Battle-tested: Tigers' Casey Mize not defeated or defined by rough 7-start MLB debut

Detroit — If you were looking for a window into Casey Mize’s character, go back to Sept. 23 at Target Field.

It was after his final start of the 2020 season. It went the way most of his six other starts went last year — an encouraging start quickly devolving into a flurry of hits and runs and an early exit. Afterward, Mize was certainly bloodied emotionally, but he was far from broken.

“I’m not lost,” he said in his postgame interview. “I feel like I have the stuff to be here.”

He was sounding his own offseason battle cry. He was telling whoever needed to hear it that even though he is a one-one — first overall pick in the draft (2018) — he’s never felt anointed or entitled. He’s not going to…