — you name it. They can eat in the team dining hall. They can order DoorDash. They can go to a restaurant in Lakeland if they want.
He also appreciated the performance last month in Detroit, especially meeting Tigers manager AJ Hinch, the Tigers’ Ilitch family of owners and – as a tribute to his and his father’s Dodger roots – shaking hands with Tigers commentator and perennial Dodgers World Series icon Kirk Gibson.
“I don’t think I’ve understood it yet,” Rainer said. “It’s strange to have a job you love – maybe not strange, but unusual. But I feel like most people who are successful in life enjoy what they do.”
If there is one inconsistency with this peaceful portrait, it is the one hanging on Rainer’s necklace: a metal pendant with the Latin inscription “Memento mori.”
There is a story.
“Memento mori” was written on the cover of a book in the library of the Rainer house. Bryce was fascinated. Translated, it means: “Remember that you must die.” He plans to get a tattoo to immortalize these very words.
This death march message may be grim, unless you take a Latin credo that Rainer has made his own: Make the most of every day. Make the most of life.
These are the immediate and long-term plans of a 19-year-old man. He wants this big-league odyssey to be a consistently profitable one. Every day.
The Tigers expect him to do just that.
Lynn Henning is a freelance writer and former reporter for the Detroit News.
