Manager Ron Gardenhire said the left-hander would be available out of the bullpen this weekend.
Chicago — This has been the damnedest start to a season for Daniel Norris.
“Not the way I envisioned it, for sure,” he said Thursday morning. “But a lot of times what you envision doesn’t happen. I am just trying to take it day by day and not look too far ahead.”
His first scheduled start of the season was Wednesday and the game was postponed because of bad weather. Manager Ron Gardenhire said Norris would be available out of the bullpen this weekend but most likely, Norris’ next start will be at Triple-A Toledo.
Right-hander Mike Fiers is eligible to come off the disabled list and could start on Sunday.
“What we want to see more than anything else is (Norris) to get pitching,” Gardenhire said. “He’ll come out of the bullpen right now, but how much we’ll use him is kind of dicey because we haven’t seen him do it too much. We will try to get him in the right situation, if there is one.
“But he needs to start. We need starting pitching in this organization. We need backups in the system and we’re going to get him back starting.”
Norris began the season as a strong candidate to be the No. 5 starter. Then the Tigers signed left-hander Francisco Liriano and Norris’ hold on a roster spot became tenuous. He only made three starts in spring training. Once he was used out of the bullpen, to get the final three outs of a game.
Strange.
“Who knows?” Norris said when asked what he thought the plan was going forward. “I want to be here. I’ve made that known. I don’t care if it’s out of the bullpen or playing center field. I just want to be here.”
Center field?
“Seriously,” he said. “I see (Angels’ Shohei) Ohtani doing it. I can do that.”
He did hit a home run off Jon Lester two years ago and if you watch him shag balls in the outfield, he can run them down. But that’s not where his bread is buttered, and he knows it. His future is as a left-handed starting pitcher.
“God has a plan. I’m holding on to that,” he said. “I’m working hard. I put in the work in the offseason. Sometimes you’re not really given opportunities.”
He hasn’t thrown to live batters since March 28 in Lakeland, when he threw on the back fields against minor-league hitters. He’s kept his arm strength up with bullpen sessions and long toss.
But for a player as fiercely competitive as Norris, as hungry as he is to prove himself at the big-league level, being kept on a shelf can be dispiriting.
“I’ve done a lot of praying,” Norris said. “I’ve thrown the ball well; I can hold on to that at least. I feel like I’ve done what I needed to do. The rest is up to them. I can’t look forward. If I was having bad outings and I was worried about the past, that would be another thing.
“But I don’t think that’s been the case… I just want to pitch.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
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