Baseball America releases new Tigers’ top ten prospects list

There are certainly a few interesting surprises in BA’s list, but one way or another, the Tigers’ have one of the best farm systems in the game.

We’re still almost four months out from Opening Day 2025, and the Detroit Tigers haven’t even begun their offseason moves in earnest, yet prospect list season has arrived. Baseball America released their new top 10 list of prospects for the farm system on Thursday. There are some interesting choices this time around, but one thing should be crystal clear. The Tigers have a heck of a strong system percolating.

Leading the way is top pitching prospect Jackson Jobe. The 22-year-old right-hander made his major league debut in the final days of the 2024 season, and manager A.J. Hinch put some faith in the rookie, using him in the postseason more than several other relievers with far more major league experience. It didn’t necessarily go that well, but Jobe’s raw stuff and composure was really impressive. With a little fine tuning from pitching coaches Chris Fetter, Robin Lund, and Juan Nieves, Jobe should be ready to contribute in the Tigers rotation in 2025. He’ll be an early favorite for Rookie of the Year come the spring.

Here is Baseball America’s top ten for the Tigers . As always, we’ll encourage fans who want to go deeper into the game from the high school, college, international levels all the way through pro ball, to subscribe to them and support their one of a kind coverage.

1. RHP Jackson Jobe
2. CF Max Clark
3. SS/2B Kevin McGonigle
4. SS Bryce Rainer
5. C Thayron Liranzo
6. C Dillon Dingler
7. 3B/2B Jace Jung
8. SS Trey Sweeney
9. C Josue Briceño
10. LHP Brant Hurter

There isn’t much to argue with in the top five, but there are some interesting choices overall. Personally I have Jackson Jobe at number one as well, but I think you can make a good argument for either Max Clark or Kevin McGonigle in the second spot.

Prep shortstop Bryce Rainer, selected 11th overall out of Harvard-Westlake High School back in July, checks in fourth overall. The lanky shortstop has raw power, speed, and a huge throwing arm, while showing pretty good signs of plate discipline and contact ability for a player his age. We didn’t actually expect him to fall to the Tigers, but they were able to land him and Rainer signed for $5,797,500. The Tigers kept him on the backfields in Lakeland after the draft, so we didn’t get to see him against pro competition. For that reason in particular, I have him a little further down the list, but the tools are pretty huge and we’re very much looking forward to his debut in 2025.

Scott Harris once again appears to have done a nice job converting talent on expiring deals into really good prospect talent. At the time Jack Flaherty was traded, many thought he didn’t get enough back from the Dodgers . It would’ve been better to add a lower level pitching prospect into the deal, but what matters is getting the best players you can, and catcher Thayron Liranzo looks like an excellent acquisition.

Liranzo’s defense seemed to have a lot of critics as we got to know him, but by the time his season ended after a great performance in the Arizona Fall League, national opinion was catching up to what we saw in his defensive skills. His pop times, arm strength and accuracy, and his diligence in preparing game plans and handling his pitchers all looks quite good. His framing has already improved significantly with the Tigers, and if he can continue to refine those aspects of his game along with his blocking, he’s got the goods to be a starting catcher even for a manager who is really demanding of his catchers.

In the batter’s box, Liranzo was already lauded for his power and his plate discipline from either side of the plate when he arrived from the Dodgers. Those impressions have only solidified as the 21-year-old hit .315 with the High-A West Michigan Whitecaps while walking 22.6 percent of the time. He only struck out 17.4 percent of the time, and posted a truly monstrous .470 OBP with five homers and seven doubles over 26 games. It was quite an impressive display considering the unique demands on a young catcher who had only just turned 21 in July and was switching to a new organization. Yet Whitecaps pitchers really sung his praises as a leader and trusted game-caller, even as his physical skills behind the plate continued to improve.

The capstone on a great season arrived when Liranzo went on to the Arizona Fall League and posted the fifth best marks in the league among players with 40 or more at-bats. He hit two homers in 15 games and put up a 1.159 OPS along the way. Personally I’d have him over Rainer at this point, but you can pretty comfortably put a 50 FV on both of them. If Liranzo can sustain his performance at Double-A against a consistently tougher brand of pitcher and start to get to his power a little more, he’s going to give Clark and McGonigle a run for their money in Tigers’ prospect rankings next summer.

The first little surprise for me is finding Dillon Dingler in the sixth spot. At age 25, the Tigers recently minted backup catcher finally broke out with the bat at the Triple-A level. He put up a 139 wRC+ and mashed 17 home runs in just 71 games for the Mud Hens, while cutting his strikeout rate down drastically. Dingler is already a trusted backstop with average or better skills across the board, and should continue to refine his game under the eye of Hinch and the Tigers’ catching coaches.

Dingler’s 87 plate appearances at the major league level did not go well, but they also weren’t indicative of his future production. There’s a pretty good chance that he turns out about as productive as Jake Rogers, for example. He should approach average big league production at his best, but will likely have some down years along the way as well.

If things come together a bit more and Dingler is just a somewhat below average hitter, he’ll still be worth 1-2 WAR most seasons. Currently the Steamer projections on FanGraphs put him at a .225/.288/.377 line for a 90 wRC+ in 2025, and that’s pretty much in line with ours and other forecasts for him in prospect reports over the past two years. We can hope there’s still another level to unlock offensively. If he finds it, he’ll start cutting into Rogers’ starts and earning more playing time next year.

Jace Jung at seven and Trey Sweeney at eight is pretty interesting. Jung’s strengths as a prospect are his plate discipline and the amount of flyballs he’s pulled out for homers the past two seasons. His 94 plate appearance, major league debut wasn’t always pretty, but he did post a .362 OBP and should get to some power with more experience. That walk rate isn’t fully sustainable considering his chase and contact rates, but he’s got 20 home run power and should unlock some of it going forward.

Jung isn’t best suited for third base and is currently a tricky fit for the Tigers’ active roster with Colt Keith pretty established at second. The club needs upgrades in the infield, and playing time should be tough to come by without a trade.

Sweeney proved a life saver as the second part of the Jack Flaherty trade. The young shortstop solidified the position defensively with Javier Báez out for the year and provided far more production at the plate. He also came up with one of the most memorable catches in recent Tigers history to help save a September 23 game in Baltimore.

Sweeney still profiles as a somewhat below average hitter who will struggle against left-handed pitching. Right now he’s still a bit outside of top 100 lists nationally, but he does have solid power, and his track record says his plate discipline may improve with more reps against major league pitching. He also outshone his modest defensive reports by playing really well for the Tigers. He showed noticeable improvement in the short, but highly eventful, time he was up. Whether he’s a longer term answer at shortstop is still up in the air, but he’s their best option and will probably get plenty of run to prove himself in 2025.

Personally, I think Josue Briceño is underrated at ninth on the list. Yes, he’s more likely a future first baseman than a catcher, but he’s arguably the best overall hitting prospect in the entire farm system. Playing his first full season at Single-A ball in Lakeland, Briceño showed off contact and discipline just shy of McGonigle’s level, but with more power potential. A knee injury shut him down from June until September, and his impressive start was forgotten until his eye-opening performance in the Arizona Fall League.

Facing roughly High-A caliber pitching for the first time, Briceño was a one man wrecking crew for a month solid. In 25 games he crushed 10 home runs, hit .433/.509/.867, and won league MVP. His only flaw back in the spring was too many balls on the ground. Desert air or no, Briceño’s work to get his legs more involved in his swing to help him catch more balls out front and in the air paid huge dividends. He was hitting them out to the opposite field and crushing 420+ foot shots to center and right center field.

Here is Briceño taking Andrew Painter deep to center field back in mid-October.

Briceño has stated his desire to keep catching this offseason. He only played first base after returning from his injury but that may have been solely to protect his knee. Still, his bat seems likely to move a lot faster than his defense if he continues to catch, and his arm and overall athleticism says he’s never going to be a starting catcher for the Tigers. Maybe he can backup and play first base, but his value is going to come from his bat. It will be interesting to see how quickly the Tigers move him to the Double-A level in 2025.

Finally we have left-hander Brant Hurter, who acquitted himself extremely well down the stretch and in the postseason, but hasn’t lost prospect eligibility yet. The big southpaw’s sweeping slider has really turned into a legit weapon for him over the past two seasons, but it’s the improvement to his sinker and his command that really helped him take the next step in 2024.

Hurter, like Keider Montero and Ty Madden, had a really rough first half of the season in Triple-A. He started to find his way in the summer months, and when he was called up at the beginning of August, he did nothing but throw strikes and rack up outs the rest of the season. The whiffs were pretty low, but he threw 70.9 percent first pitch strikes and right-handed hitters really struggled to pick up his arm angle. They took a lot of called strikes, and just about all the hard contact against Hurter was on the ground.

I’m doubtful Hurter can proceed with a walk rate below four, and he’s bound to give up a lot more hard contact in a full starting role. He’s got to find more whiffs and a better third pitch if he’s going to make it as a regular member of the rotation. Still, while A.J. Hinch routinely used an opener on Hurter’s bulk inning days, in six of his 10 appearances, the lefty went five or more innings. So it wasn’t like he was just going through heart of the opponent’s order once per game. He may well get some starts, throw some long relief, and even pitch some late game high leverage situations in 2025. Hurter is probably more valuable to the Tigers in a hybrid role than as a full-time rotation member, but he’s likely going to have some chances to change that perception.

Jaden Hamm and Hao-Yu Lee

The two names that are missing from this list are RHP Jaden Hamm and 2B/3B Hao-Yu Lee. Hamm was the Tigers’ Pitcher of the Year in the farm system, according to MLB Pipeline. He torched Midwest League with a great riding fastball and a sharp overhand curve all year long, and eventually should fit really well on a team with really good outfield defense and a lot of room in center field. He racks up tons of weak flyballs and pop-ups, and Hamm struck out 30.6 percent of hitters faced at the High-A level.

As we mentioned in his write-up for the MLB Pipeline awards, Hamm could still use a better slider or offspeed pitch to really take his game to the next level as he moves to Double-A in 2025. If he can build a little more velocity and sit consistently 95-96 mph it might not matter if he only has a third pitch as a change of pace. Hamm is lurking just outside most top 100 lists, and it’s natural to want to see a good but not quite overpowering starting pitching prospect tackle upper level hitters before moving him well up the board. Still, he has more upside in my eyes than Jung, Dingler, Hurter, or Sweeney. If he can take another step and develop his game a little further in 2025 he’s going to attract a lot more attention.

Hao-Yu Lee might be the most overlooked prospect in the system. As a 21-year-old, the former Phillies prospect, acquired for Michael Lorenzen back in July 2023, tore Eastern League pitching to shreds and started tapping into his above average raw power more regularly. Lee can drive the ball to all fields, but he worked on pulling more balls in the air in 2024 with great success. He also did so without giving up his typical right-center field approach.

Lee struck out just 17.9 percent of the time, walking 8.5 percent of the time, despite being one of the younger hitters in the league. He hits a lot of line drives and puts together impressively gritty at-bats over and over again. The second baseman turned third baseman isn’t a great bet to stick there, and his future is more likely on the right side of the diamond, but he also showed off solid gains in his defense and despite his thick, powerful build, remains faster than you’d expect at first glance. He cranked 12 homers and stole 16 bases while hitting .298 for the SeaWolves over 87 games.

Twice in July, Lee was hit in the helmet by a pitch. He missed time and didn’t really heat back up until August, when a back injury ended his season. There will be some lingering concerns there, but by all accounts, Lee is a maniacally hard worker and he plays an intense, hard-nosed style of ball that will ultimately endear him to Tigers’ fans. He can really hit. He’s aggressive at the plate, but has the eye and discipline to take his walks, and the contact ability and power to hit it out to all fields.

The injuries and early ending to his season may have let him slip a bit under the radar, but if Lee isn’t a top 100 prospect yet, he’s really close. Personally I’d put a 50 FV on him already and he’ll likely check in around 7-8 on our own list. His upside with the bat surpasses Jung and certainly Sweeney. Figuring out his position will be the trick this year as he too profiles best at second base, though he could potentially play some corner outfield as well. Expect to see him in Triple-A shortly as a 22-year-old. The Taiwanese prospect is moving fast and only the injuries prevented him from reaching Toledo in 2024.

We can debate a lot of these rankings, because that’s what they’re really for, but the over-arching takeaway is that the Tigers’ farm system is in great shape. This is a better overall group at the top than the year they had Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Spencer Torkelson, and Riley Greene all in the top 50 on many lists, and the system is far deeper at the lower levels now.

Recently announced was the Tigers getting the second pick in the Competitive Balance A round, so they’ll pick 24th and then 32nd overall in 2025, which is pretty good after making the playoffs. They’re in a good spot to add more talent next July. Hopefully they don’t pick near the top again for a long time.

The Tigers may not do what you, or we, want this offseason, but the future looks really bright down on the farm either way.