Rookies have been a highlight of the Tigers’ 2024 season. Who could make a similar impact in the upcoming year?
After several years of debuting highly lauded prospect talent, the Detroit Tigers farm system is about to hit a bit of a lull in production. The next big waves of talent are stacking up in the A-ball and rookie ball levels as Scott Harris’ scouting chiefs lean heavily toward prep talent and continue to scour the backfields, small schools, and independent leagues, for talent that has slipped between the cracks. There is a really strong group led by Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle who should start to arrive in 2026.
In the meantime, the Tigers have the top pitching prospect in baseball set to debut in 2025, but otherwise not a whole lot of help coming next year. This points toward this offseason as a very good time to augment the major league roster with trades and/or free agents. There are a few relief possibilities, and starting help possibly returning by mid-summer in the form of right-hander Sawyer Gipson-Long, but the latter is 26 and will be trying to return from Tommy John surgery, while the few older relievers who might contribute aren’t really prospects at this point.
So, while we cheer the Tigers toward an unlikely wild card berth this season, let’s step back a moment and start setting the stage for 2025 as well.
RHP Jackson Jobe
It’s starting to look like Jackson Jobe might be the best player Al Avila ever acquired. He’s a spin monster who has also learned to throw a nasty split change. He made good on the conversion of athleticism to command. He’s throwing gas by high-minors hitters as a 22 year old, with the ability to pop triple digits when he wants it. He is already major league ready in terms of stuff and general control, but the Harris-led team have been careful with his workload and playing the long game rather than having him learn on the fly in the Show.
Jobe still has some refinements to make to take the next step into becoming a good major league starter, but he is the best pitcher in the minors currently. If he can continue to improve at anywhere near the rate he has over the past two seasons, he’ll likely be one of the best in the majors before too long as well. There will come a point next year where keeping him down in Toledo will just be silly and he may well force the Tigers into a difficult decision in battling for a rotation spot out of spring training.
2B Hao Yu Lee
The Tigers acquired Lee from the Phillies and promptly unlocked the full upside he had shown in the low minors, leading to an excellent 2024 in Erie. He’s traditionally undersized, densely built, and treats every plate appearance like a personal grudge match, leading to a delightful style of play featuring screaming line drives to the pull side.
Lee is one of the best hitters in the Eastern League at just 21 years old — only four qualified hitters have a better wRC+, including high quality Red Sox prospects Kyle Teel and Roman Anthony. At this point, Lee is bumping up against the back end of Top 100 lists despite his questionable defense because his bat is just so potent. He should be a serviceable second or third baseman, but he needs to refine his game in that regard. The bat is legit, and he can tap into a little more of his pull side power the Tigers should have a pretty good right-handed bat even if he never quite makes it as a full-time regular. A lumbar strain and getting hit in the head twice by pitches in July all conspired to ruin his second half to a degree, but Lee is ready for Triple-A and a likely 2025 debut in an auxiliary role.
RHP Wilmer Flores
It has been a bad year for Flores. From a likely bullpen option in spring training to a season largely lost to a shoulder sprain, things have not gone as planned for the hard-throwing right-hander. When he could pitch, the results were poor. He showcased some of his old velocity in the spring, but he was out of control in his 25.1 innings of Triple-A ball. His season came to an end recently with more shoulder irritation.
There’s a world where Flores can get things right over the offseason and comes out strong in 2025, pumping heat from a relief role and keeping things at least effectively wild. If that happens, it wouldn’t be a stretch to see him get the call in what will be, somewhat shockingly, just his age 24 season.
RHP Troy Melton
Melton is an undercelebrated prospect as he’s transformed from a raw fourth rounder to a quality pitcher with three solid offerings. He utterly dominated High-A last season, but things didn’t exactly go his way in Erie this year. In a hundred innings, his strikeout and walk rates are in line with what you’d hope for. However, he’s a flyball pitcher who just gave up too many bombs this year — his home run to fly ball rate increased eightfold over last year. He needs a little time to simmer in Triple-A and improve his command and ability to execute more complicated sequences under pressure. However, he could well be a mid-season call up of similar quality to a Ty Madden or Brant Hurter next year. There’s no talk of ‘penning him yet, but if he can’t swing it as a starter, he could also be a stud in the bullpen with his fastball/slider combo.
INF Gage Workman
Workman became a forgotten man from the 2020 draft due to his struggles against pitching he should have dominated. He finally got some traction by ditching switch-hitting and pulling the ball more than ever before. It feels like he’s finally found the right formula and has been red hot over the last month, boosting his season line to .278/.361/.467 with 17 home runs. According to wRC+, that’s 35 percent better than the average Double-A hitter. If he keeps the ball rolling in the offensive wonderland of Triple-A, he’ll be ready to take on the Tigers’ infield utility/Javier Baez injury replacement role.
Workman is pretty much a lock to be protected from the Rule 5 draft this winter. He has the chops to play a solid shortstop, and while he’s better suited at third base, the power and speed combo he can add from the shortstop position remains really intriguing. He’ll probably never hit left-handed pitching, the odds that he can play a productive strong side of a platoon at multiple infield positions look far better than they did the past few seasons.
RHP RJ Petit
The massive Petit (6’8”, 300 lbs.) is a relief arm in the midst of his career-best season during a return trip to Double-A Erie. It’s a breakout that started in the Arizona Fall League, highlighted by a strikeout rate that jumped from 20.4 percent in 2023 to 30.9 percent in 2024. He’s sustained his excellent production over the course of the whole season, totaling 57.1 innings so far. A good showing in Toledo to open 2025 would place him on the shortlist for injury replacement next year. This was his Rule 5 evaluation year, meaning he is a sneaky candidate to get added to the 40-man roster after the season ends or be exposed for other teams to pick up. His bowling ball of a sinker keeps the ball on the ground and in the park, and the development of his slider has turned him into a legit strikeout artist who could be a late innings, high leverage option for A.J. Hinch next year.
RHP Yosber Sanchez
This 23-year-old right-handed reliever was signed to a minor league deal by the Tigers back in early 2023. He’d previously been in the Texas Rangers system as a teenager before being released. While only 6’1”, Sanchez has filled out his frame over the past few seasons and is now pumping consistent high 90’s gas to go with a wipeout breaking ball. The slider is a fairly prototypical mid-80’s model with sharp late break, though it occasionally gets too big and obvious when Sanchez isn’t in sync. He’ll sometimes mix in a cutter in the low-90’s that has potential, while a changeup is more of a rare change of pace offering to better left-handed hitters.
Like most hard-throwing relief prospects who aren’t in the major leagues yet, control remains the issue. Sanchez started the year in Single-A Lakeland, where he racked up a 37.2 percent strikeout rate with barely any hard contact in 21 1⁄3 innings. Since moving up to West Michigan in late May, he’s tossed 39 2⁄3 innings with a 1.59 ERA and a strikeout rate of 28.3 percent. He’s only allowed one home run at either level, getting tons of ground balls and pop-ups. The walks remain a bit too high, at 11.4 percent, but if Sanchez can just tune things in a little bit more he’s going to move really quickly.
Already Rule 5 eligible, it’s hard to say if the Tigers will protect him since he hasn’t reached Double-A yet, but there is a decent chance they could lose him if they don’t add him to the 40-man roster this offseason. Probably the Tigers will take their chances as the roster is finally deep enough to force some tough decisions. Sanchez profiles more as a high-powered setup man than a classic dominant closer, but he’s closer to fulfilling that destiny than his age and level combo would lead one to believe. With a little better fastball command, Sanchez will get a shot in someone’s major league bullpen next season.
RHP Joseph Montalvo
The Tigers just acquired this 22-year-old in the trade that send LHP Andrew Chafin to the Texas Rangers. Armed with good athleticism, plenty of physical projection, and a high spin, sweeping slider that is his calling card, the 6’2” right-hander needs to add a little more velocity and improve command to reach the show as a starter. An inconsistent but sometimes impressive changeup is another key to unlocking a future starter’s role in the major leagues, but the more pressing issue is Montalvo’s roster status.
The Tigers would doubtless like to take their time with him and continue developing him as a starting pitcher, they may not have that luxury. Though he’s only 22, Montalvo is Rule 5 eligible now, and while he’s perhaps unlikely to be added to the 40-man this offseason, and probably not too likely to be selected by another team, the Tigers will need to see what they’ve got next year. He should start the season in the Double-A Erie SeaWolves’ rotation, but the Tigers may need to convert him to a slider-heavy relief role against right-handers and find out if he’s worth using a 40-man roster spot on next season.
RHP Eric Silva
Detroit targeted Silva in the Mark Canha trade with San Francisco, but he’s struggled somewhat in his time with the SeaWolves. To his credit, the pitcher is young for his level, pitching in the high minors during his age-21 season. This was also his first year as a relief arm, and it seems to be taking a little time for him to adapt. The foundation here is solid, with an athletic build and a pair of breaking balls that crest 3,000 rpm on occasion. If he can clean things up a bit next year, you can squint and see him graduating to the Tigers’ pen midseason.