* This column was originally published on March 22, 2008, for www.teddysportblog.blogspot.com.

Around The Majors With Tyler And Teddy continues this Friday, 1/16/09, at 1 PM Eastern and will talk about the 2009 Detroit Tigers along with the rest of the A.L. Central. Click here to access the show's archive.

When a club adds arguably the best hitter in Major League Baseball to its lineup that already includes the 2007 American League Batting Champion, a slugger who is closing in on 500 career homeruns, and multiple catalysts, it is no wonder that the majority of spring training banter will entertain the possibilities of the offense. 

Yes, the Detroit Tigers could have the scariest lineup baseball has seen in recent memory. Sure, this team could outscore the Yankees and Red Sox in 2008.

But the most important part of the game has always been, and will always be, pitching. Detroit is no slouch when it comes to performing on the bump, but the jury is still out on the rotation. 

Will the staff be great, merely good, or will it fail to show up? Time will tell, but there is one guy who will be an integral part to the answer of that question. That guy is Jeremy Bonderman.

Bonderman is only 25 years old, but 2008 will be his sixth season in the big leagues. Yes, his sixth. That is because Bonderman was brought to Detroit at the tender age of 20 and was asked to take the ball every fifth day for an organization that annually flirted with 100 losses. 

There is no question that he was rushed and was not even close to ready for the competition that a pitcher faces in the major leagues.

The problem was that Detroit simply had nobody better to throw out there. So here you go, Jeremy, here's the ball and good luck.

Now that Bonderman has had some seasons under his belt and is at the age where a young, budding superstar will begin to emerge, we should start to see Bonderman make that leap this season. 

He has always had the stuff that could, eventually, put him into 'elite' status, but it was unfair to expect such things from such a young arm.

Make no mistake about it, the time is now for Bonderman to start elevating his game if he intends on being a premier starting pitcher. Bonderman is well aware of those expectations this spring.

Power has been his protocol and his signature stamp has been the heater. There is nothing soft about this guy; not his frame or his repertoire. At 6'2'' and 220 pounds, Bonderman has the body to go along with his mid-90s fastball and power slider. 

He has used those pitches at will to dominate hitters in the past. The problem is that one cannot be a starting pitcher with only two pitches in the major leagues. Especially when both pitches are hard. Big league hitters are better than that.

Instead of being the young, stubborn stud that many players are before they realize that they need to adjust, Bonderman is showing great strides in maturity this spring by making his priority known.

His number one goal for spring training: develop his change up.

Bonderman has worked with pitching coach Chuck Hernandez tirelessly in Lakeland, Florida this spring trying to bring along his third offering. Catcher Pudge Rodriguez has been forcing Bonderman to throw the change in a variety of counts during his exhibition starts, making progress inevitable.

And the results? They have been nothing short of stellar. Bonderman has been throwing his change in the 82-86 mph range and has been inducing plenty of weak swings and feeble groundballs. 

Without intending to do so, working on the changeup has only made the fastball and slider that much better. Now Bonderman can use his best pitches to put hitters away and get ahead in the count, while using his newfound change to keep his pitch count down and to keep hitters honest.

If Bonderman sticks with the plan, and by all accounts he will, then he is not too far from complementing Justin Verlander in the Detroit rotation as a second ace. 

There are still a handful of innings to be thrown before the club heads north to begin the long haul, therefore giving this Tiger another chance to tune up before the expectations of the 2008 season are bestowed upon the Mo-Town clubhouse.

The talk will continue to be about the hitters come Opening Day, but that is perfectly fine with Bonderman. Whether he knows it or not, his development is the real determining factor of whether Detroit is just going to be in the hunt or hunting down playoff opponents. Change is good; this is Bonderman's time.

You can reach Teddy Mitrosilis at tm4000@yahoo.com

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