Fall Instructs, 2025: Day 3.

The day on which a Tiger changed his stripes.

I try to let the stories come to me while I’m out here in Arizona. I figured my writeup on Friday’s Instructs activity would grow out of the game against the Royals, the day on which umpires were finally assigned and the competition was no longer internal. Surely that game would end up providing the narrative I was looking for.

But as it turns out, the day’s story came together an hour before Kansas City starter Grayson Boles threw his first pitch to Rangers second baseman Carter Garate.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but the appointment I’d made to be at Field 1 at 10 a.m., an hour before heading over to the Royals’ side for the ballgame, was a momentous occasion. As has been the case my entire stay in Surprise this week, I was the only person at the fields who’s not a member of the organization — but on this morning, at that time, there were dozens of fans.