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It’s been a great couple of weeks for former TCU Baseball stars in professional baseball, and yet another is set to make his first career start Wednesday. He joins his former teammate Alex Young, who made his debut with the Diamondbacks last week, in being a TCU pitcher making his first start in the last few days.
Tyler Alexander, who dominated for the Frogs in 2014 and 2015 before becoming a second round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers, will make his first career start for that club Wednesday, in game two of a double header.
Alexander played just two seasons in Fort Worth, but helped take the Frogs to the College World Series in both. A star at Southlake Carroll High, he chose to attend TCU as opposed to heading to professional baseball out of high school - when he was drafted, by the Tigers, in the 23rd round. They liked him enough to take him again after he went 16-6 with a 2.71 ERA and 131 strikeouts combined in 2014 and 2015.
After four years of toiling in the minors, Alexander gets his first chance to take a Big League mound in game two of a double-header in Chicago against the White Sox. After an up and down start to his season with the Toledo Mud Hens, Alexander could hardly believe he was getting his shot when his manager approached him with the news, according to The Detroit News. “I didn’t believe him. I stood there for a while, like, ‘You serious?’ It was an awesome moment. It’s a dream.”
Although he had a tough start to his season in AAA, he had an excellent June, holding opposing hitters to a .234 average with 33 strikeouts in 28 innings, culminating with a 12 strikeout game on June 22nd.
Game two of the double header is scheduled for a 7:10 ET first pitch. It will be televised on Fox Sports Detroit.
Congratulations Tyler on what is hopefully the first of many!