LAKELAND, Fla. -- Until now, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus has avoided the fray.
But on the first day of full-squad workouts, Ausmus relented, joining Twitter. You can find him at @BradAusmus07.
His first (and only so far) tweet was, "Day one message to the team...every pitch, every swing, and every play matters."
So why jump on Twitter now?
"Twenty-first century, I've got to move on," Ausmus said Wednesday morning. "I can't get stuck in the stone age."
The truth is Ausmus has been on Twitter for years with a private account that he used solely to monitor his teenage daughters' activities there.
But Ausmus clearly knows what Twitter truly is for.
"I'll probably have a Twitter rant sometime, maybe get in a Twitter feud with Taylor Swift," Ausmus said. "Break the internet eventually, I'm sure."
Ausmus was kidding (we think).
But Ausmus did say he would be the only one responsible for that account, no one else would be tweeting for him. So don't expect a lot of content on that account.
It was recommended to Ausmus that he not read his mentions as the Twittersphere can be a cruel place.
"Oh, I'm not going to read it," Ausmus said. "I promise you I'm not going to read anything that's said."
The Tigers have a program for the players on how to handle social media and media in general.
Every new player goes through the program once.
Ausmus said it doesn't matter what he thinks about social media as it's here to stay.
"If I went into the clubhouse and asked how many guys have a Twitter account, I would say it'd be nearly 100 percent hands in the air saying they do," Ausmus said. "It's part of the world we live in."
Asked if he was glad social media wasn't around when he was a player, Ausmus said:
"Yes. Very glad."
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COMPLETE TIGERS SPRING TRAINING 2015 COVERAGE
