MLB Pipeline recognized the duo as the top position player and pitcher in the farm system in 2024.
On Sunday, MLB Pipeline named shortstop Kevin McGonigle and starting pitcher Jaden Hamm as the Detroit Tigers ’ Prospects of the Year. Both had outstanding breakout campaigns in their first full seasons of pro ball. They’re very worthy selections. Even better from the Tigers’ perspective, there are very good arguments for a whole handful of other prospects. The Tigers’ farm system is in really good shape.
While 2023 first round pick Max Clark had a good year, it was McGonigle, the Tigers competitive balance pick and the 37th overall pick in that draft, who really opened eyes this season. He quickly established himself as one of the best pure hitting prospects in baseball, and showed a little more power than some forecasts had projected.
As a 19-year-old, McGonigle tore Low-A pitching to shreds, hitting .326 with a .407 on-base percentage. He walked 12.9 percent of the time while striking out just 8.9 percent of the time, hitting four homers and stealing 20 bags in 60 games. A 14 game look at High-A didn’t give him any time to adjust, and the batted ball luck wasn’t going his way, but he walked 19.3 percent of the time and struck out just 7.0 percent of the time. He was entirely unphased by the better quality breaking and offspeed stuff in the Midwest League and looked capable of moving right up to the Double-A level.
The Tigers will perhaps take things more slowly than that, restarting him in West Michigan to get some swings under his belt before moving up. McGonigle’s season ended with right hamate fracture on August 10, and those can be a bit tricky. Still, his ability to track pitches and barrel them up with a compact, sharp stroke was really impressive. Just as impressive was his pitch recognition and ability to adjust and create good angles to just about everything pitchers threw at him.
Defensively, McGonigle may be better at second base, but he’s a solid enough shortstop too. He’s not at his best going to his right, but if he continues to refine his game overall he’s got the skills to be an average defensive shortstop who lives on base and can supply some power too. As his season progressed, we saw some average or better peak exit velocities coming off the bat, and while McGonigle probably isn’t going to add that much more muscle, he was 19 years old this season and can still get a little stronger.
When Clark and McGonigle were drafted, there was already healthy debate about who we liked better. Both were really well received picks. Jaden Hamm was well received in the context of a fifth round pitcher, but no one really expected the monster year the right-hander put together. That may become a trend for pitchers’ pro debuts with the Tigers as there are no longer many post-draft innings being thrown. Look for guys like Owen Hall, Ethan Schiefelbein, Josh Randall, and Michael Massey next year.
Hamm only threw one Complex League inning in 2023 after the Tigers spent their fifth round pick to take him out of Middle Tennessee State. The club knew something Hamm didn’t, which is that he needed to just lean into throwing tons of high fastballs. His arm path and release produced an outstanding, high IVB, riding fastball, and he just didn’t use it that way enough in his junior year of college.
The Tigers, seeing that the low-to-mid 90’s heater got as much as 21 inches of vertical ride at its best, steered him away from trying to mix things up by pitching at the knees. Instead, he started pumping gas at the top of the zone and seeing tons of whiffs, pop-ups, and lazy fly balls. That opened things up for a good overhand spiked curve to become a good whiff generator as well, particularly when he’s working the two off the same eyeline. He worked on a slider all year, and that pitch got better as the season progressed as well. Hamm is also a decent candidate for a splitter from that high overhand arm path, and that might be something to watch for as he tackles the Double-A level in 2025.
Hamm punched out 30.6 percent of hitters faced, while walking 7.8 percent for the West Michigan Whitecaps, posting a 2.64 ERA and a 3.09 FIP over 99 innings of work. Apart from a stretch where the home runs piled up for a few weeks at midseason, hitters really did nothing against Hamm all season long.
He could certainly use a better, more consistent third offering, and he hasn’t really stretched out in the innings department yet. So, he may not be a unanimous add to top 100 lists this offseason, but he’s going to make a few too. Hamm doesn’t need to improve that much to be on the doorstep of the major leagues this summer.
You could certainly argue that Jackson Jobe, currently neck-and-neck with Phillies ’ RHP Andrew Painter for the title of top pitching prospect in baseball, should have been Pipeline’s selection. Jobe is the same age as Hamm, has already reached the major leagues, and in my view is the Tigers’ top prospect. Still, Hamm certainly advanced the most beyond expectations. His breakout, among several others, was more confirmation that the Tigers are doing a good job identifying and coaching up pitchers in their development system.
So you could argue for Jobe or Clark, who also had a fine season. We also fell in love with Josue Briceño last spring, but his knee injury meant that he didn’t get a chance to blow everyone’s socks off until the Arizona Fall League. He then did so, with emphasis. Talk about a breakout.
Infielder Hao-Yu Lee was torching Double-A pitching at 21 years of age until a couple of hit by pitches and then a back issue ended his season prematurely. Jace Jung had a good season at the Triple-A level, but didn’t really change any minds either.
Catcher Thayron Liranzo looks like a great trade acquisition and he did nothing but rake after coming over from the Dodgers in the Jack Flaherty deal. He also had a huge Fall League, but he wasn’t in the system for the whole season the way Hamm and McGonigle were. Nor was Trey Sweeney, who upgraded the Tigers’ at the shortstop position when Javy Báez was injured and contributed more than expected to the furious stretch drive push to the postseason.
We haven’t even really seen the 2024 draft class yet. Bryce Rainer, Owen Hall, Schiefelbein, will all make their full season debut in 2025. There are also a host of talented young players coming out of the Complex League next year from the Tigers prep heavy 2023 draft. The only real flaw in the system is that we don’t really have a top hitting prospect up at the Triple-A level. The best are probably still a year away from reaching the major leagues. But it is a very deep, talented group from High-A on down, and we can expect the system to continue to produce a lot of talent in the years ahead.