DETROIT — In his first inning back in the major leagues, Detroit Tigers left-hander Dietrich Enns retired the side on eight pitches.
He struck out Nick Kurtz on a 94 mph fastball, generated a pulsating swing and miss, and started walking off the mound. He pointed both index fingers to the sky.
This was the validation, the culmination of a journey that spanned 1,371 days and multiple continents. It involved countless nights of uncertainty but also three-plus years of defiant belief.
Thursday was Enns’ first major-league appearance since he threw 22 innings for the Rays in 2021. He spent two seasons pitching for the Saitama Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Last season, he logged more than 167 innings with the LG Twins of the KBO.
Such travels were really nothing new. A Central Michigan product and 19th-round draft choice in 2012, Enns debuted with the Twins in 2017 and threw only four innings. He grinded in the minors, played winter ball in Venezuela and had a stint in indy ball before returning with the Rays in ’21.
So Japan? Korea? Wherever he was, he always believed he could return to this stage.
“That was always the goal, to get back,” Enns said. “Use those stops along the way, wherever I was, to hone the craft and get better and try and be as good as I can when I’m at the major-league level.”
Such dreams do not always come to fruition for players like this. When Enns signed with the Tigers as a minor-league free agent this winter, he did so as a pitcher about to embark on his age-34 season. An Illinois native who attended Central Michigan, he had familiarity with the Tigers, even earned his lone two MLB wins against Detroit. He was given an opportunity but promised nothing. He threw left-handed, had a crafty arsenal and displayed down-to-earth people skills that made him a fast fit in the Tigers’ spring training clubhouse.
But he might not have ascended back to the game’s highest level without the tweaks he implemented over the past four months.
“He has dove right in with our pitching group,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said, “which I think is a cool story in itself. He’s not just doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a new opportunity.”
The work started early in spring. Tigers director of pitching Gabe Ribas suggested Enns start experimenting with a so-called kick change. The latest designer trend in pitching involves a pitcher spiking his middle finger and giving the ball a subtle “kick” to alter its spin axis. The goal is to catch seam-shifted wake, to create a changeup release more suitable for pitchers whose wrists supinate rather than pronate. Enns began playing around with the pitch during spring training. He liked its shape, kept experimenting until he got it down.
“From the get-to, it’s been a great organization to be a part of,” Enns said. “Their pitching development is just unmatched. … I feel like it’s the right place to find those little improvements, if they’re willing to work with guys no matter how old, how young or anything like that.”
Enns made other adjustments, too. Tightening up his slider. More tiny shifts in grips and movements that all resulted in a pitcher who Thursday had command of a five-pitch arsenal.
Facing the Athletics, Enns generated 13 swings and misses, including five with that changeup. He yielded only one hit in five scoreless innings. He walked two batters and struck out four in an 8-0 Tigers victory.
“He did a really good job of just being in the zone with all his pitches and giving me the reins (to go) a lot of different ways,” catcher Jake Rogers said. “We kept them off balance. Going fastballs, in, up, down if he needed to, changeups down if he needed to. Really, it was in the zone with everything, which makes it a lot easier to call a game.”
As he vexed an A’s lineup that swung aggressively from the jump, Enns had more than 20 friends and family members in the stands. Some were relatives who traveled from his hometown in Illinois. Some were college friends who now live in Detroit and took off work to come see him pitch. Their attire was representative of his journey. A few old college teammates wore Central Michigan polos. Others wore his jersey from NPB.
Enns let loose small displays of emotion throughout his long-awaited return — there was the sky-point in the first inning, then an exclamation after he generated a double-play ball to escape the third. His day was done after the five scoreless innings, and Hinch met Enns in the dugout with a firm handshake and a tap on the chest.
“Dietrich came in and stayed under control,” Hinch said. “He stayed within himself with all the excitement and the return after 1,000 days or whatever it’s been and delivered a great performance at a time where we needed it. Hats off to him and everyone around him that helped get him to this moment.”
Enns mostly downplayed the idea that this was like a second debut. At his locker after the game, it seemed as though the magnitude of the moment still had not set in. He planned to find a restaurant to relax with family and friends after the game, to thank those in his circle who stuck with him throughout the journey, to cherish those who drove four-plus hours to come see him pitch.
“A lot closer than Japan or Korea,” he said.
The Tigers’ pitching staff remains in flux. Reese Olson could return from a rehab assignment as soon as next week. It’s unclear whether Enns will remain a starter or work in relief.
But after a stellar return to the major leagues, one thing is clear.
“I told him yesterday when he got here, ‘You can help us win,’” Hinch said. “He’s earned the right to pitch again in some capacity. … Is it gonna be in the bullpen? Is he gonna be starting? I don’t know, but it’s gonna be in the big leagues.”
(Photo: Duane Burleson / Getty Images)
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