So close…
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Good news, McGonigle is back!
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Wow, what an athlete
Lots of stuff on Clark, McGonigle, Briceno early, Lirenzo, pitchers and others.
# How long before Tigers prize Max Clark sets sail for Erie?
Full article at Link.
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Clark, who it should be remembered does not turn 21 until December, was batting .317 for the Whitecaps. He had an outrageous on-base percentage of .450, thanks in part to a 19.1% walk-rate, all against a measly strikeout percentage of 12.2. He had two home runs as part of a .433 slugging mark.
Clark, as mentioned, is seven months from 21. He is two years out of high school. Power tends to be a latter-stage additive for most players, even when Clark is a sturdy 6-foot, 205 pounds
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A second reason the Tigers aren’t worried about Clark’s muscle is because of that low strikeout rate.
What development people across baseball know is that K-rates, high and low, tend to follow a hitter through his farm evolution.
Clark’s ability to get his bat on the ball and make hard contact is why his bosses are smiling and seeing validation for all that Tigers scouting execs Mark Conner and Rob Metzler forecasted when Clark was taken third overall in 2023.
When you are squaring-up pitches as often as Clark does, the expectation that he will add down-the-line thump makes eventual home runs more of an accepted fact rather than an area of concern or doubt.
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McGonigle would figure to be Erie-bound at the same time as Clark. His skill with the bat is a main reason to believe the two will be co-promoted, as was the case last July when both were shipped from Lakeland to West Michigan.
The only hang-up: McGonigle, who was shelved during the last month of 2024 with a hamate fracture, has only played in 97 professional games – 60 fewer than Clark.
That might not matter if the left-handed swinging McGonigle hits as he steadily has shown to be his habit: .313/.414/.452/.865. Two months more of featuring the same left-handed wizardry that made him a 37th overall pick in 2023 and branded him as a 2025 top 25 prospect (No. 16, Baseball America; No. 24, MLB Pipeline) and the Tigers could well decide McGonigle is Erie-ready.
His work at shortstop should also be a growing skill that can transport to Erie without much hesitancy
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Above link also comments on first full week of FCL play in Lakeland.
Among those not surprisingly showing impressive stuff after a first full week of FCL play:
Jose Dickson, 18, shortstop, right-handed hitter: Dickson is 6-2 and weighs only 158 but already has a home run, triple, and double in five games and 12 at-bats. He was No. 14 on the 2025 Detroit News Top 50 Prospects list.
Jude Warwick, 19, shortstop, left-handed hitter: Warwick was talked out of his Michigan State commitment last July after the Tigers grabbed him in the 12th round of the MLB Draft. He has been just fine in six games: .333/.400/.444/.844. Warwick is 6-1, 170. As with Dickson, the Tigers are seeing raw talent in customary need of skills seminars and body-building as 2025 marches on.
Enrique Jimenez, 19, catcher, switch-hitter: Another of those jewels who shone last summer in the DSL, Jimenez has had a marvelous May start for the FCL Tigers: five games, .333/.381/.778/.1.159, with two homers and a triple. Jimenez is 5-9, 170, and on this year’s Detroit News Tigers Top 50 Prospects was ranked 13th.
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https://www.mlb.com/milb/news/prospects-who-could-rise-up-rankings-2025?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage
So here are five prospects who could very well jump up the next time we update the list and three others who are off the list for now but have plenty of momentum to join it soon:
Bryce Rainer, SS, Tigers ( No. 47): The 2024 11th overall pick played in only two games over the first two-and-a-half weeks of the season for Single-A Lakeland but has been a regular contributor since April 17 – and a big one at that. He enters Tuesday with a .292/.402/.492 line and three homers over 82 plate appearances. It’s loud contact, too, with a 108.2 mph 90th-percentile exit velocity and a 57.4 percent hard-hit rate in games played in front of Statcast. He’s whiffing more against breaking pitches than is ideal, but this level of thump is hard to ignore from an age-19 shortstop.
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Rainer is going to be the best of the bunch.
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As soon as McGonigle goes to Erie Rainer goes to West Michigan. I’m hoping to catch a game with him in Lakeland yet.
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The weekly farm report, including our favorite knuckleballer update.
# Around the Tigers’ farm: Low-round pick Izaac Pacheco has revived at West Michigan
Andrew Sears, 22, left-handed starter, 6-3, 200, 10th-round pick, 2023, University of Connecticut: Take away a tough game April 30 at Wisconsin, and four of his last five starts (19 innings) have seen Sears stitch together a 0.47 ERA and 0.63 WHIP while walking three and striking out 21.
He does it with a hard sinker, a four-seamer that can hit 96, as well as a slider and change-up.
“Last three outings he’s been a different guy – he’s been who he really is,” Cappuccilli said. “He’s attacking with all his pitches and filling up the zone. He’s throwing with more conviction right now.”
Kenny Serwa, 27, right-handed starter, 6-3, 207: Serwa, of course, is among the most unconventional of all MLB farmland pitchers: a man who throws two knuckleballs – a high-speed species that can run up to 88 mph. And a slow-poke version that cruises 75-82. He also has a four-seam fastball that can climb well into the 90s.
In eight games for the Whitecaps, Serwa has a 3.12 ERA and 1.04 WHIP, courtesy of this breakdown: 26 innings, 19 hits, eight walks, 24 strikeouts.
“It was tough last night,” Cappuccilli said of the Friday delay at Fort Wayne. “He was on track to go five innings, then the rain came and I couldn’t send him back out.
“But he’s throwing the ball well. He and Bennett Lee (Whitecaps catcher) – it’s an interesting dynamic between him and Lee. Those two really work together. The big part for (Serwa) is to continue throwing strikes while mixing multiple speeds. He’s tough to square up.”
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Another Bama guy for @HSVLion
# Dylan Smith is torching batters at Erie and a Tigers bullpen takes notice
Smith is now a bullpen blowtorch at Double A Erie, where in 12 games through Saturday he had a 1.80 ERA and 0.80 WHIP, all the product of 20 innings, nine hits, seven walks and 27 strikeouts.
“He’s been outstanding,” Erie manager Andrew Graham said last week. “He could have one of the best fastballs in the organization – and not only in velocity. He’s got 22 inches of ride, throwing 96 to 98. He’s in the zone, and mixing in his slider.
… Smith is not a surprise in terms of draft pedigree. He was a third-round pick in 2021 from the University of Alabama, where he was a spotlight starter tossing against the Southeastern Conference’s regular parade of standout hitters.
The Tigers paid $1.15 million for Smith to forgo his senior year at Alabama, money well above the $840,000 slot preference MLB allowed for Detroit’s third-round pick in 2021.
More: Tigers getting a fresh take on Trei Cruz as his hot bat and outfield option merge
But his Tigers journey since has been tough, mostly because a right-handed pitcher, 6-foot-2, ran into an annual string of ills: a triceps strain in 2022; forearm-flexor strain in 2023; strained subscapularis in 2024.
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We probably won’t get the opportunity to take him, but if we do, we absolutely need to take Justin Lebron in the 2026 draft. The kid has all star written all over him.
I’ve heard talk of him going 1OA though, so there’s not a chance in hell we’d be able to get him if that’s where he’s graded.
Our DH has been really good too this season. I forget his name, but he’ll be on the MLB radar.
I haven’t actually gotten to watch us play in a month or so, but I plan on watching as much of the postseason as I can. This is the best team we’ve had in a while.
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thanks for the update. Seems that our fertilizer is really working well these days.
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This Justin, Lebron is a flopper.
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Max Clark granny!
That’s code for a 4 run HR @Bols not some cheap tawdry affair target.
Well,.maybe both. He is a good lookin kid, had to get it from somewhere…
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Five players predicted for continued growth
Clark
Briceno
Liranzo
Hamm
Randall
There are success stories up and down the Tigers entire organization, including in the minors, with Ryan Garko and company leading the way in player development. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for further improvement.
The following players are all off to solid starts, but we’re going out on the proverbial limb, and forecasting even bigger things to come for these five the rest of the season (all stats as of 5/24/2025):
Josue Briceño: 134 PA, .252/.366/.514, 142 wRC+, 15.7% BB rate, 20.1% K rate, .261 ISO
Just like Max Clark, Briceño is off to a fine start to the ’25 campaign. But just like with Clark, there may be even more production coming in the near future for Josue Briceño.
Coming off a monster Arizona Fall League, Josue shot up prospect lists this past offseason; and expectations for the 2025 season rose along with his prospect status. And to date, Briceño has met those expectations. He’s currently hitting 42% above league average per wRC+, and he’s doing so while being close to 3 years younger than the average High A player.
Thayron Liranzo: 116 PA, .200/.345/.368, 116 wRC+, 18.1% BB rate, 33.6% K rate, .168 ISO
Double A is often the litmus test for players rising through the system. Pitchers are better and more experienced, as are defenders; and as a result, there have been many players who’ve stalled out once they get to AA.
Liranzo’s 2024 season was a tale of two halves. He slashed .220/.344/.356 in 314 plate appearances before getting traded to Detroit, after which he put up a monster .315/.470/.562 line. He clearly made some adjustments once arriving in Detroit, as he increased his walk rate by 7% while cutting his strikeout rate by almost 9%.
With the responsibilities that the Tigers organization places on catchers defensively, and with Liranzo being nearly 3 years younger than the average AA player, growing pains were to be expected for Thayron coming into this season. And there have been some,
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One of the acquisitions at last years deadline…
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