Detroit Tigers Organization Discussion

by John Sickels on Oct 24, 2025 8:00 AM EDT

I am now working on the Top 20 list and book comments for the Philadelphia Phillies. The next team on the list is the Detroit Tigers, to be followed by the Arizona Diamondbacks, Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros, and Baltimore Orioles.

Use this thread to discuss the Tigers farm system, point out sleepers, etc. Possible topic for discussion: do you think the Tigers push prospects too quickly?

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Castellanos

OPSing .803 as a 19 year old in A Ball is might impressive. The 130:45 K:BB ratio is a bit scary, but he has time to figure it out.

by JoelGuzman'sScout on Oct 24, 2025 8:26 AM EDT reply actions

nobody seems to worry to much about his ability to hit, the glove on the other hand . . .

He’s a big kid already, and he is clearly going to get significantly bigger. Not feeling great about his odds of being anywhere but 1B, although I think he’ll still make for a pretty good prospect there.

by mrkupe on Oct 24, 2025 9:08 AM EDT up reply actions

i don't know i think he'll stick at 3B in the long-run

Its not impossible to lose weight and maintain a slight frame in you’re 20’s… I know the perception is always going to be…so and so is 220 lbs. know at 19 that doesn’t bode well when they’re 25 …they’ll be 240 and 250-260 in their 30’s .

I know thats what most think of, but I’m not buying it here particularly with Castellanos. Jaff Decker OTOH, is a different player. Castellanos still has a great arm. I think he’ll end up with a better than average chance to stick at 3B in his 20’s.

by SteveHoffmanSlowey on Oct 24, 2025 6:20 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't think the issue is that he weighs too much as is

He actually is very lanky in his upper half, it’s part of what makes his power potential so enticing. He’s thick in the lower half though, and I’m not sure how much of it isn’t just his natural build. Outfield might be a possibility if he can maintain some athleticism, although we’ll see.

I’m confused by your invoking of Decker’s name here. Decker is short, the epitome of stocky, and he is just about maxed out physically. That said, he doesn’t look like he’s out of shape at all. Have you seen a picture of him from this year? I’ve seen my share of bad bodies - Decker could certainly have one if he were to let himself go, but he doesn’t look like he’s even approaching that range right now.

by mrkupe on Oct 24, 2025 8:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Castellanos

Thick in the lower half? Have you seen him in person at all? He’s along lanky and lean in every aspect of his body.

As for his defense at third base, his positioning, recognition of when to charge and stay back, and his footwork all require significant improvement. I’ve had scouts tell me he’s going to be a “nice left fielder some day,” and others tell me he’ll be an “average defender at third.”

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by Microline133 on Oct 26, 2025 9:45 PM EDT up reply actions

not "in person", no

I have seen what he looks like on tape, though. He is clearly less mature in the upper half than in the lower half, IMO, but of course you may disagree.

I think the point is, even the best opinions on his defense at third rate him as merely average down the line, and there are lots of people who don’t think he sticks. That doesn’t really bode well for his chances there, and I don’t think that should be overlooked.

by mrkupe on Oct 26, 2025 10:10 PM EDT up reply actions

How 'bout that Drew Smyly too

I was not all that impressed when he was drafted but that’s likely because I didn’t expect him to strike out 9+ an inning.

He was fairly aggressively pushed to AA this year and ended up with a 2.21 FIP. i’ll be interested where reports come in on him this offseason and if they match his stellar performance.

by drewfull on Oct 24, 2025 10:45 AM EDT reply actions

Promoting too quickly?

I’m beginning to think that big-budget teams who are more inclined to use prospects in trades rather than as starters at the big league level are probably better served being aggressive, while clubs that need to control young players to be competitive ought to be conservative.

Casey Kelly was over-valued last year in large part because of his aggressive 2010 placement. While he’s an extreme example, the Red Sox have used guys with good buzz and aggressive league placements as trade commodities pretty well over the years. On the flip side, the Rays are notoriously conservative with their promotions, which allows them to control the peak seasons of their players.

Obviously, the Tigers fall more into the first category than the second, so I think they can/should remain aggressive.

by realitypolice on Oct 24, 2025 12:28 PM EDT reply actions

Good point...

I think this is a great point…Andrew Miller fits into this as well. The counters are that (1) promoting guys quickly can also expose their weaknesses and I’m not sure the degree that age per level gets considered, and (2) folks will argue that promoting too quickly hinders development and hurts the player. I have absolutely no idea, but I’d think someone could control for draft status/bonus and various other player-specific factors to examine whether or not the number of minor league innings significantly increases major league performance. Obviously it wouldn’t be perfectly clean, but I’d think it would still prove helpful with this debate.

by tonyinstl on Oct 24, 2025 2:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Tigers have traded a lot of 'rushed' guys

Miller, Maybin, Francisco Martinez, Ruffin……..Jurrjens wasn’t rushed per se, but was only 21 when dealt.

Other guys promoted aggressively include Avila, Bonderman, Porcello, Perry, Oliver….maybe Zumaya. Fields has struggled so far.

Chaotic results, really. Traded for a future HOF in Miggy, and a so far awesome SP in Fister. But dealt away a beauty in Jurrjens. Kept an all-star in Avila……Bonderman/Zumaya hurt, Perry/Oliver disappointing, and book isn’t finished with Porcello/Fields.

by The Fume on Oct 24, 2025 8:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Tyler Collins...

maybe not a under the radar guy, but he was very impressive in collge, summer ball, and in the NY-Penn league this year. Showed baseball skills in hitting, power, strike zone knowledge, and running bases.

by keyser343 on Oct 24, 2025 12:37 PM EDT reply actions

Casey Crosby

Finaly healthy last year, his numbers werent bad, and I like him a lot, what do you guys think of him?

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by mathisrocks5 on Oct 24, 2025 1:10 PM EDT reply actions

I think he ends

up in the bullpen until he can cut his walk rate

detroitbaseballpage.com

by dbpjohn on Oct 24, 2025 2:38 PM EDT up reply actions

yes,

and he will be ineffective in the bullpen as well unless he can improve that control. i think he needs to improve control to be an effective relief pitcher, and he needs to improve command and 3rd pitch to be an effective starter.

by The Fume on Oct 24, 2025 8:00 PM EDT up reply actions

that's not necessarily true

Power arm from left side, spotty control, good two pitch mix - that would probably make him an above-average LOOGY at worst on a normal development path.

by mrkupe on Oct 24, 2025 8:37 PM EDT up reply actions

then

they can have Daniel Schlerethx2

by rif23 on Oct 24, 2025 8:39 PM EDT up reply actions

perhaps

I’ve never been a big Crosby fan, but I think there’s reason in his track record to believe that he’ll improve upon his control to some degree. Obviously relief work would most likely make that easier for him, and it’d greatly negate the third pitch issue.

With that arm from the left side, he’ll certainly get his chances. An above-average LOOGY is not a half bad outcome, and with just a little improvement, he has the potential to be a legitimate late-inning force. That’s not to rule out starting work for him though - he has a lot of room for growth in his game, and I know there are some people who really like him a lot.

by mrkupe on Oct 24, 2025 8:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Injuries hurt command, no?

I’d give him another full healthy year before dooming him based on command. There are lots of guys that come back from injury and have a hard time finding the zone for a while.

Now, if he can’t cut that BB rate dramatically next season, you start making decisions about bullpen vs. rotation. He’s obviously more valuable to the organization as a starter, so moving him to the ’pen should be put off a bit longer.

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by momotigers on Oct 26, 2025 10:31 AM EDT up reply actions

I don't think that read as "dooming him" to any degree

His control has always been shaky, though, although it is covered up a bit by the obvious difficulty in trying to get hits off of him. It was a big jump in competition for him this year so he gets some slack, but hard as it is to believe, Crosby is already 23. I’m not troubled by his age (I think ARL for pitchers is largely rubbish), but it’s still worth noting that he has barely 250 pro innings to his name. It leaves him with a lot of untapped potential, but this is a guy who is still learning how to pitch.

by mrkupe on Oct 26, 2025 3:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Dean Green

very good pro debut, could be a surprise next year.

by PrincetonCubs on Oct 24, 2025 1:37 PM EDT reply actions

Green

needs to work on his body (it’s soft) and he is essentially a DH. He is all bat, though he has good hand-eye coordination and is able to hit pitches all over the zone to all parts of the field.

detroitbaseballpage.com

by dbpjohn on Oct 24, 2025 2:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Decent Top 5

Very suspect after that. Brenny Paulino is a kid who seems to be making some noise though, so he’s one I definitely want to keep an eye on.

by ChrisBrown on Oct 24, 2025 1:43 PM EDT reply actions

I agree...

Top 5 then a lot of questions. Paulino is very intriguing and would love to see what he can do at West Mich. next year. I think that most of the top prospects, after the top 5, are going to come from the lower levels. Next year they will get more of a chance to show themselves and give us all a better idea of what they can be. The Tigers system is in transition right now with most of the talent very inexperienced.

by keyser343 on Oct 24, 2025 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Santa

Don’t want to bring up the IFA’s for every team but what about Adelin Santa, 3B, Dominican Republic, 16 year old who signed for $750k I think. Supposed to be able to stick at 3rd…

by jerzbravesboy24 on Oct 24, 2025 1:47 PM EDT reply actions

Intriguing names

for some of you all to chew on. Eugenio Suarez, Endrys Briceno, Tommy Collier, Dixon Machado, Jesus Uztaris, Kyle Ryan, Josue Carreno.

Biggest mover might be Alex Burgos.

This system still needs a lot of work.

Jacob Turner to me is a little overrated, and that isn’t to say he won’t be a good pitcher. I just don’t think ace like a lot of Detroit fans hope or think.

Andy Oliver needs to go to the bullpen.

detroitbaseballpage.com

by dbpjohn on Oct 24, 2025 2:37 PM EDT reply actions

re: names

Out of that group, I think Suarez is the guy I’ve heard the most about. Tough to evaluate guys at that level though.

by tonyinstl on Oct 24, 2025 2:49 PM EDT up reply actions

Turner....

I was actually thinking he was a bit overrated as well when the trade deadline was rolling around….I wouldn’t have been upset if he was included in a deal for Jimenez (shows what I know). But I was super impressed with his curve in his debut, and his change looked like it had pretty nice movement on it as well, although the command of it was poor.

That’s not to say he’s going to be a #2 or #3 next year, he’s not going to blow guys away sans command so he’s going to have rookie bumps. But I think he has a very high floor already, and in a couple years, if he keeps improving command (which is already pretty good for a 20 year old), he should be a very good #2 type.

by The Fume on Oct 24, 2025 7:59 PM EDT up reply actions

great photo caption

LOL

by notsukao on Oct 24, 2025 6:41 PM EDT reply actions

Who wants to be

the first to mention that maybe it isn’t just drafting that has been an issue, but what about their development staff? It doesn’t have a good track record.

detroitbaseballpage.com

by dbpjohn on Oct 25, 2025 10:09 AM EDT reply actions

has the system been that bad?

Joyce
Granderson
Boesch
Raburn
Avila
Verlander
Jurrjens
Porcello
(Zumaya)

I don’t really know how that compares to MLB as a whole.

It’s not like any of the prospects they’ve dealt have panned out, except Jurrjens who was basically ML ready. Biggest fault no doubt has been relief pitching and infield help.

by The Fume on Oct 25, 2025 12:12 PM EDT up reply actions

yes n no....

problem is they have a nice system then but now?

by frenchredsox on Oct 25, 2025 1:40 PM EDT up reply actions

This narrative has been ongoing for a while

Detroit always seems to pull players out of nothing. I mean, who could have called Brennan Boesch or Alex Avila?

That’s not to say that the farm system is great (it isn’t) or that the development staff doesn’t need help (it does, and DD has fired a bunch of people). But the Tigers get a bad rap despite developing a lot of decent players.

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by David Tokarz on Oct 25, 2025 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions

that's what i was kind of thinking

i can’t remember the tigers system ever being thought of as good, not for more than a season at least, yet it seems their output is pretty decent.

by The Fume on Oct 25, 2025 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions

If you include

Granderson and Raburn you are going back 8 or 9 years, and you are giving me what? 10 names that have had any amount of impact? And I would argue that Porcello hasn’t been developed to the extent he should have, and that Jurrjens had a good thing happen to him when he went to Atlanta.

detroitbaseballpage.com

by dbpjohn on Oct 25, 2025 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions

only going back to 2006

unless you want to count granderson’s cup of tea in 2005.

and i’m not being argumentative, just an honest question. there’s not a lot of depth in terms of ML average players, but there’s 2 MVP candidates and one or two all-star candidates. that seems above average to me. it’s proably 30+ WAR for 2011.

also, i won’t argue what you say with porcello, but jurrjens is the pitcher with atlanta that we saw in detroit, and he started well right out of the gate after the trade, even in ST. i don’t think atlanta did anything out of the ordinary with him.

by The Fume on Oct 25, 2025 5:15 PM EDT up reply actions

I think he was referring to acquisition date, not major league debut date

Granderson was drafted in June 2002.

by mrkupe on Oct 25, 2025 7:41 PM EDT up reply actions

Detroit's system

Is always tough to evaluate because of quickly the organization moves guys through it. Even when the talent doesn’t materialize, Detroit does a great job getting value out of its system. You can add a number of names to the list above of prospects traded to get useful parts or quality players.

In many ways it reminds of the Cardinal’s system (up until a few years ago), where even though everyone criticized their lack of depth, the top prospects kept consistently working out.

by tonyinstl on Oct 26, 2025 7:07 AM EDT reply actions