Detroit News 2020 Top 20 Detroit Tigers prospects

1. Matt Manning, 22, 6-6, 215, RH starter: That old storm warning about drafting prep pitchers, particularly in the first round? True. Peril lurks. Exceptions come when an extraordinary athlete, who hasn’t yet pitched so many innings that his arm doubles as sawdust, proves to be a steady riser, with premier stuff, which is Manning’s profile in 2020. He’ll be in Detroit soon, health holding up, after last year’s noteworthy work at Double-A Erie: 2.56 ERA, 0.98 WHIP in 133.2 innings, with a .192 opposing batting average, as well as 148 strikeouts and 37 unintentional walks. Could be a rotation ace. Could be a No. 2 or No. 3 warhorse. Regardless, a fine pitcher emerging.

2. Tarik Skubal, 23, 6-3, 215, LH starter: Casey Mize would make most lists at No. 2, or even No. 1. And that’s fair. The difference with Skubal is a slight edge in age and innings pitched, which could factor in 2020 as he brings his big left arm to, eventually, Toledo, or even Detroit. Skubal jumped from Single A Lakeland to Double A Erie in 2019 and pitched even better at Erie, thanks to his fiery fastball (up to 97, and even 98) and sharp slider, which makes Skubal’s change-up no fun, either. The Tigers stole him in the ninth round in 2018 and now have a potential left-handed gunslinger incubating.

3. Casey Mize, 22, 6-3, 220, RH starter: In another year Mize could be back on top of any Top 50 Tigers Prospects rankings. He could be readying for a 2021 rotation spot because of a 2020 season that was steadily strong and might have brought him a hurry-up ticket to Detroit. Mize, though, needs innings this year after throwing 109.1 in 2019 (2.55 ERA, .094 WHIP) and dealing with some shoulder inflammation. The soreness wasn’t judged to be serious. It simply cost him starts and innings during the second half. He should be in premier shape, and status, as 2020 evolves.

4. Riley Greene, 19, 6-3, 200, OF: Not much chance the Tigers missed here with last year’s fifth-overall draft grab. Greene is a sublime athlete and left-handed hitter who did just fine during stops at three minor-league posts, all before he turned 19. He’ll get a full taste of Class A baseball in 2020. He should confirm that his skills are long-term talents likely to grow more lustrous as he approaches 20 and beyond. He needs to stay in the lineup, minus mishaps that are always an athlete’s demon-in-waiting. But with typical health the Tigers are grooming in Greene your typical star hitter and outfielder.

5. Isaac Paredes, 20, 5-11, 225, 3B: Not that Vegas offers odds on a specific 20-year-old (21 on Feb. 18) reaching the majors in 2020, but if there were such a betting parlor, it would be wise to drop a wad on Paredes. He has a big-league bat that’s steadily been busting loose. And at some point, perhaps this year, the Tigers will want to audition him for regular work in Detroit. It remains to be seen where he’ll play – infield, or even outfield – but he stings the ball (.784 OPS at Double A Erie in 2019) and knows the strike zone (.368 on-base percentage). And based on his farm-system ascent, he’s on his way to Comerica Park.

6. Alex Faedo, 24, 6-5, 230, RH starter: Faedo has a handle on pitching’s intricacies, even if he is only 24. Knowing how to pitch is helped immeasurably when you throw, for example, the brand of slider in which Faedo specializes. The swerving slider is Faedo’s hallmark and a heavy reason why the Tigers in 2017 drafted him as a first-rounder out of the University of Florida. He is not the kind of pitcher who incinerates batters. Nor is he a finesse prodigy. He throws good pitches, at generally good locations, with that venomous slider his big-league billboard baby (134 strikeouts last year in 115.2 innings at Erie). Faedo needs to bamboozle big-league batters with something other than a slider, even his slider, but understand he has a repertoire and it’s being polished. Progressively.

7. Joey Wentz, 22, 6-5, 210, LH starter: And most thought the Tigers last July traded Shane Greene to the Braves for, well, they can’t quite remember, but it didn’t seem to be anyone special. In fact, the deal was done by the Tigers primarily for Wentz, who in 2016 had been a Kansas prep star on his way to the University of Virginia until the Braves took him with the 40th overall pick. He has averaged better than a strikeout per inning during four farm seasons, with a 3.22 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. In five games last season at Erie, he struck out 37 in 25.2 innings and walked four. He has a fastball that runs at 93, a deep curveball, and a change-up that also helps. The Tigers have a nice rotation prospect in Wentz, who could get a look as early as this year.

8. Bryant Packard, 22, 6-3, 200, OF: The Tigers might have gotten a rough, draft-day, position-player equivalent to Tarik Skubal in Packard, who was snagged in the fifth round last June from East Carolina. He has one enduring quality: Packard can hit. And that left-handed bat means the Tigers will overlook defense and speed that aren’t by any means plus skills and happily make room for him somewhere in their lineup, should the bat and his considerable power develop as they surely could. Packard last summer tore it up at Connecticut and West Michigan and even had a five-game stint at Lakeland. His box-score data will be worth following, regularly, in 2020.

9. Parker Meadows, 20, 6-5, 205, OF: Much is riding on Meadows, which means 2020 would be a handy time to show he can hit Single-A pitching. He had, well, a rugged baptism during his first full season of professional baseball in 2019, with a .607 OPS at West Michigan. Rough stuff. In his defense, he was 19 years old. Meadows should grow more into his competition in 2020 and perhaps confirm why Tigers scouts liked him as a second-round pick in 2018. He can run, he has a left-handed bat, and if he hits along the lines scouts projected, he could be a desperately needed vitamin-shot for a farm system crying for his brand of tools.

10. Kody Clemens, 23, 6-1, 170, 2B: Another chap who needs a big 2020, and could get it. Clemens had more power than was evident at the Florida State League’s big parks, beginning with Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. Clemens lost a bunch of warning-track homers there ahead of a brief and bruising move to Erie. Should he flower this year at Erie, Clemens will move delectably close to Comerica Park. The Tigers all along believed they had their next everyday second basemen in Clemens when in 2018 they plucked him, in the third round, from the University of Texas. They might indeed have gotten a sweet everyday lineup cog. But he needs to prove in 2020 that he’s big-league-grade.

11. Franklin Perez, 22, 6-3, 197, RH starter: A couple of years ago, Perez was numero uno on Tigers prospects report cards. The top prize from Detroit’s deal that sent Justin Verlander to Houston in 2017, he already had shown during time on the Astros farm that Perez was headed for big-league glitter – a solid, mid-rotation (at least) plowhorse who could work innings and torment hitters. And then a man who hadn’t had any serious ills with the Astros ran into bad times with the Tigers, capped by last year’s LAT issues that knocked out most of 2019 and haven’t yet eased fully. The Tigers won’t concede. Not yet. And while it is getting late, even at 22, should Perez bump into his old form and power, the Tigers will reclaim a man talented enough to be that rotation big boy everyone thought they had snagged in 2017.

12. Beau Burrows, 23, 6-2, 215, RH starter: Just as Burrows seemed on his way to pushing for a rotation spot during 2020 spring camp, he had a slight mishap. It was known as 2019. Last season saw his earlier rising prospect graph nosedive, just as it had done during a late-summer trip to Double-A Erie in 2018. His numbers at Triple-A Toledo (5.51 ERA, 1.53 WHIP in 15 starts) last year were as ugly as some body ills that pounded him: biceps tendinitis, shoulder inflammation, as well as issues with an oblique muscle. It’s always best to wait out pitchers with size and youth and talent that could find its old groove. There has been some talk of Burrows shifting to the bullpen. The Tigers don’t care where he helps. They only want him to help. Preferably, soon.

13. Wladimir Pinto, 21, 5-11, 170, RH reliever: Chomp onto those strikeout numbers from 2019 (87 in 61.2 innings between Lakeland and Erie) and you get a sense for Pinto’s high-voltage arm and fastball. Needs to throw more strikes, for sure (31 unintentional walks in 2019), which will hint at how rapidly this Venezuelan can ponder a ticket to Detroit.

14. Angel De Jesus, 22, 6-4, 200, RH reliever: Another of those fireballers who can make late innings no fun for batters who don’t appreciate hard stuff that moves as De Jesus’ pitches tend to bore. De Jesus turns 23 on Feb. 13, so it’s time to do at Erie this season what he did a year ago at West Michigan and Lakeland, combined: 1.61 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, .168 enemy batting average, 37 hits in 61.1 innings, with 85 strikeouts and 29 walks.

15. Anthony Castro, 24, 6-2, 190, RH starter: Getting a hit against Castro is not easy shopping. He throws bullets. And those bullets tend to soar in any particular direction, which gets to the heart of Castro’s soft spot: He walks too many batters: 65 in 2019 at Erie, which is nearly as many hits (75) as he allowed in 102.1 innings. He also struck out 116, which, of course, speaks to the difficulty in centering his lightning bolts. How much progress can a man make in corralling the strike zone two months before he turns 25? It’s a longshot. But with Castro’s size and hot pitches, the Tigers will grant him extended time.

16. Eliezer Alfonzo, 20, 5-10, 155, C: He’s a switch-hitter and perhaps not stout enough to be an everyday catcher in the big leagues. But a guy named Pudge Rodriguez – no, this is not a comparison – was an inch shorter than Alfonzo and had no serious issues while filling out. Alfonzo is a native Venezuelan who has hit just about everywhere, including during a 48-game stint last summer at Single-A Connecticut: .318 batting average, with a .342 on-base percentage. This, it should be noted, was while he was still 19. The Tigers will back-slap any young catching prospect who appears a good bet to someday see Comerica Park. Alfonzo might qualify.

17. Carlos Guzman, 21, 6-1, 185, RH starter: If the strained elbow that knocked him out in May of last season has slipped into medical history, Guzman should be back gunning down hitters in 2020 and perhaps distinguishing himself as one of the team’s farm-system pitching thoroughbreds. But, ah, elbows. They can be stubborn to heal and stay healed, which is the main concern as a talented Venezuelan approaches 2020. He was on his way, for sure, last spring at West Michigan, with a power repertoire that needs refining and more intimacy with the strike zone. But his pitches are no fun. Not when that elbow’s cooperating.

18. Wilkel Hernandez, 20, 6-3, 195, RH starter: Hernandez was part of the ransom paid to Detroit in 2017 when the Tigers sent Ian Kinsler to the Angels. They might yet get a dividend check. Hernandez turns 21 in April and will reveal at some point during this year’s Florida State League if a man with his physique and overall pitching package is in fact a serious farm-to-Comerica candidate. He has a good overall pitching parcel, with secondary pitches that compensate for a fastball that doesn’t overpower. He also had a fielding-independent ERA in 2019 of 3.26, which is why, particularly at his age, this season looms large.

19. Elvin Rodriguez, 21, 6-3, 160, RH starter: He had a constructive year at Lakeland in 2019 and now will be asked to repeat acts in 2020 at Erie and the more hitter-friendly Eastern League. Rodriguez arrived in Detroit in 2017 as partial payment for the Tigers shipping Justin Upton to the Angels. He has potential, for sure, with his body and age helping keep him in bounds as he gets ready for work at Double A. As with Hernandez, his fastball is not a laser, but his breaking pitch and overall three-pitch inventory keep him on plane.