Detroit — Imagine telling a stable of 49 thoroughbreds, most of whom have been cooped up in a barn for six months, to take it slow out of the gate.
Welcome to David Littlefield’s current nightmare. Littlefield, the Tigers vice president of player development, is overseeing an unprecedented instructional league in Lakeland — one that comes after a summer of no minor-league baseball where only a handful of developmental players got any structured work.
“They are shaking the rust off, there’s no doubt about it,” Littlefield said Monday in a conference call. “Guys are in different levels of shape.