Simple solution to the 40man; DFA Short this am.
# Prospect Max Anderson keeps doing the one thing the Tigers need now
full article at Link.
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Detroit Tigers prospect Max Anderson keeps doing it.
The one thing the Tigers need so desperately.
He keeps hitting.
Anderson, the Tigers’ No. 4 prospect by MLB Pipeline, is hitting .338 at Triple-A Toledo with an .834 OPS.
Just consider his weekend:
Which is not really surprising.
That’s why the Tigers selected Anderson in the 2023 MLB Draft, a move that looks better every day.
In 2023, the Tigers selected center fielder Max Clark at No. 3 overall. Clark is at Toledo, where he is hitting .272 after going 2-for-4 on Sunday with two RBIs and two runs scored. Clark has gone through his struggles, has made adjustments and says he has come out the other side. That’s exactly what you want to see in player development.
The Tigers took Kevin McGonigle at No. 37 – and he’s been absolutely fantastic in his rookie year for the Tigers, racking up hits and becoming so valuable that the Tigers can’t take him out of the lineup.
And then they took Anderson out of Nebraska with their second-round pick, at No. 45 overall.
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While some fans have lost complete faith in the Tigers after their recent losing streak – spurred by an absolute crazy number of injuries, not just to position players but pitchers, throwing everything out of whack − this trio of players is one of the reasons why I still have faith in the future.
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At High-A West Michigan in 2024, he hit 11 homers in 121 games, finishing with a .270 batting average.
At Double-A Erie in 2025, Anderson hit .306.
He was sent to the Arizona Fall League, where he slashed .447/.609/.809 in 14 games and was named a rising star.
So he was invited to Tigers spring training, getting a locker in the middle of the room. A portable one. The kind that suggests: We want you to come and learn, but don’t expect to stick around.
Then, the craziest thing happened. He kept getting opportunities and kept producing.
Yes, he got even more chances because Gleyber Torres was in the World Baseball Classic. But Anderson made the most of it. He ended up playing in 21 games in the spring, tied for the most on the team. More than anything, he looked like he belonged and wasn’t overwhelmed, not at the plate and not on defense. He had a .333 batting average (12-for-36), driving in seven runs with three doubles and a homer.
So, he was producing while learning.
“They’re in a spot you want to get to in your career,” Anderson said. “It was just a good experience to build relationships and then kind of see what they were all about and what they do that makes them great.”
He learned about the focus that is required to play at the MLB level.
“I think the biggest thing is just the ability to lock in,” he said. “I think that’s what separates a lot of people. That’s one of the biggest things I took away and I’ve been trying to work on. I think that comes with the mentally of growing as a baseball player. I think that’s the biggest difference when you keep on moving up levels.”
He learned something else during spring training: how big leaguers focus on defense.
“They’re locking in for their defense every ground ball they take,” he said. “They’re taking every rep like it means a bunch, like it’s the World Series, so I think that’s also something that you can take to your defense and work on it really hard. For me, I need to be able to take every rep, to get as much as I can out of it, to improve my defensive game.”
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Anderson is not on the Tigers’ 40-man roster, so it would require juggling the roster to add him to the Tigers.
…It makes it a heck of a lot easier – and a true option - to consider when a guy keeps producing. And that’s what Anderson has done.
Whenever the Tigers do call Anderson up to Detroit, he should not be viewed as a savior. Nobody should get that kind of pressure.
But every day, it’s clear that he’s inching closer to Detroit.
And he’s doing it the old-fashioned way: He’s hitting his way there.
Swing by swing.
Series: Three games at Comerica Park, Detroit
