Daniel Norris

Norris began his career with the Rookie-Advanced Bluefield Blue Jays and Low-A Vancouver Canadians in 2012, where he pitched to a combined 2–4 record, an earned run average of 8.44, and a 1.78 WHIP.

Norris features four-seam and two-seam fastballs that average about 92 mph and top out at 96 mph. He also throws a slider and a circle change that both average about 85 mph, and a curveball in the mid 70s. He learned all of the pitches by his senior year of high school. In 2012, he overhauled his pitching mechanics to improve the repetitiveness of his delivery.

The Blue Jays drafted Norris in the second round (74th overall) of the 2011 MLB Draft. Baseball America rated Norris as the 91st best prospect in baseball prior to the 2012 season. He was ranked as the number 4 prospect in the Blue Jays minor league organization on July 26, 2013, when the revised Top 100 Prospects list was released.

In 2013, Norris split time with the Class-A Lansing Lugnuts and High-A Dunedin Blue Jays, and finished the season with a 2–7 record, but made a major improvement with his ERA, which dropped to 3.97.

Norris began the 2014 season in Dunedin, and earned a 3–0 record with an ERA of 0.80 through his first 9 starts. On June 3, 2014, he was announced as the Pipeline Pitching Prospect of the Month of May. He posted a 1–0 record and a 0.68 ERA over 5 starts to win the award. On June 15, he was called up to the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats after posting a 6–0 record, 1.22 ERA, and 1.025 WHIP in 13 starts with Dunedin. Norris appeared in the 2014 All-Star Futures Game on June 24, 2014.

On September 1, 2014, Norris was called up to the Blue Jays as part of the September roster expansion. On September 5, he made his MLB debut against the Boston Red Sox, striking out David Ortiz. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons announced on September 23 that Norris would make his first major league start on September 25, and would pitch 2–3 innings. Norris pitched 3⁄3 innings and yielded 2 earned runs on 1 hit, 2 walks, while striking out 1. In total for 2014, Norris pitched 6⁄3 innings with the Blue Jays, and post a 5.40 ERA, 4 strikeouts, and a 1.50 WHIP.

Norris had arthroscopic surgery on October 7, 2014, to remove bone spurs and loose bodies from his left (pitching) elbow.

On January 21, 2015, Norris was named by MLB as the third-best LHP prospect in baseball. In 2015, MLB named Norris as the number 1 Blue Jays' prospect, the number 3 left-handed pitching prospect in baseball, and the 17th best prospect overall. He opened the 2015 season in the starting rotation for the Blue Jays. After his fifth start, Norris was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo on May 1.

On July 30, 2015, Norris was traded to the Detroit Tigers along with Matt Boyd and Jairo Labourt in exchange for David Price. In his debut for the Tigers on August 2, Norris pitched 7⁄3 innings and struck out five Baltimore Orioles hitters, allowing one walk, four hits, and just one earned run on a solo home run by Chris Davis in the fourth inning. Following the home run to Davis, Norris retired the next 12 batters in a row, earning the win in a 6–1 Tigers victory.

On August 19, 2015, Norris became the first Tigers pitcher to hit a home run in his first career plate appearance, the first pitcher to do so since Tommy Milone in 2011, and the first American League pitcher to do so since Esteban Yan in 2000. He also became the first Tigers pitcher to homer since Jason Johnson did so on June 8, 2005, and the first American League pitcher to ever hit a regular-season home run at Wrigley Field. Norris exited the game in the fifth inning with a right oblique strain, and was placed on the disabled list the following day.

On October 19, 2015, Norris announced through his Instagram account that he had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He was diagnosed the previous April, and with a doctor's consent, he continued playing and delayed treatment until the end of the season. On October 29, Norris announced he was cancer free following a successful surgery to remove a malignant growth from his thyroid.

On March 24, 2016, the Tigers announced that Norris would start the 2016 season on the disabled list, due to a lower back issue suffered during spring training. He was recalled to the Tigers on May 11, 2016, but made only a one-inning appearance against the Baltimore Orioles on May 12 before being returned to AAA Toledo. Norris was recalled again on June 21 following the demotion of Matt Boyd, and made his first start of the 2016 season on June 23. After pitching two innings plus one batter in a July 4 start against the Cleveland Indians, Norris was removed from the game. He was later diagnosed with an oblique strain, the same injury he suffered in late 2015, and was placed on the disabled list for the third time in his career. Norris returned to the mound for the Tigers on August 9 to start a game against the Seattle Mariners. In a September 12 game against the Minnesota Twins, Norris struck out a career-high 11 batters in just 6 ⁄3 innings. Norris made 13 starts for the Tigers in 2016, finishing the season with a 4–2 record and a 3.38 ERA, while striking out 71 batters in 69 ⁄3 innings.

Although he logged the most innings of his young career (101 ⁄3), Norris took a step backward in 2017, posting a 5–8 record and a 5.31 ERA while striking out 86 batters. Norris dealt with hip and quadriceps issues during the season, and admitted he dug a "deeper hole" by trying to come back too soon from a DL stint.

On October 29, 2018, he was selected MLB All-Stars at 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series

On January 11, 2019, the Tigers avoided arbitration with Norris, agreeing on a one-year, $1.275 million contract. Norris ended the season with a 3-13 record despite setting career highs in games (32), starts (29), innings (144 ⁄3) and strikeouts (125). In the latter part of the season, the Tigers limited Norris to three innings per start in an effort to manage his workload.

On January 10, 2020, the Tigers avoided arbitration with Norris, agreeing on a one-year contract worth $2,962,500. On July 9, 2020, it was announced that Norris had tested positive for COVID-19. Norris was later cleared to join the Opening Day roster. In 14 games during the 2020 season, Norris went 3–1 with a 3.25 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 27 ⁄3 innings.