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Detroit Tigers reliever Matt Gage reports early to spring training: 'Let's get going'
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- Detroit Tigers reliever Matt Gage reports early to spring training: 'Let's get going'
Left-handed reliever Matt Gage was a member of five organizations in the 2024 calendar year: Houston Astros , New York Yankees , Los Angeles Dodgers , New York Mets and Detroit Tigers . He was optioned three times, designated for assignment twice and traded twice, all while never pitching in the big leagues.
The 31-year-old, who has logged 19⅔ innings across 16 relief appearances in his MLB career, signed a minor-league contract this past December with the Tigers for the 2025 season, which includes a non-roster invitation to MLB spring training.
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"To me, it was a no-brainer," Gage said.
Gage reported Monday to the Tigers' spring training facility in Lakeland, Florida, exactly 23 days before pitchers and catchers are required to arrive in TigerTown for workouts. He has been in communication with Tigers director of pitching Gabe Ribas .
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"There's a few things we want you to work on," Ribas said.
"Do you mind if I come down early to camp and start working on those things now?" Gage asked.
The Tigers opened their doors to him.
"Let's get going," Gage said.
Houston Astros starting pitcher Matt Gage (91) prior to the game against the San Francisco Giants at Minute Maid Park in Houston on May 2, 2023.
Gage is making changes to his mechanics and pitch mix in search of returning to the big leagues. He pitched in MLB for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2022 and the Astros in 2023, but those stints accounted for just 16 of his 333 games since being selected in the 10th round of the 2014 draft out of Siena College.
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His baseball journey includes nine seasons in the minor leagues, a full season as a starter in the Mexican League, a COVID-19 season in a now-defunct independent league and two offseasons in the Mexican Pacific Winter League.
Gage has been cut too many times to count.
"It is what it is," Gage said. "It's part of the business. It's not that bad when you look at it like this. I was out of baseball, basically, in 2018, and I'm just playing with borrowed time. That's the way I look at my career now."
'I really wasn't good enough'
The writing was on the wall in 2018.
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He had been struggling at the Triple-A level for several years.
"I really wasn't good enough," Gage said.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Matt Gage poses for a portrait during media day at Camelback Ranch in Phoenix on Feb. 21, 2024.
In 2019, Gage pitched as a starter for Diablos Rojos del Mexico in the Mexican League. He spent the entire season in Mexico, posting a 5.57 ERA across 118 innings. Gage re-signed with Diablos Rojos for the 2020 season, but the COVID-19 pandemic nixed those plans — and gave him an unexpected opportunity to change everything about the way he pitched.
"I plateaued, so I wanted to get better," Gage said. "I had been the same guy for two and a half years. If it didn't work, then I go back to doing what I was doing. But I just wanted to get better, and I tried changing some stuff."
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Gage changed his mechanics.
As a result, he threw harder than ever before.
After changing his mechanics, Gage pitched as a reliever for Eastern Reyes del Tigre in the Constellation Energy League — a one-year independent league in Texas — because other leagues were shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
His first pitch was a 94 mph fastball.
He previously averaged 87 mph with his fastball.
The increased velocity led to his MLB debut in June 2022.
"I just shortened my arm slot," Gage said. "I was able to use my body better going down the mound. All of a sudden, the velo jumped, and then I ended up signing with the ( Arizona ) Diamondbacks in 2021, which turned into 2022 with the Blue Jays, which turned into 2023 with the Astros, and then I bounced around in 2024. I look at it as playing with borrowed time. It's easier to understand the business."
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2024 'went by pretty fast'
The business side of baseball was no stranger to Gage in the 2024 calendar year. He belonged to five organizations in a span of 11 months, from January 22 to December 20.
Here's how it all went down:
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He was designated for assignment by the Astros on Jan. 22, just days after attending FanFest in Houston.
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He was claimed off waivers by the Yankees on Jan. 29, then he was traveling to spring training Feb. 5 when Yankees general manager Brian Cashman called to tell him he had been traded to the Dodgers.
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The next call came from a Dodgers employee, telling him to report to spring training as soon as possible because the Dodgers were starting camp earlier than other teams, preparing for their opening series March 20-21 in South Korea.
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He was cut from Opening Day roster consideration March 11 and suffered an elbow injury in minor-league camp, forcing him to miss the first month of the Triple-A season.
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He was traded to the Mets on July 7, which led to an 19-hour drive with his father from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Syracuse, New York. He wouldn't trade those 19 hours of quality time with his father for anything.
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He became a free agent Nov. 4 after the World Series, then signed a minor league contract Dec. 20 with the Tigers.
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Two trades in one season, but the first trade from the Yankees to the Dodgers was the hardest to process — especially because Gage was born and raised in Johnstown, New York, roughly 200 miles north of Yankee Stadium.
"A lot of emotions," Gage said. "Growing up in New York, you were a Yankee, and then suddenly, you're a Dodger."
In 2024, Gage posted a 4.10 ERA with 22 walks (12.2% walk rate) and 51 strikeouts (28.3% strikeout rate) across 41⅔ innings in 40 relief appearances for Triple-A Oklahoma City (20 games) with the Dodgers and Triple-A Syracuse (20 games) with the Mets.
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His cut-fastball averaged 93 mph.
"My four-seam is a cutter," Gage said. "A lot of people say four-seam, sinker, cutter, slider, but my four-seam is a cutter, my sinker is a two-seam, my cutter is a gyro slider and my slider is a sweeper. My bread and butter is just competing."
Zoom call with Tigers
Free agency started slowly.
But Gage had a group of teams interested in signing him to a minor league contract after MLB's Winter Meetings in early December, with the Tigers as one of those teams. A enticing offer from the Tigers led to a Zoom meeting.
Houston Astros relief pitcher Matt Gage (91) pitches to the Seattle Mariners during the sixth inning at T-Mobile Park in Seattle on May 7, 2023.
Three employees from the Tigers led the meeting: Ribas, assistant general manager Jay Sartori and pitching performance and integration coordinator Dylan Axelrod .
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"He went through metrically where my fastballs sit and where my offspeed pitches sit," Gage said of Axelrod's intel. "Their plan of me attacking hitters was a little different than what other teams have told me in the past."
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The Tigers separated themselves in the recruitment process when they surprised Gage by talking about his fastball (which he calls a cutter) more than any other pitch, whereas other teams only raved about his cutter (which he calls a gyro slider).
The Tigers want Gage to throw his cut-fastball more often.
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"I was like, 'That's the first time I've ever heard that my entire career,'" said Gage, who will earn an $800,000 salary if he's in the big leagues. "And then Axe explained how throwing more fastballs, especially in different counts to different hitters, is going to improve this or that."
It was more than enough to convince him to join the Tigers.
Gage has embraced the unpredictability of baseball, from struggling in Triple-A to reinventing himself during the COVID-19 pandemic to making his MLB debut in 2022. His unconventional journey has led him to the Tigers in 2025.
To him, the Tigers feel like the right fit at the right time.
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"Some of those conversations actually mean a lot to people," Gage said. "A lot of people think you just sign this and that. But you actually want to feel like you're comfortable doing what your organization wants. Everything the Tigers are telling me, it just lines up."
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .
Listen to our weekly Tigers show "Days of Roar" every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tigers' Matt Gage ready to get going, reports early to spring training
