The Tigers wrapped up their Draft dealings on Tuesday with the final 10 their 21 selections. And while team officials will say their picks went as their board fell, a few trends carried across the three-day process.
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¡°I think we were able to execute on a game plan,¡± assistant GM Rob Metzler said. ¡°Additionally, it was an excellent process of getting viewpoints from across the organization. Top to bottom, process and results, we thought it was excellent.¡±
Here are three takeaways from Detroit's 2024 Draft:
1) Can¡¯t have enough pitching
The Tigers used 14 of their 21 picks on pitching, including seven of their 10 selections on Tuesday. Keep in mind, that doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯ll have 14 pitchers coming into the system. Five of the seven pitchers they selected on Day 3 were either high school or junior college picks, and they¡¯ll have the option to go to a four-year program or turn pro. Still, even if a few of them opt not to turn pro yet, the Tigers should have enough of a crop to help fortify the farm system.
¡°A lot of this is how our board fell,¡± amateur scouting director Mark Conner said. ¡°Throughout the process, we line it up, and we can¡¯t control what the other 29 teams do. As players started coming off the board, it just kind of lined up for us to have a chance to get pitching that we¡¯re really excited about. It wasn¡¯t necessarily the game plan going in.¡±
While teams prefer to draft the best player available rather than addressing specific needs in a farm system, a look at MLB Pipeline¡¯s Tigers Prospect Rankings -- which haven¡¯t yet been updated with this year¡¯s Draft picks -- reflects a trend: 18 of Detroit's Top 30 prospects are position players, and eight of the 12 ranked pitching prospects are at Double-A Erie or higher. High-A West Michigan right-hander Jaden Hamm, a fifth-round pick from last year¡¯s Draft, might be the most promising of the lower-level pitching prospects, ranked 18th but potentially on his way up.
Top 15 Draft picks:
1. Bazzana | 2. Burns | 3. Condon | 4. Kurtz | 5. Smith | 6. Caglianone | 7. Wetherholt | 8. Moore | 9. Griffin | 10. King | 11. Rainer | 12. Montgomery | 13. Tibbs | 14. Smith | 15. Cijntje
2) High school prospects throughout
The Tigers¡¯ trend toward high school players early in the Draft was chronicled after they selected right-hander Owen Hall and left-hander Ethan Schiefelbein in the second round Sunday night. Both were ranked among MLB Pipeline¡¯s Top 250 Draft prospects beforehand. Hall is committed to Vanderbilt, while Schiefelbein is committed to UCLA, and they¡¯ll have to weigh whether to turn pro, though Detroit has scouted and talked with them both enough to know their situations ahead of time.
¡°We¡¯re not going to comment on signability,¡± Metzler said.
The trend slowed after that, but it still continued to a lesser extent. Ninth-round pick Zach Swanson ranked 178th on MLB Pipeline¡¯s list despite an up-and-down senior season. He has a college commitment to Oregon State, but he told the Longview Daily News he¡¯ll likely turn pro.
Detroit¡¯s 12th-round pick, shortstop Jude Warwick from Downers Grove, Ill., committed to Michigan State. Anson Seibert, a 6-foot-8 left-hander from Blue Valley Southwest High School in Kansas, is committed to defending national champion Tennessee, but the Tigers took a shot in drafting him in the 16th round. He ranked 108th on Pipeline¡¯s pre-Draft list.
¡°He is a very talented arm,¡± Conner said. ¡°Big body with projection, big fastball up to 98 this spring. Ended up having surgery this year, but a lot of starter ingredients and a lot of upside and projection remaining.¡±
Detroit¡¯s selections in Rounds 17 and 19 were also high schoolers in catcher Gabriel Rosado and left-hander Chase Davis, a South Alabama commit.
There¡¯s a key difference between drafting high school players in the second half of the Draft. Each team¡¯s picks in the first 10 rounds come with a slot value, which adds up to a team¡¯s total Draft pool. If a player selected in the first 10 rounds doesn¡¯t sign, the slot value is subtracted from the team¡¯s pool. That way, a team can¡¯t waste a pick on a player who won¡¯t sign and then use that money to pay other picks over slot. So there¡¯s a vested interest in making sure players taken in those rounds are signable.
By contrast, picks from the 11th round on don¡¯t have slot values. If a player in that range doesn¡¯t sign, the team doesn¡¯t lose money. But if a player in that range signs for more than $150,000, the difference comes out of a team¡¯s bonus pool for the first 10 rounds.
¡°The calculus changes on a pick-by-pick basis,¡± Metzler said. ¡°We adjust and make the best decisions we can as we go.¡±
3) Athleticism matters
The Tigers don¡¯t have a stereotype for an ideal player, evidenced by the fact that the pitchers they drafted range in height from 5-foot-10 to 6-foot-8. But they value athleticism, both with hitters and pitchers. Four of the seven position players Detroit drafted are listed as shortstops, two others as outfielders and one catcher. At least two pitchers drafted, Swanson and 11th-rounder Micah Ashman, were noted two-sport athletes, having been standout basketball players in high school.
¡°As we build baseball athletes, raw athleticism is a very good foundation,¡± Metzler said. ¡°Guys who have played other sports growing up, that¡¯s usually a good starting spot. It very often helps. These guys are all going to need to get better and make adjustments. That athleticism is often very helpful in the ability to make those adjustments.¡±