Alex Lange

Alexander Craig Lange

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 197 lb.
• School Louisiana State University
• High School Lee's Summit West High School
• Debut April 10, 2021

• Born October 2, 1995 in Riverside, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Pitcher Alex Lange was picked by the Chicago Cubs in the 1st round of the 2017 amateur draft, with the 30th and last pick of the first round proper. He was the second player taken by the Cubs in that round, following Brendon Little with the 27th pick; Lange's pick was received from the St. Louis Cardinals in compensation for their having signed OF Dexter Fowler as a free agent. Lange was coming off three solid seasons at Louisiana State University: as a freshman in 2015, he had gone 12-0, 1.97 and was named the Louisville Slugger Freshman Pitcher of the Year and was also named an All-American by Baseball America; as a junior in 2017 he went 10-5, 2.97. All three years, he struck out over a batter per inning. He went to the College World Series in both 2015 and 2017, with LSU reaching the finals the second year before losing to the University of Florida.

As is often the case with college pitchers coming off a full season of work, Lange started his pro career with a very light workload with the Eugene Emeralds of the Northwest League in 2017, with just 9 1/3 innings in 4 starts. In 2018, he went 6-8, 3.74 with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Carolina League, pitching 120 1/3 innings in 23 starts. In spite of these pretty good numbers, he was back at with the same team at the start of 2019. Maybe it was the disappointment with repeating a level where he had done well, but the results were atrocious with a 1-9 record and an ERA of 7.36 in 11 starts. The Cubs then decided in June to move him up to AA in spite of that mess, and he did a lot better with the Tennessee Smokies of the Southern League. In 7 starts there, he was 2-3, 3.92. On July 31st, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers along with fellow prospect Paul Richan in return for Nicholas Castellanos, who had been the Tigers' best hitter until then. He finished the year with the Erie Sea Wolves in the Eastern League where he was used exclusively in relief, going 2-1, 3.45 in 9 games, covering 15 2/3 innings. After the season, he pitched in the Arizona Fall League, again strictly as a reliever, as it seemed to be the role to which the Tigers were destining him.

After spending 2020 at the Tigers' alternate training site, he made his major league debut ten days into the 2021 season, pitching one scoreless inning in relief in an 11-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians.

On July 8, 2023, he pitched the final inning of a combined no-hitter by the Tigers against the Toronto Blue Jays. Matt Manning had started things off with 6 2/3 hitless innings, and Jason Foley had recorded the next four outs in order before Alex took the mound and also retired the Jays in order to preserve the no-hitter and a 2-0 win.

Further Reading

• Jason Beck: "Manning leads the way as Tigers combine to no-hit Blue Jays", mlb.com, July 8, 2023. [1]

Related Sites

• Alex Lange on mlb.com
• BR Minors page