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A man in control: Tigers' Drew VerHagen finally finds key to unlock vast potential

Minneapolis — It’s funny how fortunes can turn when you have nothing left to lose.

Tigers reliever Drew VerHagen couldn’t have sunk much lower, at least in terms of his baseball career, than he was April 23 when the Tigers designated him for assignment.

Except maybe over the following couple of days when the realization hit that not only had the Tigers, the team that drafted him out of Vanderbilt in the fourth round in 2012, bailed on him — but no other team thought enough of him to claim him off waivers.

VerHagen took a couple of days to flush away the hurt and vanquish any trace of self-pity, then went back to work.