The Detroit Tigers made it official this afternoon, finalizing their 25-man major league roster by giving Jeff Larish that final spot.
(We'd like to make a snarky crack about Steve Kornacki and MLive.com finally breaking a story this spring, but we really try to be graceful here at BYB. Oh, wait a minute, did we just blow that?)
Larish may not have been favored to win that last position player spot coming into the spring, but quickly changed that perception with an impressive performance, batting .270/.370/.524 with three home runs and eight RBIs in 72 plate appearances. He also led the Tigers in Grapefruit League play with seven doubles, showing some nice extra-base pop.
Tom Gage says the Tigers will still bring Brent Clevlen along with them to Atlanta, waiting until the last possible minute to outright him to the minors, in the hopes that he clears waivers. (That seems like kind of a raw deal for the kid, unless Clevlen really prefers to stay in the Detroit organization.)