DETROIT — There are officially two Verlanders in the Detroit Tigers organization now.
The Tigers drafted Ben Verlander, the younger brother of Justin, in the 14th round of the MLB Draft Saturday.
"I'm very excited they drafted me," Ben Verlander said in a phone interview. "It's a very exciting time."
Of course, this might put a small crimp in Justin's evil, joking plan to hit Ben with a pitch had he been drafted by another team and faced him in a game.
"I actually told Justin he's not going to be able to hit me now that we're on the same team," Ben said. "He said maybe he'd get me in spring training. I said at least now I can try to give him some run support rather than getting clunked in the ribs."
Justin had people monitoring the draft so they could tell him when Ben was drafted.
"Obviously, really excited," Justin said after Saturday's game. "Just to be drafted is an honor. To be be drafted to the team that your big brother's on is even more cool.
"He earned this all on his own. He's worked extremely hard and deserves every minute of it. I couldn't be happier for him. Proud brother."
Ben, who was with their parents, Kathy and Richard, when he found out he was drafted, heard from Justin right after it happened.
"He said everyone in the clubhouse was very excited for me and he kept saying how happy he was for me and how proud he was of me," Ben said.
Because of his brother, Ben has been able to spend time with the Tigers, including with hitting coach Lloyd McClendon, who offered him some hitting advice.
Playing for Old Dominion, the same college Justin attended, Ben switched to playing the outfield instead of pitching this season, his junior year. He batted .367 with 11 home runs.
Ben, 21, is nine years younger than Justin.
"We never came close to playing with each other before," Justin said. "What an experience that would be. Hopefully that's the case. I hope he's able to make it."
"We've gotten closer as I've gotten older, now that we're in similar phases of our lives," Ben said.
The younger Verlander was drafted by the Tigers before, as a high schooler in the 46th round of the 2010 draft but Ben opted to attend college.
This time it's different.
"I know after watching this year and talking to some of the guys here, how much he'd matured and become a good baseball player," Justin said. "Obviously, it's not just a favor to draft him.
"You don't do that in the 14th round. They see promise in him. I've talked to Dave (Dombrowski, Tigers president and general manager) about him a little bit, he said the guys like him."
Although he said they haven't talked about it, Justin thinks Ben has a good chance of signing with the Tigers.
"I would think he's gonna play," Justin said. "I don't know. I think he wants a chance to play professional baseball."
Now he has a chance to play on the same team as his brother and avoid the pain of getting plunked.
Tigers also get another Hunter: The Tigers also picked another family member of a current Tiger in the draft Saturday.
In the 36th round, the Tigers took outfielder Torii Hunter Jr., the same player who has committed to play football for Notre Dame next season and also intends to play baseball there.
"That's awesome, man," Hunter said following Saturday's game. "I had nothing to do with that. That's pretty cool and a coincidence that he gets drafted by the Tigers. It's a great organization and why wouldn't I want my son in this organization?"
The younger Hunter broke his left leg in January during U.S. Army All-American Bowl practice so he missed his senior baseball season at Prosper High.
Hunter, who turned 18 Friday, said on his Twitter account, @THunterJr, "That's a pretty good birthday present I guess. Getting drafted and all haha:) it's definitely a blessing, all honor to the man upstairs!"
Hunter said he'd leave it up to his son to decide what he would like to do.
"It's whatever he wants," Hunter said. "You play a long time in baseball. I've proved that. I've been playing a while -- 20 years in professional ball.
"But at the same time, he has to find his path and find his way. This is my dream. I don't know what his dream is. I know he loves baseball and football.
"One day, he's going to pick and choose -- and it might be tomorrow, we don't know."
