The Detroit Tigers have been drafting and signing high upside talent recently and their system is very heavy with prospects in the lower minor and most are a few years away. Only two prospects in our top 16 are over 23 years of age.
Below are our top 16 prospects with 2013 opening day age, position, and comments on each player. Below the top 16 is a small list of additional notable names. Enjoy.
| Player | Comments | |
| 1 | Nick Castellanos (21-3B/OF) | Castellanos has steadily climbed up prospect lists since he was drafted out of high school in 2010 and is today one of the best pure hitters in the minor leagues. He has a smooth right-handed swing with an advanced approach at the plate. There is power potential in his bat and he should hit for 20-25 homeruns at the next level. He drives the ball well to all parts of the field and he has the tools to hit for a .300 average for many years to come. The jury is still out in regards to his defense and some think that he will eventually move from third to a corner outfield spot. In July the Tigers moved him to right field where he showed promise and the potential of being average defensively in right. Regardless of where Castellanos ends up, his ticket to the bigs his bat and he should be a force in the middle of the Tigers order with All-Star potential. -Michael Schwartze |
| 2 | Austin Schotts (19-OF) | Schotts has at least 70 speed with one scout telling me he has 80 speed and could line up against Mike Trout and Michael Bourn and potentially beat them in a foot race. He has a great approach at the plate, especially for a teenager. The scout likened him to Mike Trout with less power. High praise. Schotts will have no problem staying in center field with his plus-plus speed and the instincts of a player who has played the game for years. He plays the game the right way and goes all-out in everything he does including his extreme workouts. Combining what I saw, what the scout had to say, and Schotts’ incredible work ethic we could be talking about Schotts in a few years and wondering how he lasted until the third round of the 2012 draft. Austin Schotts Intrview. -Jonathan C. Mitchell |
| 3 | Bruce Rondon (22-RHP) | Rondon signed out of Venezuela in 2007 and he has posted impressive numbers in the minor leagues, finishing last year at AAA. Armed with a fastball capable of hitting triple digits, Rondon has a legit shot to be the closer in Detroit as a rookie. He compliments his fastball with solid secondary offerings that have made good strides over the years. His slider shows the potential of becoming an average offering as well as his high 80s change up. He has really improved his command over the years but there is still a lot of work to do and this will be one of his biggest issues. Rondon could break camp in the back of the Tigers bullpen and at some point this year be closing games for the Tigers. He has ace reliever potential and is the closer of the future in Detroit. -MS |
| 4 | Danry Vasquez (19-OF) | Vasquez signed with the Tigers as a 16-year-old out of Venezuela for $1.2 million in 2010. Still just 19, the left-handed hitting outfielder is about to enter his third professional season and does nothing to indicate he won’t turn out to be the type of player originally envisioned by Detroit. He hit .311 with short-season Connecticut last season, although he struggled when the Tigers aggressively gave him a 29-game stint in A-ball. He has the frame to expect more power from his sweet lefty swing as he matures, and the arm to play a corner outfield spot.If he continues developing, the Tigers could have an above-average starting outfielder in the near future. -AM Danry Vasquez Interview. |
| 5 | Avisail Garcia (21-OF) | Garcia is a solid defender in RF with a plus arm and good speed. He has the power you traditionally want in a corner outfielder but his approach is poor and he is prone to striking out a lot and will chase anything that spins. He has loads of potential and is still very young but I see more of a potential regular in the Jeff Francoeur mold than a potential all-star. -JCM |
| 6 | Jake Thompson (19-RHP) | One scout I spoke with said that if his team had a 2nd round pick they would have taken Thompson and been thoroughly happy he fell to them. Thompson already has the body of a major league ready innings-eater and his mound presence and confidence is already there. He has a low-90s fastball that he pairs with a potentially plus slider, both having potential to tick upwards on radar guns as he progresses. He looks every part of a #3 starter with the same scout telling me has #2 potential. -JCM |
| 7 | Eugenio Suarez (21-SS) | If you believe he can stay at short, and I do, his above-average patience and at least average hit tool give him the potential to be at least an average big league shortstop. If he cuts down on his strikeouts he has an outside shot at making an All-Star game or two, but that looks like a big if at the moment. -JCM |
| 8 | Casey Crosby (24-LHP) | Injuries were a major problem for Crosby early on in his career but he has put together two healthy seasons in a row now. He made his big league debut this year where things did not go very well for him in three starts and command was a big issue for him. He has a powerful fastball sitting in the low to mid 90s and capable of touching the upper 90s and it features nice run. He also throws a curve that has above-average to plus potential and a changeup that has shown signs of improvement but he still has some work to do with it. Crosby has a great durable build with good stuff but command will be his biggest issue for him and hold him back from reaching his ceiling as a number 3 starter if it does not come around. -MS |
| 9 | Tyler Collins (22-OF) | Collins carries a plus hit tool and great approach at the plate but he profiles defensively in a corner outfield spot and does not have the traditional power to play there. He looks to have the floor of a solid fourth outfielder with the upside of a regular who gets on base enough to make you forget about the lack of power. -JCM |
| 10 | Steven Moya (21-OF) | He has the prototypical power you want from a right fielder and his athleticism could keep him there as long as he recovers fully from Tommy John surgery. He still has a ways to go with his plate discipline but the power is too legit to quit on. -JCM |
| 11 | Harold Castro (19-2B) | Castro is a contact-oriented hitter who can square up pitches but lacks any type of present power. At only 140 pounds he has room to add muscle and turn his hard hit singles into doubles and let his speed play on the bases. He should be able to stick at second base but is still a bit raw. -JCM |
| 12 | Montreal Robertson (22-RHP) | The powerful right-hander was only a 29th-round draft choice in 2011, but is one of the most intriguing projects in Detroit’s system. He throws in the mid-90s and has been clocked as high as 98 mph. It appears that the Tigers are hoping to make him a starter, though his stuff could play up even more out of the bullpen. -AM |
| 13 | Joe Rogers (22-LHP) | The left-handed Rogers was a closer in college at the University of Central Florida. His participation on Chet Lemon‘s AAU team first got him on the Tigers’ radar. Drafted in the fifth round of last year’s draft, he doesn’t have the stuff (low-90s fastball, slurve and changeup) to close in the majors, but could be a solid seventh inning of lefty specialist. He posted a 2.28 ERA and 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings in his first professional season, and may move quickly through the system because of his college pedigree. Joe Rogers Interview. -AM |
| 14 | Dean Green (23-1B) | At 6’4″ and 255 pounds, one would think that Green has unlimited power. While he can hit the ball out of the park, that skill has not caught up (12 home runs in 105 games last year) with his overall approach that has led to a combined .318 batting average during his first two professional seasons. Despite his size, he is a surprisingly decent defensive first baseman who shouldn’t automatically be thrust into the category of a DH. Dean Green Interview. -AM |
| 15 | James McCann (22-C) | McCann has above-average skills behind the plate and takes pride in working with his pitchers. The bat looks like that of a back up catcher’s but if he gears his swing to better suit his lack of power he could be an average regular. Right now he looks like a player that will have a long career albeit as a back up. -JCM |
| 16 | Jeff Kobernus (24-2B) | Kobernus, a second baseman was originally a second-round draft choice of the Washington Nationals. He came to Detroit this offseason via a trade from the Boston Red Sox who had chosen him in the Rule-5 draft earlier that day. He has above average speed, swiping 120 total bases in 290 career professional games. He has a decent glove and bat, but has almost no power. He could provide future value as a backup infielder and pinch runner once he is ready for the majors. -AM Jeff Kobernus Interview |
A few more: Hernan Perez (2B), Melvin Mercedes (RHP), Brenny Paulino (RHP)
Be sure to follow @Mike_Schwartze, @FigureFilbert, @HistorianAndrew and @BaseballSpencer on Twitter, all of whom collaborated to put together these rankings.
