In first pro game, Rainer offers pop, promise to Tigers fans

NORTH PORT, Fla. -- Bryce Rainer’s pro career consisted of workouts and batting practice until Sunday.

As the 19-year-old shortstop jumped a 2-0 fastball and crushed a line drive into left-center field for a two-run single Sunday, Rainer’s inexperience didn’t show. The left-handed hitter waited on his pitch and sent it towards the opposite gap at 114 miles per hour, according to the Braves video board. It was his second hit and second and third RBI of his unofficial pro debut. It looked like a Major League approach, and it came from a teenager whose career is just getting started.

“Honestly, it didn't feel like I hadn't played a game in a year,” Rainer said after the Tigers’ 6-3 win for their second consecutive Spring Breakout victory. “It felt like I was just rolling right back out there.”

As far as opening statements go, the Spring Breakout game is a nice platform. It was a statement victory for an organization rated as having baseball’s best farm system by MLB Pipeline.

Rainer’s first hit also went to the opposite field, a fly ball that sent Braves left fielder Owen Carey to the fence but unable to make the catch, plating a run.

“I think the wind might have helped that one a little bit,” said Rainer, the No. 4 ranked prospect in the Tigers system and No. 52 in the MLB Pipeline Top 100.

The Tigers counted their blessings when Rainer fell to them with the 11th overall pick in last year’s Draft. His left-handed power bat and 6-foot-3 frame has brought comparisons to Rangers star shortstop Corey Seager, but injury prevented him from putting that on display last summer.

“I know he’s said it to me, that Corey Seager [comp], being from the L.A. area and all that,” said Hall of Famer and Tigers special assistant Alan Trammell, who managed the team to a Spring Breakout win for a second straight year. “That would be awesome, wouldn’t it? Anybody would like to pattern their game after him. But he has the ability to be that kind of [player] with the size and the swing. And the defense is really good. I mean, I’m pleasantly surprised with his defense at this point in his career.

“He’s just getting his feet wet in pro ball. Pro ball’s different. Like anybody that played, we can help them, but they have to figure out some of it on their own. And he’s just in the early stages, but he’s going to be fine.”

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Rainer worked out at the team facility in Lakeland last summer, but stayed out of games. After a normal offseason, he was an early arrival to Spring Training.

Not surprisingly, Trammell takes particular interest in shortstops, as Rainer has discovered.

“He’s there a ton. I don’t think I haven’t seen him there in a day. It’s honestly pretty crazy,” Rainer said. “People think he just talks about defense, but he’s in the cage with us, he’s on the field giving us whatever he’s got. It seems like he’s always working.”

The line-drive single in his third and final at-bat is an example of the up-and-middle approach the Tigers preach to their hitting prospects.

“Trying not to do too much,” Rainer said.

Rainer’s first pro at-bat in the second inning looked like it could have been a hit. He bolted down the line and might have beaten the throw to first on his ground ball to the left side. He didn’t get the call, leaving him smiling as he slowed up past the bag, but he more than made up for it.

The first glimpse hopefully carries Tigers fans for a bit. While the talent is apparent, Rainer still has to start his climb up a Tigers farm system that has built depth, especially at his position. Their starting infield for Sunday’s Spring Breakout featured three ranked shortstop prospects. While Rainer got the start at short, Kevin McGonigle (Detroit’s No. 3 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 28 overall) started at third. Franyerber Montilla, the Tigers’ No. 14 prospect, started at second.

“It’s awesome,” said Rainer, who added the crowd surpassed his expectations. “I really didn’t know what to expect. Some of the guys from the Draft before mine didn’t even get to play in this, and it was kinda new to a lot of us. It was definitely good, especially to get a win.”