Tigers opened spring training up to kids from Detroit. The results were spectacular.
- The Detroit Tigers opened their clubhouse to a group of kids from the Full Count Foundation, a Detroit-based nonprofit.
- The kids, participating in a program focused on photography, media, and entrepreneurship, got to interview players and ask them questions.
- Tigers players engaged in genuine conversations with the kids, offering advice and sharing their experiences.
LAKELAND, Fla. — Let me guarantee something.
Today, you are going to learn something about the Detroit Tigers.
Maybe it’s a small tidbit about a player or even something silly or funny.
Then again, if you look close enough, you’ll find something interesting about this organization, about how it's opened up.
Because I learned a bunch of things on Thursday morning — at the very least, I found a fresh perspective — when a group of kids from Detroit were allowed into the Tigers clubhouse, and they asked questions they wanted answered.
It was, to say the least, enlightening, if not incredibly entertaining.
“If you guys win the World Series, what will you guys focus on when you guys win?” Jackeob Jackson, 11, of Detroit asked Colt Keith. “Like, will you guys be all hungover?”
Keith laughed and looked surprised — yes, that’s the first time he’s ever been asked that.
“I think a lot of guys definitely will,” Keith smiled. “It's a big dream that a lot of guys want to do. There's only a certain amount of people who get to do it. Hall of Famers — some of them don't ever get to do it. So it's definitely a big honor. We're all just gonna be really happy. I'm sure we'll be celebrating.”
“So, y'all got your own locker?” Jackeob asked. “Do you get assigned all your clothes?”
Keith brushed his hand over several jerseys hanging in his locker.
“Yeah, we got our own locker,” he said, “and they set all this up in here for us."
Let me point out something important. Keith’s eyes were locked on Jackson as he talked. They were having a true, genuine conversation.
“You pick your jersey number?”
“I was lucky enough to pick mine — 33 is my favorite number,” Keith said. “But some guys just get assigned to it, if their number’s taken.”
A wonderful program
The kids came to Lakeland through the Full Count Foundation, a nonprofit based in Detroit, which encourages inner city youth to learn photography, media and entrepreneurship. “Versus picking up guns,” said organizer Kirt Dozier Jr.
This program is especially close to my heart because his dad, Kirthmon F. Dozier Sr., was a longtime Free Press photographer who died in January 2024. For several years, we shared a house together at spring training and became close.
“This is something that me and my dad talked about,” Dozier said. “Something we were gonna get started when he retired. This is the first time we are bringing in a group of kids down here.”
He got grants from the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan and the Player Alliance, brought several kids to TigerTown and Tigers radio voice Dan Dickerson hosted them all day — not that you needed another example, but Dickerson is one of the finest, nicest, most genuine human beings on the planet.
The kids spent an hour with Scott Harris, the Tigers' president of baseball operations, and about 50 minutes in the Tigers locker room during the media availability period, working the room, asking all kinds of questions. The fact that the Tigers basically opened up their entire organization to a group of kids in the middle of spring training, at a time when there is so much going on, is mind blowing to me. It's just flat-out wonderful.
“Being a major leaguer, you made it to the biggest stage, can just attest to the mental side of being resilient, going through all the struggles and how you just keep yourself on track?” asked Jordan Spencer, 17, of Detroit.
“Absolutely,” Justyn-Henry Malloy said. “I feel like a lot of guys in this room have had success, but have also struggled, and being able to kind of ride those ups and downs and not get too high, not get too low, kind of staying right here in the middle, that's kind of what made me better, and not just as a player, but as a person."
Brailen Wilson, 17, of Detroit, had an especially interesting conversation with Zach McKinstry, one of the Tigers' most versatile players.
Because Wilson is also a utility guy at U-D Jesuit.
“I'm util myself,” Wilson said. “So it's hard to find balance in practice, where I'm going infield and outfield. How do you prepare for that?”
“I love to take ground balls every day at every different position,” McKinstry said. “Get out the outfield during BP, make sure I'm getting my reps in out there. Anything I have to work on after practice, I go out and do a little extra. I just have the confidence that I'm gonna get the job done. And that's kind of what it takes.”
“Two fun questions for you,” Wilson said. “Who on the team is most likely to wear the wrong jersey out there?”
McKinstry laughed: “Maybe Colt Keith.”
Yes, there’s some trash talk between roommates.
“Dang, Colt,” Wilson said. “And if you were not in the MLB, what would you be doing?
“I would have gone to the Navy,” McKinstry said.
OK, I didn’t know that, either.
Kerry Carpenter's journey to the bigs
Wilson also had a fascinating conversation with Kerry Carpenter.
Because Wilson is planning to play baseball at Jackson Community College, he asked Carpenter about playing at St. Johns River State College.
“Dude, JUCO is, like, one of the best things that ever happened in my career,” Carpenter said.
“Really?” Wilson asked.
“I played on a really good travel team,” Carpenter said. “I was one of the worst players on my travel team. I had like, one Division I offer. We had guys going to Vandy, Florida, Tennessee, Clemson; and they went all to those big schools, and they never got playing time. I went to a JUCO and got hundreds of at-bats each year. I got a lot better those two years while they sat on the bench.”
Wilson looked encouraged: “I don't mean to talk your ear off.” Wilson said. “What was the environment like in JUCO?”
“It's hard,” Carpenter said. “You don't get any special treatment. Bus rides are long.”
“Yeah,” Wilson said.
“It's a grind,” Carpenter said. “But now I kind of miss it. It's hard to go through at the time because you don't have any money. You don't get fed well. But you gotta embrace it.”
“How'd you stand out?”
“I was single at the time,” Carpenter said. “I had no responsibility, so we would go and hit at like 9 o'clock. That was our hangout time. It was such a blast. We would just go meet at the cage at 9 o'clock at night and just hit. It was so much fun.”
The conversation was done and they bro-hugged.
WEDNESDAY WORK: Detroit Tigers prepare for everything — even the greatest moment possible
“God bless you,” Carpenter said.
Afterward, the kids looked stunned and inspired. Not just because they spent the morning with major leaguers. Not just because they were meeting people like Hall of Famer Alan Trammell.
It was because it was so real.
“It was like they were talking to somebody at lunch,” Wilson marveled. “Just chilling.”
And that’s what made it so freakin’ cool.