Jeff Seidel

Detroit Free Press Columnist

LAKELAND, Fla. – His work is done. The class begins.

Daniel Norris takes off his Detroit Tigers practice jersey and stands behind the bullpen, wearing a gray T-shirt with cutoff sleeves, his wild bushy hair spilling from the back of his cap. He leans against a fence and watches Justin Verlander pitch, like a student who sinks into the back of the room but tries to notice everything.

Verlander misses a pitch and blurts out his displeasure. Verlander snags the ball from the catcher, fumes a little — he’s a perfectionist, even in spring training. He takes a deep breath, clears his head and buries four perfect pitches.

Norris has a tendency to react the same way. He gets mad and frustrated when the ball misbehaves and doesn’t go where he wants. “The difference is, Verlander gets ticked about a bad pitch and it doesn’t affect his next one,” Norris said.

Sometimes, a bad pitch lingers for Norris. “I’ll be like, dang it,” Norris said. “Then, I’m thinking about that again — don’t do that again, don’t do that again — I throw it, and I did it again.”

That’s why Norris is here, standing in the background and hanging around after practice. Verlander is one of the best pitchers in team history, a 34-year-old veteran who ranks second in strikeouts (2,197), third in winning percentage (.620) and seventh in wins (173). His success is the ultimate benchmark for Norris and the rest of the young pitchers.

He’s a workhorse. A Cy Young Award winner. He’s an MVP and a six-time All-Star. The $28-million man who has pitched 12 seasons for the Tigers.

“He’s a future Hall of Famer,” left-hander Matt Boyd said. “If you want to be the best, you have to follow the best.”

The legacy reaches beyond Verlander’s success on the field, and he is having a profound influence on the next generation of pitchers in the organization because of it, including Norris, Boyd and Michael Fulmer.

“I’m thinking long term with those guys,” Verlander said. “All of these guys are all really different but they can all be really, really good.”

A proven shoulder program

Fulmer ends a throwing session in the bullpen and begins his shoulder strengthening route, the one created by Verlander.

“I think it’s one of the main reasons I stayed healthy last year,” said Fulmer, the reigning American League rookie of the year.

Verlander understands its value. He was rookie of the year after winning 17 games in 2006, but he broke down at the end of that season as the Tigers lost six of his final nine starts.

“I was dying off at the end of my rookie year to the point where it was hurting,” Verlander said.

Verlander was a stubborn, young rookie who had neglected his shoulder.

More Tigers coverage:

Tigers pitcher Anibal Sanchez proud to become U.S. citizen

So, he created a shoulder strengthening program that he has used ever since. Fulmer was quick to pick up on it.

“I never told him to do my program,” Verlander said. “I said, ‘This is what has worked for me. Try this, try that. Figure out what works best for you.’ ”

Obviously, it has worked for Verlander. He has started 352 games for the Tigers (seventh most in team history) and has pitched 2,339 innings (eighth in team history).

“I’m going to do everything in my power to pitch as long as him,” Fulmer said.

Fulmer faithfully follows the program, using rubber bands, weights and manual resistance to strengthen specific shoulder muscles. He started it last spring, and he does it after every bullpen session, every start.

“He kept after me to stay with the program,” Fulmer said. “When you come out of the game, when you are a little tired and your shoulder is fatigued, you go and do your sets. You come in here and strengthen your scap (scapula), shoulder, rotator cuff.”

The shoulder routine is intense but productive. Last spring, Fulmer barely could get through two sets.

“I’d be struggling after one set,” he said. “During the season, I would do three sets with ease. I was getting stronger as the year went on. You can tell in my sets, and the trainers can as well, that I’m getting stronger in my program.”

No demands, just advice

Verlander sits at his locker in Lakeland, next to Boyd, who has an opportunity to crack the rotation this season.

They’re in deep discussion about big things and little things. The topic changes daily.

Boyd asks questions, soaking up everything.

He began to break down at the end of last season, losing three of his last four starts.

“I think I went a little too hard, too fast last year, and I think that’s why I started fading at the end of the year,” Boyd said.

Verlander offered some of the same advice he gave to Fulmer. Changes were made.

“He gave me a lot of advice on my off-season throwing program, when I should be on the mound and when I should be throwing each pitch and what has worked for him, and that was a lot of help this off-season,” Boyd said. “I was a little smarter in my throwing program. I started at the same time, but my intensity was different, based on recommendations from him.

“He’s truly invested in all of us. He invests in our game, and that means a lot. He has pitched in every situation, from Opening Day to the World Series.”

Verlander takes no credit for how Fulmer, Norris and Boyd performed last season.

But the long term? He’s hoping he has an influence, speeding their development and showing them how to lengthen their careers.

There are no demands here. Just options and advice.

“It’s really subtle things,” Boyd said. “It’s in the locker room before, how to attack guys. He will say, ‘Hey, you are too high with your arm slot.’ ”

More Tigers coverage:

Tigers' Miguel Cabrera shows another layer of greatness after HBP

A year ago, Boyd was pitching in a game, and his curveball wasn’t effective. Verlander spotted the problem. “Hey, you are tipping your pitches,” he told Boyd.

“He sees stuff,” Boyd said. “It speaks to how much he cares about us as people, but also how much he cares about winning.”

Verlander wants to help them maximize their potential.

“Boyd doesn’t have the same kind of pure stuff Fulmer and Norris have, but I think he can still be a great pitcher,” Verlander said. “I want him to watch guys like (longtime Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark) Buehrle, the way that guy pitches. I always admired watching that guy pitch. He attacked, hit his spots and stayed on the offensive the whole time. He had a great career with not great stuff, especially towards the end.

“But the guy could pitch.”

Potential for greatness

Norris doesn’t learn by reading or studying numbers or scouting reports. He is a visual person. So, he watches intently.

“It’s hard for me to go up to Verlander and ask, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’ ” said Norris, who finished 4-2 with a 3.38 ERA last season. “Because that’s not the way I learn. If I have a question, I would rather be a fly on the wall and watch it to understand it.”

So, he stands behind Verlander and watches him work.

“One time, I went to get something to eat and watched him on TV,” Norris said. “I watched him attack a left-handed hitter. And it was the way he was attacking the guy. It did something for me. I realized how he trusted his stuff. He wasn’t painting the corners. He was attacking.”

It showed Norris what he could be. “He and I both spin the ball really well,” Norris said. “I started studying him.”

Norris still is developing. Sometimes, he has a tendency to waste a pitch. “If you watch his game last year, there was probably four or five pitches a game that nobody was going to swing at,” Verlander said. “And he knows that. Those are just wasted pitches. Just tighten that up a little and you might start getting swings and misses.”

Related:

Tigers notes: Mike Pelfrey likely destined for relief role

Fulmer, Norris and Boyd have different mentalities. They are different pitchers with different pitches. But they share something.

“Most of all, I see the drive to want to be great, which is one of the most important things,” Verlander said.

Verlander keeps teaching, keeps giving advice to this young group of pitchers. Just as he learned from Kenny Rogers, Nate Robertson, Jeremy Bonderman and several pitching coaches.

From one pitcher to another.

From one generation to the next.

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel/.