Detroit Tigers News: Daniel Norris will undergo groin surgery, miss 8-12 weeks

Fans have been dreaming on Daniel Norris’ potential ever since he arrived from the Toronto Blue Jays in 2015. He gave them a taste of the future in his Tigers debut, a dazzling 7 ¹⁄₃ inning performance against the Baltimore Orioles. Since then, Norris has struggled through injuries, bouts of wildness, and a battle with thyroid cancer, and has fallen short of his lofty ceiling.

Norris received another setback over the weekend, when he left his start against the Orioles with a groin injury. On Monday, the team announced that Norris will have surgery to fix the issue later this week. Norris’ surgery will be performed by Dr. William Meyers in Philadelphia, the same surgeon who previously operated on Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, and Victor Martinez. Norris will eventually be moved to the 60-day disabled list, and is expected to miss somewhere between eight to 12 weeks of action.

Norris’ injury will put pressure on the Tigers’ other starters to perform (and stay healthy), especially as the team continues to stay afloat in a mediocre AL Central division. Odds are they won’t be there for long — especially if Francisco Liriano comes back to earth as expected — but we’ve seen stranger things happen in this weird game we love so much.

Hey, it could be worse

Norris’ absence will hurt, but not as much as losing Corey Seager does for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Seager will undergo Tommy John surgery after trying to rehab a longstanding elbow issue, and will miss the rest of the season. Uh oh. This opens up a possible avenue for a trade between the Tigers and Dodgers, but that doesn’t seem likely quite yet.

However, if Jose Iglesias keeps making plays like this diving catch from Monday’s action, we might see the Dodgers pick up the phone.

If you’re not sick of draft coverage yet, you will be

Both Baseball America ($) and MLB Pipeline released mock drafts on Monday, and if their rankings are any indication, we could be in for a wild first round this year. What won’t be wild, it appears, is the No. 1 pick. Both sites still project that the Tigers will take Auburn righthander Casey Mize, who has established himself as the clear top prospect in this year’s draft class. Baseball America toys with what the Tigers could do if they decide to save more slot money, but it’s hard to see them passing on Mize.

But if you’re interested in reading up on who else could potentially go 1-1, MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis and George Sipple of the Free Press have some names for you. We’ve also been busy profiling draft candidates, including Georgia Tech catcher Joey Bart and high school lefthander Matthew Liberatore.

Other Tigers stuff

• Leonys Martin might be for real, says Kurt
• Christin Stewart is heating up in Toledo
• Sergio Alcantara needs to bulk up
• The Athletic sits down with Joe Vavra

Around the horn

The next generation of second basemen is arriving. Sadly, Dawel Lugo is not mentioned. Grant Brisbee on the 1988 Orioles, who started 0-21. There have been more strikeouts than hits in baseball this year. Didi Gregorius and Andrelton Simmons are good at baseball. Indians fans are frustrated with their good baseball team. Salvador Perez joined the Fun Police.

Baseball is awesome

The Brewers are part of the wide-open NL Central, which currently features four teams that would be in first place in the AL Central.