It’s Henning so take with a grain of salt. He has also excluded Jobe and Jung due to their time in Detroit late last year. Not sure those who focus on MLB prospects will do the same.
With the Jobe Caveat above, when is the last time the Tigers top ten didn’t feature a pitcher until #7. And the first six were legitimate MLB prospects…it has been a long LONG time.
Thayron Liranzo C
21, C, 6-2, 195, switch-hitter: He edges out Josue Briceno on a prospects pecking order, all because Liranzo appears more likely to remain at catcher, which, face it, is a tough slot to fill with two-way skills. Note what Liranzo, who came to the Tigers in July’s deal for Jack Flaherty, did in but 26 games at high-A West Michigan: .315/.470/.562/1.031, with five homers and seven doubles. He has a splendid arm, as well. His defense is being polished, but this looks like a catcher the Tigers could only have dreamed getting in that deadline trade with the Dodgers.
Josue Briceno, 20, C 6-4, 200, LH batter:** He is straight to the ball and mashes it with such crunch that exit velocities regularly hit triple digits. He also — officially — is a catcher. How long he remains there — how long before he towers on most nights at first base — are questions the Tigers have time to resolve. What is not at issue is Briceno’s exceptional bat. He missed 3½ months in 2024 with a knee sprain and still destroyed pitches early and late in the year. A full 2025 season likely unveils a dynamic mid-order slasher that by 2027 should be spotlighted at Comerica Park.
Bryce Rainer SS
Hao Yu Lee 2B/IF
Jaden Hamm
22, RH starter, 6-1, 190: Nothing but promise from this potential fifth-round (2023) steal the Tigers scouted during his days at Middle Tennessee State. Hamm looks like one of those guys Cleveland so often finds and turns into a stalwart. His first full season of pro ball, last year at West Michigan, was emblematic of what the Tigers likely got: 24 games (23 starts), 2.64 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 99 innings, 73 hits, 31 walks, 122 strikeouts. Really smooth pitcher here who will be modeling his repertoire this year at Double-A Erie.
8.Rayner Castillo, 20, RH starter, 6-3, 180:** His upcoming pitching lines at high-A West Michigan (he is almost sure to begin the season there) should be entertaining. Castillo has a two-seam fastball that can hit 98 mph. Should he master a slider that gives some horizontal edge to his repertoire, this will be one hot-handed Tigers pitching prospect, as if he already isn’t. Castillo made 13 starts last season at Lakeland and rolled up an ERA of 2.52 with a 1.02 WHIP. If his repertoire expands just a bit, and it’s bound to do so in 2025, this is one heavy-duty hauler the Tigers are grooming.
Troy Melton RH Starter
Owen Hall RH Starter
Franyerber Montilla 19 SS
Ethan Schiefelbein LH Starter
Enrique Jimenez 19 C
Jose Dickson 18 SS
Tigers forked over $400,000 last January to bring aboard this tall, lithe gent from Pimentel, Dominican Republic. His efforts last summer in the Dominican Summer League were appreciated by a team that believes its 400 grand is safe. Dickson in 44 games batted .273/.407/.374/.781, with 18 stolen bases. He’ll add pounds and power as he waves goodbye to adolescence and perhaps further shows the Tigers’ days of swinging and missing on international talent are long gone.
Really liked Hamm last year along with Castillo who was in Lakeland.
Several kids I will be watching in Lakeland this year starting with Franyerber Montilla and Schiefelbein. Looking forward to seeing if Montilla has added some muscle/weight to his frame.
16. Roberto Campos, 21, OF, 6-3, 200, RH batter: What fails to impress about Campos are his less-than-glamorous numbers, which typify what he did last season at West Michigan: 118 games: .272/.342/.425/.767, with 10 homers, 25 doubles, and five triples. What is impressive is that Campos pretty much has specialized in such stats throughout his early years on the Tigers farm. And, at 21, he probably will put together something close to this, probably with an uptick in power, in 2025 at Double-A Erie. That puts him somewhere in the Avisail Garcia galaxy. Which is a helpful big-league player.
“Detroit already has a Top 5 farm system in our preseason rankings,” Dykstra writes, “but looks possibly even deeper and more robust now.”
The Tigers continue to boast two of the top prospects in the game in starting pitcher Jackson Jobe and outfielder Max Clark, as well, with the former making his major-league debut late in 2024.
“Detroit already has a Top 5 farm system in our preseason rankings,” Dykstra writes, “but looks possibly even deeper and more robust now.”
MLB Pipeline on Monday ranked Jung No. 6 among its top third-base prospects for 2025, though Pipeline reporter Sam Dykstra identified the 24-year-old as having the most to prove among the top 10.
“The 2022 first-rounder struggled to get his power going in his first taste of the Majors as he slugged just .304 through 94 plate appearances,” Dykstra writes, “and his glovework at third base remained a work in progress after sliding there from second base. That said, he might be the favorite to win the Opening Day third base spot on the current roster, but the Tigers, who are rumored contenders for Alex Bregman, have talked about how he’ll need to win the gig with a strong spring rather than having it handed to him.”
Detroit Tigers prospect Kevin McGonigle saw his first full minor-league season cut short in 2024 by injury, but he played well enough when healthy to climb the prospect ladder.
“Every one of our Top 10 Shortstops was highly regarded a year ago,” MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis writes. “Relatively speaking, McGonigle had the least fanfare, ranking seventh on our Tigers Top 30 after Detroit made him the 37th overall pick in the 2023 Draft. He raised his profile by slashing .309/.401/.452 with 25 extra-base hits, 22 steals and more walks than strikeouts (46 vs. 28) in 74 games between two Class A stops at age 19 before breaking his right hamate in August.”
President of baseball operations Scott Harris, hired in September 2022, is responsible for acquiring four of the five prospects — everyone except Jobe. Among the group, Jobe, Clark, McGonigle, and Liranzo are considered high-risk prospects, while Rainer is classified as an extreme-risk prospect.
The Tigers selected Rainer with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2024 draft out of Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles. The 19-year-old has been compared to MLB superstar Corey Seager, but he has not yet played in the minor leagues.
Here is the top five prospects per Tigers ML Report, these guys do a pretty job and give breakdowns on all of them. Links to top 50 with breakdowns are linked in the top five listing.
Cannot tell you how excited I am on some of these guys, and I’m not talking about just the top five…
So if I see things correctly, for $20 a month as an add on to Amazon prime you can get Red Wing and Tiger games. Do we have any thoughts on this streaming option?
Well i have the MLB package for baseball and it includes all the mlb games and Tiger minor league teams for $150a year. Not interested in NBA or NHL so I’m passing. I would be curious to know if there are any blackouts or games that won’t be on Amazon due to other mlb contracts.
But I also live outside Michigan which may make the MLB.tv option unrealistic for those in Michigan. For those that like minor league games they have a separate package.
16. Roberto Campos, 21, OF, 6-3, 200, RH batter: What fails to impress about Campos are his less-than-glamorous numbers, which typify what he did last season at West Michigan: 118 games: .272/.342/.425/.767, with 10 homers, 25 doubles, and five triples. What is impressive is that Campos pretty much has specialized in such stats throughout his early years on the Tigers farm. And, at 21, he probably will put together something close to this, probably with an uptick in power, in 2025 at Double-A Erie. That puts him somewhere in the Avisail Garcia galaxy. Which is a helpful big-league player.
