Here are the Tigers' 2025 Top 30 prospects

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Sometime during the Tigers¡¯ offseason-long pursuit of free agent third baseman Alex Bregman, the narrative caught hold: Is Detroit building up for a two-year window of contention, built around the years of club control left on reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal?

Not surprisingly, Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris pushed back on that. But it wasn¡¯t just because of the talent around Skubal on the current club. It was also about the talent still on the way.

¡°We see an organization that has come a really long way in two years, that is on the brink of becoming one of those organizations that is a fixture in October,¡± Harris said last month. ¡°We haven¡¯t earned that yet. We have to continue to get better in spring and into the season. But there are a lot of guys in that clubhouse who are going to be here for a long time, and there are a lot of guys in the [Minor League] clubhouse down the road who are going to be in this clubhouse for a long time. So we really feel really good about both our present and our future.¡±

Harris has good reason for optimism about the future. After welcoming a bevy of prospects last year into one of baseball¡¯s youngest clubhouses and proceeding on a late-season run into the playoffs, the Tigers still have one of baseball¡¯s top-ranked farm systems. That includes six players on MLB Pipeline¡¯s Top 100 prospects list, four of whom were not on the list at this point a year ago.

One byproduct of all the prospect promotions from last year is that the latest rankings trend younger and lower on the organizational ladder. Just 10 members of the Tigers¡¯ latest Top 30 have played above the High-A level, six of them pitchers. There¡¯s also an increasing international influence, not just with the rise of catcher Thayron Liranzo and Arizona Fall League MVP Josue Brice?o (MLB No. 94), but with lower-level prospects from recent international classes. A handful of Top 30 members, both international signings and recent Draft picks, have yet to play pro ball in the U.S.

The Tigers had a back-to-back league champion at Double-A Erie, and a near-champion at Single-A Lakeland that fell a game shy. After last year¡¯s wave of young talent washed upon Detroit, there¡¯s a spread of talent across the system. If Detroit¡¯s vaunted player development system can bring it along, there should be a regular influx of young talent for years to come.

Here's a look at the Tigers' top prospects:

1. Jackson Jobe, RHP (MLB No. 5)
2. Max Clark, OF (MLB No. 6)
3. Kevin McGonigle, SS/2B (MLB No. 28)
4. Bryce Rainer, SS (MLB No. 52)
5. Thayron Liranzo, C/1B (MLB No. 81)
   Complete Top 30 list ?

Biggest jump/fall

Here are the players whose ranks changed the most from the 2024 preseason list to the 2025 preseason list:

Jump: Jaden Hamm, RHP (2024: NR | 2025: 9)
Hamm was a talented but relatively unknown fifth-round pick in 2023 out of Middle Tennessee State, where he wasn¡¯t even the top-drafted pitcher from the program. He took the High-A Midwest League by storm for the first two months and went rocketing up prospect rankings, eventually winning Detroit's Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors.

Fall: Wilmer Flores, RHP (2024: 11 | 2025: NR)
Flores, once a Top 100 prospect, looked like he was back to his hard-throwing self last Spring Training with 99 mph fastballs out of the bullpen, but injuries and command woes derailed his first season at Triple-A Toledo. The Tigers removed him from the 40-man roster and re-signed him to a Minor League contract while he rehabs in Spring Training from an offseason PRP injection in his shoulder.

Best tools

Players are graded on a 20-80 scouting scale for future tools ¨C 20-30 is well below average, 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average and 70-80 is well above average. Players in parentheses have the same grade.

Hit: 65 ¨C Kevin McGonigle
Power: 70 ¨C Cris Rodriguez
Run: 70 ¨C Max Clark
Arm: 70 ¨C Clark (Bryce Rainer)
Field: 60 ¨C Clark
Fastball: 70 ¨C Jackson Jobe
Curveball: 55 ¨C Jaden Hamm
Slider: 70 ¨C Jobe
Changeup: 60 ¨C Jobe
Control: 55 -- Jobe

How they were built
Draft: 20 | International: 5 | Trade: 5

Breakdown by ETA
2025: 9 | 2026: 5 | 2027: 6 | 2028: 7 | 2029: 2 | 2030: 1

Breakdown by position
C: 2 | 1B: 1 | 2B: 2 | 3B:1 | SS: 6 | OF: 4 | RHP: 11 | LHP: 3