LAKELAND, Fla. >> Tommy Kahnle doesn’t try to hide his allegiances.

It’s hard to miss the gold Notre Dame football helmet hung in his locker or his Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl champion ball cap on the top shelf. It’s also hard to get his focus off his laptop when he’s not working.

Every morning he’s scouring sites for NFL roster news.

“Are you a big fantasy guy,” he was asked on one quiet morning in the Tigers’ clubhouse.

“No,” he said. “I’m a GM.”

The 35-year-old free-agent signee ($7.75 million) is going to fit right in with the existing Tigers’ bullpen vibe.

“He’s got a great personality,” manager AJ Hinch said. “He’s really engaging. One of the more refreshing parts is, he’s willing to do anything.”

Kahnle, of course, last pitched in the World Series with the Yankees. He’s coming off two strong seasons in New York, posting a sub-3.00 ERA, a sub-1.2 WHIP and holding hitters under a .200 average.

He possesses one the most unique and effective changeups in the game. Over the last five seasons, the pitch has limited hitters to a .151 batting average (66 for 435) with 173 strikeouts and a 39% whiff rate. He threw changeups well over 70% of the time the last two seasons.

What he would like to do, and what he’s been working on with the Tigers’ pitching department, is to complement the changeup with a better four-seamer. Once upon a time, in 2017 and before Tommy John surgery, his heater rang in at 98 mph.

“I lost my good heater,” he said. “I lost velo on it. I’ve got to work with 92, 93, 94 these days. Fett and Robin (pitching coaches Chris Fetter and Robin Lund) are working with me on trying different grips to see if I can at least get more run on it, more zip.”

Kahnle’s fastball, which he threw 19% of the time last year, averaged 94 mph. It’s been on a slow decline the last three years (96 mph in 2022, 95 in 2023, 94 last year).

“He’s an open book,” Hinch said. “He’s willing to try things. He wants to dive in with Fett and Robin on his fastball.”

The Tigers have had some success in revitalizing fastballs. Look no further than the work they did with Jack Flaherty before last year. They worked on his body movements and mechanics to get him moving better down the mound. They also got him to abandon the cutter.

His velo was down to 90-91 toward the end of 2023. Last year, he was sitting 93.3 but had 95 and 96 when he needed it.

Kenta Maeda is another. He struggled to hit 90 mph last season. The Tigers changed his entire offseason program and he threw 92 in his first live bullpen.

“We’re going to build him up slowly,” Hinch said. “Which is something he’s always wanted. And quite honestly, we wanted to do something different for him based on the fact that the other way hasn’t really worked. He’s had a hard time getting up and running.

“But when he gets up and running, he’s been leaned of heavily. He will post and he will pitch through anything.”

MVP, MVP

Lefty reliever Tyler Holton was playing around of golf with his buddies this offseason and for three hours had his phone off. When he turned it on, it was blowing up with missed calls and text messages.

“I had missed calls from Skip (Hinch) and Fett and I was like, ‘What are they calling me for?’” Holton said. “Then I checked my texts and they were all congratulations. I was like, for what?”

As it turned out, Tarik Skubal wasn’t the only Tigers pitcher who got an MVP vote last year. Mike Wilner, a baseball columnist at the Toronto Star, gave Holton a 10th-place vote.

“It was much appreciated,” Holton said, who took it as a vote of appreciation for the success of the Tigers’ bullpen and the pitching-chaos strategy. “It was a great year for the guys. I was surprised by it, but it’s pretty cool.”

Skubal, the American League Cy Young winner, finished seventh in the MVP race last season with 93 points. He got one fourth-place vote, nine sixth-place votes, seven seventh-place votes, plus two for eighth and ninth place and three for 10th.

It’s a Lambo thing

Pretty comical morning in the Tigers’ players lot Thursday. Javier Báez, for three years, has created his own personal parking space alongside a bricked in flower bed outside the facility. When he rolled his Lamborghini Urus into the lot Friday, he saw another Lamborghini in his spot.

This one was a Huracan and it belonged to Gleyber Torres, who beat Báez to the facility and wanted to poke the bear a little bit. Báez was undaunted. He pulled his Urus in front of Torres’ car, even though half the car spilled out into the driveway.

“I think Gleyber was poking a little fun at Javy,” Hinch said. “I know our parking lot has gotten a little fancier over the last couple of years. Just normal spring training shenanigans.”

Around the horn

Tigers’ rookie Jackson Jobe threw his first live bullpen on Friday and he unleashed his new toy. He ripped off several nasty-looking curveballs, inducing some headshakes from the right-handed hitters. He throws the pitch hard and it has late vertical break. It was an impressive session.

… The Tigers used the stadium mound at Joker Marchant Friday to test the ABS challenge system, which will be in play at all Tigers’ home spring games. MLB is testing the system in both the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues this spring. “Hitters, listen, every borderline pitch, they take they think they’re right,” Hinch said. “So, we’re going to find out.” Jace Jung was the first to challenge a pitch. He was overruled.

… The Tigers open Grapefruit League play Saturday against the Phillies in Lakeland. Maeda will start and Matt Manning will piggy-back off him. Casey Mize is scheduled to start on Sunday against the Yankees in Tampa.

… Hinch plans to hold out some of his regular players until next week. He said Spencer Torkelson will start at first base Saturday and Colt Keith will make his debut at first base Sunday.

… Hinch also said that Báez (hip) is expected to be cleared for full competition by the weekend. The hope is he can be ready to play in games on March 1.