Time with Lugnuts aided Daniel Norris’ rise

Stints in Lansing were a part of the development process for the three left-handed pitchers the Detroit Tigers acquired in today’s trade of David Price to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Daniel Norris, Matt Boyd and Jairo Labourt each pitched for the Lugnuts in the last couple seasons.

The stint in Lansing played a vital role in Norris emerging as one of baseball’s top prospects. Norris was with the Lugnuts a majority of 2013 and and gave up 17 earned runs in April and had a 5.80 ERA in the first half of the season. He had a strong second half and earned a late season promotion to Dunedin.

Norris’ second half success while with Lansing was the best stretch of his professional career to that point. He had a 8.44 ERA in his debut season in the minors.

Boyd and Labourt each had short stints with Lansing. Boyd was dominant during his brief time with the Lugnuts in 2013, going 0-1 with a 0.64 ERA and 12 strikeouts and one walk in five appearances and three starts.

Labourt struggled during his brief stint with Lansing in 2014. He had a 6.43 ERA with 20 walks and 11 strikeouts in six appearances and three starts as a 20-year old with the Lugnuts.

Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @brian_calloway.