Detroit Tigers Top 34 Prospects
Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Detroit Tigers. Scouting reports were compiled with information provided by industry sources as well as our own observations. This is the second year we’re delineating between two anticipated relief roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see in the “position” column below: MIRP for multi-inning relief pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning relief pitchers.
A quick overview of what FV (Future Value) means can be found here. A much deeper overview can be found here.
All of the numbered prospects below also appear on The Board, a resource the site offers featuring sortable scouting information for every organization. It has more details than this article and integrates every team’s list so readers can compare prospects across farm systems. It can be found here.
Rk | Name | Age | Highest Level | Position | ETA | FV |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Spencer Torkelson | 22.4 | AAA | 1B | 2022 | 60 |
2 | Riley Greene | 21.3 | AAA | RF | 2022 | 60 |
3 | Jackson Jobe | 18.9 | R | SP | 2026 | 50 |
4 | Dillon Dingler | 23.3 | AA | C | 2023 | 50 |
5 | Cristian Santana | 18.1 | R | SS | 2025 | 45 |
6 | Reese Olson | 22.4 | AA | SP | 2022 | 45 |
7 | Ty Madden | 21.4 | R | SP | 2024 | 45 |
8 | Joey Wentz | 24.3 | AA | SP | 2022 | 45 |
9 | Colt Keith | 20.4 | A+ | 3B | 2025 | 40+ |
10 | Beau Brieske | 23.8 | AA | SP | 2023 | 40+ |
11 | Ryan Kreidler | 24.2 | AAA | SS | 2022 | 40+ |
12 | Gage Workman | 22.2 | A+ | SS | 2024 | 40+ |
13 | Wilmer Flores | 20.9 | A | SIRP | 2024 | 40+ |
14 | Trei Cruz | 23.5 | A+ | 2B | 2024 | 40 |
15 | Izaac Pacheco | 18.6 | R | 3B | 2026 | 40 |
16 | Alex Faedo | 26.2 | AA | SP | 2022 | 40 |
17 | Dylan Smith | 21.1 | R | SP | 2025 | 40 |
18 | Roberto Campos | 18.6 | R | RF | 2025 | 40 |
19 | Elvin Rodriguez | 23.8 | AAA | SP | 2022 | 40 |
20 | Jason Foley | 26.2 | MLB | SIRP | 2022 | 40 |
21 | Kody Clemens | 25.6 | AAA | 2B | 2022 | 40 |
22 | Paul Richan | 24.8 | AA | SP | 2022 | 40 |
23 | Manuel Sequera | 19.3 | R | 2B | 2023 | 40 |
24 | Wenceel Perez | 22.2 | A+ | SS | 2022 | 40 |
25 | Zack Hess | 24.9 | AA | SIRP | 2022 | 40 |
26 | Wilkel Hernandez | 22.7 | A | SP | 2022 | 40 |
27 | Parker Meadows | 22.2 | A+ | CF | 2022 | 40 |
28 | Daniel Cabrera | 23.3 | AA | LF | 2022 | 40 |
29 | Angel De Jesus | 24.9 | AAA | SIRP | 2022 | 35+ |
30 | Franklin Pérez | 24.1 | AA | SP | 2022 | 35+ |
31 | Tyler Mattison | 21.9 | R | SIRP | 2025 | 35+ |
32 | Andre Lipcius | 23.6 | AA | 3B | 2023 | 35+ |
33 | Jose De La Cruz | 20.0 | A | RF | 2024 | 35+ |
34 | Keider Montero | 21.5 | A+ | SIRP | 2023 | 35+ |
Other Prospects of Note
Grouped by type and listed in order of preference within each category.
Undrafted $20K Gems
Gabriel Sequeira, LHP
Chris Mauloni, RHP
Nick Davila, RHP
In addition to a few of the undrafted prospects in the main section of the list, the Tigers have this troika led by Sequeira and his terrific slider, which helped him strike out 74 in 47 IP, albeit as a 23-year-old in A-ball. Mauloni, 23, is a lower slot righty out of Jacksonville with two good breaking balls and an upshot fastball sitting about 93-94. He has a relief-only mechanical flavor. Davila has more of a starter look with more generic stuff, sitting 92 with an average slider and change. He could eventually be a spot starter.
Performance Art
Austin Murr, OF
Bryant Packard, OF
Ben Malgeri, OF
Austin Schultz, 2B/OF
This group consists of guys who have performed statistically, in either college or pro ball, and could realistically become bench pieces. Murr, 24, spent two years at a Des Moines JUCO then had two great seasons at NC State and was a sixth rounder in 2021. He had a measly 4% swinging strike rate in pro ball, though it was a relatively small, low-level sample. Packard has been on this list before but his performance took a dip in 2021 and we’re now a few years removed from the glow of his college track record, which is what put him on our radar in the first place. Malgeri did a box step around New England as an amateur, playing his freshman year at Holy Cross, summer ball with North Shore, then transferring to Northeastern and getting Cape reps before the draft. He has an OBP-driven profile. Schultz is a short-levered, multi-positional SEC performer drafted in the 10th round in 2021.
Earn Your Stripes
Eliezer Alfonzo, C
Rayner Castillo, RHP
Carlos Marcano, RHP
J.D. McLaughlin, OF/RHP
Iverson Leonardo, OF
Gabriel Reyes, LHP
Wilmer A. Fenelon, RHP
The young guys. We want to love Alfonzo, 20, as he’s a young-for-the-level switch-hitter with good numbers, but his visual evaluation is more in line with a third catcher on a 40-man. Castillo is still 17 and has prototypical measurables at 6-foot-3, 170 pounds. He sat 90-92 in 2021 and has a 45-grade curveball right now. Marcano, 18, also has a plus frame, sits about 92, and has a solid curveball. McLaughlin is a big-framed junior college prospect from Arizona with a bunch of 40/50-grade tools and a chance to grow into meaningful mass. He has experience on the mound and at a few different defensive positions. Leonardo, 20, has above-average bat speed and good career numbers, but his swing is odd and he’s a three-year rookie ball guy. Reyes, 18, is an above-average athlete currently sitting about 90-91. Fenelon, also 18, sat 92 in 2021 and has a slider that some pitch metrics really like, but he also walked a batter per inning. Those three teenage arms are priority stateside follows for 2022.
Older Depth Arms
Garrett Hill, RHP
Brendan White, RHP
Michael Bienlien, RHP
Wilmer Fenelon, RHP
Erick Pinales, RHP
Hill struck out 99 hitters in 75 innings while reaching Double-A in 2021, but the Tigers didn’t 40-man him. He sat mostly 91-94 during his Arizona Fall League stint, and his breaking balls, especially his slider, were harder than they were during the regular season. Hill’s splitter is his out-pitch, though. He’s a four-pitch spot starter type. White is a funky low-ish slot righty relief prospect with a big, sweeping breaking ball that spins in at 2900 rpm. Bienlein, 24, is another good find from NC State and has pitched well through the mid-minors while sitting 93-94 with an average curveball. That’s right, there are two Wilmer Fenelons in this system. They’re cousins. This Fenelon, 21, only pitched 11 innings in 2021 but he sat 97 while he did so. He also walked a batter per inning. Pinales sits 96 but has 20 control.
System Overview
The Tigers won just 77 games in 2021, but taken in context, the season was a rousing success. Some much-hyped young players began to contribute in the big leagues, the impact of new manager A.J. Hinch was easy to see, and the humble win total represented the club’s high water mark over the last five years. The Tigers aren’t good yet, but they’ve taken the essential and quite difficult step of going from being a club that is constantly re-tooling to one on its way. Now it’s time to take that next step toward actual contention.
Most of Detroit’s progress in 2021 came on the pitching side, as the offense finished 11th in the American League in runs scored. But while the Tigers system isn’t exceptionally deep, it does feature a duo of 60 FV offensive prospects in first baseman Spencer Torkelson and outfielder Riley Greene, who are not only quite good, but also quite close to making their debuts in Motown after finishing the year with successful runs at Triple-A Toledo. If both can reach their potential (far easier said than done), the middle of the Tigers lineup will be transformed. Those two alone could end up producing as much as some systems will in their entirety.
Other than 2021 first round pick Jackson Jobe, who is a long way away, the rest of the system is stocked with plenty of potential big leaguers, though few who look like future impact players. That’s fine, as the team has already sent the message that they are ready to spend in order to complement what’s coming from within, committing more than $200 million to Eduardo Rodriguez and Javier Báez this winter, while also trading for Gold Glove catcher Tucker Barnhart.
While the White Sox aren’t going anywhere at the top of the AL Central, the Tigers have plenty of key indicators trending in the right direction, and look to be on pace for their first playoff appearance since 2014 in the coming years.
Total aside bc I just started reading….FanGraphs is in as good a position as anyone or anything to start referring to the NCAA as a pro level league. I know it’s not technically correct and since we’ve all gone insane, would hurt the site’s credibility, but like…it is and they’re lying under cover of being able to write the rules. Just wait until Disney pays for media rights in 2023, it’s going to be a shit ton of money for a totally definitely amateur league that just happens to get meat years for free from many many future MLers….many only there because the MLB made up rules so they specifically would be funnelled to the NCAA
What’s more disgusting…a blatantly criminal organization exploiting both youth and labor without even hiding it anymore….or that everyone….f’n everyone in this corrupt Disneyland/Ruby Tuesdays…perpetuates the lie?
Anyway, back to the list…Colt Keith seems interesting, impressed by what he’s done so far IIRC
Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur…
uhh
It’s all good guys: I’m a little stoned plus on the cahvid-19…it made sense to me at time
“we’ve all gone insane” is very true, though.
*That* said: I still agree with it just…time and place…First comment too. Still, even passive support for the NCAA propping itself as amateur should go away and fast
Lmao I thoroughly enjoyed it
Also it was a bit worded incoherently but you’re mostly right about NCAA
this is a correct take, whoever downvoted is cringe incarnate. the ncaa is an anti-labor cartel
Yup.
I downvoted (so I guess I’m “Cringe incarnate”..Oh NO, how will I go on!!!)….because it has nothing to do with the article.
There are a lot of things that are “correct” ,but, really have no reason to be posted in an article about Tigers prospects. Keep it relevant.