Detroit Tigers have found a diamond in the desert in pitcher Maddox Long

SCOTTSDALE, AZ - Detroit Tigers pitching prospect Maddox Long sat down next to me in the dugout, which brings me to my first impression.

This dude is massive. Long, a right-hander, is listed at 6-foot-5 and 275 pounds, but he seems bigger than that.

I glanced at his stats in the Arizona Fall League and then, well, I had to look at them again. Spoiler alert: Those stats are truly impressive.

I learned his backstory − how he came from Independent ball and how he found his velocity and his ability to pound the strike zone, and I started to wonder something: Have the Tigers found a diamond in the rough? Because it’s starting to seem that way. Long is an efficient, consistent, durable, strike-zone pounding, strike-out machine. He is not a flame thrower, but he’s been extremely effective.

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“What has been your experience here in Arizona?” I asked him.

“Pretty awesome,” he said. “Just saying, I don't know, four months ago being an Indy ball guy and here I am facing the best minor league competition. So, the Lord's definitely blessed me in this opportunity.”

That might understate what Maddox has done in Arizona. Playing at the highest competitive level of his life, facing some serious studs, Maddox has put together a 1.59 ERA in six games – that’s the fourth-lowest ERA in the Arizona Fall League. He has pitched 17 innings – the sixth most in the league. He has a 1.24 WHIP (13th in the league). And he has struck out 14 with just six walks, which falls in line with the Tigers' mantra:

“My strength is great command,” he said.

So, those walks still bug him. Four of them came on full counts.

“I walked four on a couple crazy full counts, but I typically never walk people,” he said. “So, good command, good mixes. I have six pitches.”

He’s got more variety than a Baskin-Robbins.

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How Maddox Long found velocity

Long spent six years in college – while picking up a master’s degree – but he didn’t really throw hard.

So, he had to learn to be a true pitcher.

“Yeah, I mean, pretty long journey,” he said. “My freshman year [at Division II Ouachita Baptist] was COVID – so I got that year back. Transferred to a junior college [Arkansas Rich Mountain]. Pitched 75 innings that year. Got that year back, and then I went to Harding, which is where I graduated from. Probably threw close to 500 innings in college baseball.”

Long, who will turn 26 in January, was a two-time Division II All-American at Harding. So he was effective, even though he only threw 88 to 91 mph.

“At the time, I was actually a little bit overweight,” he said. “I was like 290.”

“I lost 30 pounds and put 4 miles per hour on my fastball,” he said. “We just worked really hard. Just got after it every day. Seven months of training, and just got a lot stronger.”

Suddenly, he started touching 95 mph, going from a fine small-college pitcher to somebody scouts started to notice. He hooked up with the Washington Wild Things, an Indy ball team in the Frontier League. After pitching in eight games over two months, racking up 32 strikeouts with five walks in 44 2/3 innings, the Tigers grabbed him. They bought his contract on June 29, 2026.

He had no idea the Tigers were interested.

“I was throwing well when they needed an arm,” he said. “I came in and kind of filled in whatever role they needed.”

That’s probably downplaying it. He’s been way, way better than that.

After starting out with the FCL Tigers (19 strikeouts with four walks in 11 innings), he moved to the Lakeland Flying Tigers, recording 44 strikeouts with just nine walks in 58 1/3 innings. Then, he moved to High-A West Michigan for four games, where he put up more ridiculous stats: 21 strikeouts with just three walks in 17 innings.

“I got a four-seam, cutter, slider, sweeper, sinker, changeup,” he said. “Just started picking up the sweeper. I've always been a slider guy, like a 60% slider guy.”

“What do the Tigers say about your metrics and what the ball's doing?” I asked.

“The slider's good, and the sinker's good,” he said. “A lot of ground balls on the sinker, a lot of swing and miss on the slider, and then everything else I have just helps those two pitches play better. They want me to start trying to develop the sweeper.”

He said that his average fastball sits at 93 mph and touches 95. Granted, that’s not flame-thrower fast. But then, he quickly noted, “There's plenty of guys that throw the velo I do that play in the big leagues.”

He also has versatility with the ability to start or pitch in relief. In West Michigan, he started two of his four games. And he has one start in Arizona, but he can also be used in long relief.

I mean, of course he can: Long in long relief. It’s only fitting, right? He threw 3 1/3 innings on Friday, Nov. 6, allowing just one hit and no runs while striking out two.

But that’s nothing for him. At times in Indy ball, he was throwing 100-110 pitches a game. Most importantly, he was able to hold his velocity.

“I don't throw crazy hard, but the velo I have, I hold it pretty well through an outing,” he said.

Off the field, he lives a quiet life focused on faith, family and baseball.

“I'm a Christian, love the Lord,” he said. “That's probably my identity, so it's a big one. As far as everything else goes, big family guy. When I'm home, I spend a lot of time with family, my girlfriend. They all live pretty close to me in Morrilton, in central Arkansas, probably 45 minutes from Little Rock. I'm a pretty boring person. I just play baseball. It's kind of my life.”

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Long's intellectual approach

The last thing that impressed me: his intellect and approach and how he has learned so much in a short time.

“Every time I pitch is a learning opportunity,” he said. “The way I look at it is, I either throw really well or I learn something, either way I'm getting better.”

Sometimes, he will throw a pitch and realize: “D-II guys that I faced [at Harding], they would swing at that.”

But, he has found, the higher he has climbed, some of those pitches don’t work. Because the hitters are better.

So, he’s still learning what works. Still developing. Still adjusting.

“You just learn what gets guys out, what guys are good at, what they're bad at,” he said. “Because these are different hitters than I have faced. So I think I've realized that my stuff does play, but there's also some things where it's like, OK, that doesn't work the same as it used to, so it's just all learning experience.”

I sat there nodding. Completely impressed. Not just with his arm. Not just from his long journey and obvious perseverance. But from his mindset.

Long has been nothing short of a diamond in the desert.

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff.