Tigers on the Farm 2025: Spring observations as Tigers' farm enters 2025 season

Last year, the Tigers farm had the best record of any MLB team’s minor-league system.

This year, no surprise if it’s just as good, or even better.

The Tigers farm is deep and continues to grow richer because the men now drafting — and signing international players — are good at identifying talent. Toss in a new and skilled development ethic, and you’ve got yourself a self-perpetuating organization that could be in contention for years to come.

A look at what’s been happening on those back fields at TigerTown, a few hundred paces from Marchant Stadium/Publix Field, where scads of kids have been prepping for their 2025 farm-club assignments.

:arrow_forward: Tigers’ strong suit as 2025’s talent is assessed : Pitching, pitching, pitching. And that’s not selling short those glitzy position pieces in the Tigers infield, behind the plate, and in the outfield. But consider, beyond the pitching depth already evident, a talent on the level of last year’s second-round pick, Owen Hall, 19, from Edmond, Oklahoma. This kid has been throwing lightning on Lakeland’s back fields. Toss in another early-round talent, Ethan Schiefelbein, a left-handed, 18-year-old starter from Corona, California, who was snared last July with the 72nd overall pick. The Tigers have loaded up with arms and have, pretty much at all levels, a lustrous bunch incubating.

:arrow_forward: That burgeoning Tigers pitching gang (continued): Watch out for the season Jake Miller likely is about to craft. Consider, also, Rayner Castillo, another right-handed slinger who could become one of the farm’s hottest and fastest movers. Same, of course, for Jaden Hamm, who will be tossing at Erie. Troy Melton is moving within Comerica Park’s shadows. The back-field bird dogs like what Joseph Montalvo has been doing. On and on it goes. Everyone knows how fragile pitchers can be, how Tommy John check-ins can ruin rosy forecasts. But the Tigers have a warehouse as full of arms as at any time in the past 50 years — and probably more.

:arrow_forward: Most likely to make the biggest, quickest impact in Detroit: Kevin McGonigle, who is sticking at shortstop and who, in tandem with Max Clark, will be rehearsing at Double-A Erie for a Tigers promotion that for McGonigle could — could — happen this season. McGonigle has an extraordinary hitting gift. That he’s showing he can also handle shortstop means he and his left-handed bat could shift to Detroit as early, it seems, as July. He turns 21 in August. Remember: Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker were 20 when they debuted as Tigers regulars in April 1978.

Tigers infield prospect Kevin McGonigle will start the season at Double-A Erie.

:arrow_forward: Most reassuring return from injury: Carson Rucker. He is a solid 6-2, 200 pounds, and is healed from last year’s shoulder mishap that ended what was turning into a big first full season for the Tigers’ 2023 fourth-round grab. Because he and his right-handed bat profile more at third base, Rucker figures to drop anchor there. Which, as Tigers followers have known for a couple of generations, at least, happens to be an area of deep organizational need.

:arrow_forward: Best affirmation from a first-round draft pick: Bryce Rainer’s spring showing. Ah, that was no technological glitch in the March 2 MLB Spring Breakout game against Atlanta: Last year’s Tigers draft prize laced a single with an exit-velocity of 114. He also ripped a pitch against the left-field wall. This is a left-handed batter with splendid gifts and the stuff to be a MLB shortstop. Somewhat in the vein of McGonigle, expect Rainer to move quickly, even in a Tigers system that prefers to take its time buffing and polishing youngsters.

:arrow_forward: Most dynamic power hitter blossoming on the Tigers farm: Josue Briceno. Everyone wonders if this left-handed prodigy will settle in at first base, or continue with his official status as a catching prospect. He’ll get occasional work behind the plate, which will add luster to his portfolio. But it can be stated, with some certainty, that a left-handed batter, 6-4, 200-plus, who is only 20 years old, will be setting up most days at first base. Briceno has a chance to be something — really something.

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Getting McGonigle’s bat in the lineup this year would be huge.

I just hope they don’t rush him…which doesn’t seem like a real problem with our organization. If he gets called up in July, I assume he will be ready.

So great to see the organization restocked.

I get why they did what they did. Trying to win one more for Mr. I was a noble endeavor. I even understand why they signed Baez even though that was a terrible signing. But I will give credit to the organization for rebuilding their system.

https://x.com/TonyPaul1984/status/1907497299951104156

See how long Clark, McGonigle and Briceno stay in W Mi.
Rayner Castillo, curious to see how he does in W Mi.

https://x.com/wmwhitecaps/status/1907432894697447599

Liranzo, Hamm and Melton. Campos makes AA and Bigbie demoted to AA. Some preseason hype on Jake Miller and Dylan Smith.

https://x.com/erie_seawolves/status/1907432846949572639

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I will be at more than a few Lakeland Flying Tigers this summer, some high profile prospects on that roster.
Tigers Minor league report prospect rankings:
Our prospect rankings on this year’s Flying Tigers roster:

7 - Bryce Rainer
11 - Franyerber Montilla
17 - Owen Hall
19 - Carson Rucker
31 - Josh Randall
37 - Patrick Lee

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I’m excited for Rainer.

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Yep.
Rainer
Hall
are the two I want to see the most
Montilla and Rucker next
I was hoping Ethan Schiefelbein would land in Lakeland but looks like he will start in the FCL.

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Tigers ML Report on Montilla:

Franyerber Montilla

Montilla was part of the Tigers’ 2022 international free agent class, and burst onto the scene in the Dominican Summer League in 2023, putting up a strong .280/.394/.439 slash with a walk rate of 13.4% and strikeout rate of just 17.3%. He followed that up with an even better line in the Complex League in ’24, where he slashed .273/.409/.448 while increasing his walk rate to 17.6%, holding his strikeout rate steady, and increasing his ISO to .174. His 6 home runs doubled his output from ‘23, and while Montilla did slow down after his promotion to Class A Lakeland, he finished the year strong in the playoffs.

Here’s what our own Chris Brown had to say about the youngster on the TMLR top prospect breakdown:

There’s a ton to like here. At the plate Montilla shows a quick bat from both sides, with a good approach, and a surprising amount of pop. He seems to have a little better feel for contact from the right side, but he should be able to stick as a switch hitter without issue. On defense he shows the athleticism, hands, arm, and instincts to remain on the left side of the infield. And he’s an aggressive baserunner with plus speed, who plays with infectious enthusiasm. He may take a little while to work through the system, but he has all the tools to be a true two-way shortstop.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been a teenager, but teens often take some time to come into their own physically; and Montilla will still be a teenager until tax day 2025. He is an athletic, twitchy switch-hitter with some juice in his bat already who controls the zone and holds his own defensively up the middle. Montilla will be well worth a watch in 2025.

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https://x.com/wmwhitecaps/status/1908513341120577957

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Report on all farm team games from last night. One important note on the Flying Tigers. Jace Jung’s bat has heated up.

Bryce Rainer, the Tigers’ first-round draft pick in 2024, left the game after taking a pitch to the head. Following proper protocol, he was removed from the game, according to Bless You Boys. After the game, Rainer’s family said he was in good spirits.

Brian Serven and Akil Baddoo were both with the Flying Tigers on rehab assignments. Jackson Strong finished the night 1-for-3 with a stolen base.

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What about this dude, kind of an interesting story. Does he have a chance?

What ever happened to that Costa Rican dude we signed after the WBC a couple of years ago?

(Maybe he was Costa Rican, I don’t remember. I just remember he was super young at the time.)

5. Yes Serwa

While this transaction didn’t quite happen within the past week, way back on January 17th, the good ole’ days, news broke that the Tigers signed pitcher Kenny Serwa to a minor league contract.

Serwa joined The Valenti Show on January 22nd and discussed his career so far. After pitching for four different colleges from 2016-2022, Serwa hit the indy circuit in 2022 and continued pitching for the Chicago Dogs of the American Association in 2024. He explained that on the advice of former college teammate Cody Whitten, he went to Tread Athletics after the ’24 season, and put in that work. That work resulted in throwing a knuckleball at 88.5 mph, the fastest knuckleball ever recorded in baseball history, per Brian Murphy at MLB.com.

Serwa went viral based on the video of a bullpen session at Tread, which has to be seen to be believed. Watching another human being fight for their life doesn’t bring me joy, so this is hard to say. But just take a look at that poor catcher trying to corral Serwa’s knuckleball.

It will be fun to track Serwa’s progress in 2025, and see if affiliated catchers have more success actually being able to catch his knuckler. In reviewing Serwa’s ’24 season, he performed fairly well, and this was without his new-found velocity. Among starters with at least 50 IP, his 4.22 ERA ranked 22nd in the American Association (the ERA for the whole league was 4.91), and his 1.165 WHIP was 6th among starters with at least 50 innings pitched. Serwa excelled at keeping the ball in the park (0.5 HR/9) and also limiting walks, tying for 3rd in the league among all pitchers with a 1.7 BB/9 (just ahead of old friend, former Tiger Zac Reininger).

The Tigers have excelled in tuning up pitchers over the past few years; let’s see what the pitching department can do with Serwa.

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https://x.com/tigersMLreport/status/1908985778874569127

https://x.com/wmwhitecaps/status/1908988002748989755

Full article at link.

Torkelson (likely) has shaken off his 2024 ills and now looks like the Tigers’ best option at first base.

All of which, if this continues, makes for a happy Tigers mess at second base, with ramifications stretching to the Tigers’ farm system.

Second base happens to be Colt Keith’s natural home.

Second base is where hotshot prospects Jace Jung and Hao-Yu Lee best fit.

Second base, also, is where the Tigers will prefer to play Gleyber Torres when he returns from his strained oblique.

Something’s going to give, especially when it’s not clear that either Lee or Jung, now rotating at third base and second base at Triple-A Toledo, are realistic answers at their new part-time posts at third.

Simple math, as well as statistics and probabilities, suggest this is a traffic jam headed for remedy when front-office chief Scott Harris makes a seemingly inevitable trade, whether it’s sooner or later in 2025, or in '26.

The shakeout focuses most heavily on Jung.

==================================

Jung needed to shift in a bid to get his left-handed bat to Detroit, at a position of acute need, as rapidly as possible.

It’s now, April 2025, and not a lot has changed in terms of everyday answers at third, especially after the Alex Bregman Chase ended with Bregman in Boston and the Tigers still in left-side infield limbo.

Jung’s footwork remains a probable issue, at third as Toledo’s Triple-A season begins, while Lee hasn’t yet shown that he can be trusted there with any frequency

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https://x.com/jonmorosi/status/1909068035308081420

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Crap

I really thought he could make his way to the show this season…hope it isn’t serious