Mercer Island native confirmed to be Detroit Tigers’ Opening Day starter

MLB pitcher Matthew Boyd, 29, has been with the Tigers since 2015.

By Blake Peterson • July 20, 2020 10:10 am
MLB pitcher Matthew Boyd demonstrates how he grips a baseball to residents of Covenant Shores on Oct. 30, 2017. Photo courtesy of Greg Asimakoupoulos
MLB pitcher Matthew Boyd demonstrates how he grips a baseball to residents of Covenant Shores on Oct. 30, 2017. Photo courtesy of Greg Asimakoupoulos

Twenty-nine-year-old Mercer Island native and pitcher Matthew Boyd confirmed Sunday that he is going to be the Detroit Tigers’ Opening Day starter.

“It’s flattering,” Boyd told the Detroit News shortly after the announcement. “It’s an honor and it’s something I don’t take lightly at all. It’s exciting…it will be different without being able to share it with the fans in person, but I’m sure it’ll be special on TV with all the things that they do.”

Boyd had known he was going to pitch the opener long before the announcement was made — he was informed of the decision after the Tigers had regrouped for their second training camp.

The upcoming season marks Boyd’s fifth full season in Detroit. He was acquired by the Tigers in 2015 alongside Daniel Norris.

Starting Friday, July 24, Detroit is beginning its shortened 2020 season in Cincinnati.

Speaking with the Associated Press, Boyd said it was “flattering” to pitch the opener, and recalled going to see the Seattle Mariners in their opener a handful of times during childhood.

“I remember the days going to watch Jamie Moyer and Freddy Garcia and Felix Hernandez go, over the course of a 10-plus-year period in Seattle,” he said. “Just thinking how much fun that would be, to do that someday.”