LAKELAND, Fla. -- Christopher Ilitch has followed his father's tradition of heading to Spring Training to meet and talk with players. But when the Tigers chairman and CEO, and Ilitch Holdings president made his annual spring trek to Tigertown this week, he wanted to meet with the analytics and player development departments, too.
Ilitch was there a month ago, too, during the Tigers' offseason scouting meetings that included early work on the top pick in the upcoming Draft. It was Ilitch's idea to attend. His interest says as much about the Tigers' focus on the future as any of the moves they've made in their rebuild.