Tag Archives: draft

2010 Season

Tigers draft Castellanos, Ruffin

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The Tigers selected high school third baseman Nick Castellanos with the 44th pick in the draft. A few moments later they selected Chance Ruffin, a reliever from Texas.

Castellanos is a trademark Tigers/Chadd/Ilitch pick. A top talent who slides in the draft to where the Tigers are only too happy to snap him up.

Nick Castellanos – MLB.com Scouting Report

Chance Ruffin fits in the Tigers mold of polished college relief pitchers. He breaks the mold in terms of his size and stuff. His fastball is low 90’s and he only stands 6-1.

Chance Ruffin – MLB.com Scouting Report

David Chadd commented on the selections via conference call late Monday night:

  • On Castellanos he said that the toolset and package was “impossible to pass up at 44”
  • Chadd saw Ruffin twice and he dominated both times and agreed with the comparisons to Huston Street
  • Chadd said that Castellanos has plus hittability and he thinks that plus power will develop. His toolset is “polished.” He will move to third base for the Tigers.
  • Ruffin could start at a higher level due to advanced pitchability
  • Castellanos’ family has ties to Detroit
  • Chadd once again talked about the support that he has from Mike Ilitch and Dave Dombrowski to draft the best player available. Chadd woudn’t say where he had Castellanos ranked on his board but said the answer would shock. (Incidentally Baseball America has Castellanos ranked #14).

Photo Credit: LakelandLocal

2009 Season

Draft Deadline Stuff

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UPDATE: The Detroit News notes that the Tigers signed 30th round pick James Robbins, a lefty power bat from Washington who gave up a commitment to WSU

UPDATE: BA says the Fields deal is $1.6 million

UPDATE: Keith Law says the Andrew Oliver deal is $1.495 million

UPDATE: Baseball America has the details on Jacob Turner’s deal. It’s a big league deal with a $4.7 million bonus. Total value could hit $7 million depending on when he reaches the big leagues

UPDATE: The Tigers get Daniel Fields per Jason Beck – 7 figure bonus. Big, big get and he’s a top 10 prospect in the system now.

UPDATE: Peter Gammons says that GMs have said the Tigers have inked Turner ($6.7 million) and Oliver ($1 million) but that the league office is holding the announcements.

Jason Beck writes that Turner/Oliver/Fields all had physicals this morning.

It is an off day for the current big leaguers, but the Tigers will be spending the day trying to beat the midnight deadline to bring some big league hopefuls into the fold. The Tigers have yet to sign their top 2 picks, Jacob Turner and Andrew Oliver, who are both rep’d by Scott Boras. Also on the radar are 6th round pick Daniel Fields, 8th round pick Craig Fritsch, 12th round pick Matt Thompson, and 15th round pick Mark Appel among others.

I’ll try and keep this updated at various points throughout the day as information comes in. In the meantime here are some links from the local beats:

And some places to bookmark for breaking info:

2009 Season

The rest of the draft

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NOTE: I added in all the day 2 picks and did some Googling for half of them so far. Feel free to use this post to make comments. I’ll drop it off the top spot in a day or two.

After the first round, there are like lots more. The Tigers made 2 additional selections Tuesday night. Andrew Oliver, a hard throwing lefty from OSU was their second selection, and Western Kentucky third baseman Wade Gaynor was their 3rd pick. Mack Avenue Tigers has already done some hunting and gathering for these guys.

This post will be here for those who choose to comment on the draft, I won’t be able to upate the picks though until much later tonight.

  1. Jacob Turner – yeah, we talked about him already
  2. Andrew Oliver – Keith Law has him ranked as the 54th best prospect and notes that while his fastball is a plus pitch, the rest of his arsenal leaves something to be desired. Baseball America notes that the fastball is good enough that even if he fails to develop a breaking ball, at worst he should succeed as a reliever. Tigstown thinks that the organization will give him a shot to start though.
  3. Wade Gaynor – The scouting reports are a little thin on Traynor, but he does have some big time power with 25 homers. Considering the Tigers only have one 3rd base prospect and he’s yet to play in the states, this might be a need pick.
  4. Edwin Gomez – He’s a 6-3 shortstop our of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy HS. Alex Cintron is his cousin.
  5. Austin Wood – In the 5th round the Tigers selected an arm surgery. You may know Wood from his 169 pitch relief outing in the college world series. (video interview)
  6. Daniel Fields – Fields is a shortstop, a top 50 prep talent, and the son of former Tigers coach Bruce Fields. He also has committed to Michigan and the Tigers will need to pay him way over slot.
  7. Jamie Johnson – Johnson is a Sooner and a centerfielder.
  8. Craig Fritsch – Another college product, a 6′ 4″ right hander from Baylor. He features a low to mid 90’s fastball and a change-up. (video)
  9. John Murrian – the first catcher the Tigers select is a 20 year old from Winthrop University.
  10. Chris Sedon – the 5′ 10″ 175 pound second baseman from Pitt won first team All Big East honors.
  11. Adam Wilk – He’s a Dirtbag and a southpaw. He made the transition from the pen to the rotation this year. (video profile)
  12. Matthew Thomsom – Another college player, this time a righty from San Diego. (video interview)
  13. Michael Rockett – He’s a centerfielder with the name Rockett. What’s not to like. And he’s a collegian.
  14. Kevan Hess – He’s the brother of Tigers prospect, FSL All Star, and blogger Andrew Hess.
  15. Mark Appel– A big tall high school kid with a commitment to Stanford could be a tough sign.
  16. Kenny Faulk – LHP, 22yr, Kennesaw State University
  17. Nathan Newman – RHP, 22yr, Pepperdine
  18. Eric Roof – C, 22, Michigan State
  19. Rawley Bishop – 3B, 23, Middle Tennessee State University
  20. James Gulliver– SS, 23, Eastern Michigan
  21. Giovanni Soto – LHP, 18, Puerto Rico
  22. Matthew Mansilla – CF, 23, College of Charleston
  23. Cory Hamilton – 21, UC Irvine
  24. Wade Kapteyn – RHP, 21, University of Evansville
  25. Almon Roache – RF, 17, Lincoln High School (MI)
  26. Edgar Corcino – 3B, 17, Adolfina Irizarry De Puig HS (PR)
  27. Patrick McKenna – SS, 21, Bryant University
  28. Tobin Mateychick – RHP, 18, Enid HS (OK)
  29. Michael Morrison – RHP, 21, Cal State Fullerton
  30. James Robbins – 1B, 18, Shorecrest HS (WA)
  31. Andrew Walter – RHP, 18, Cactus HS (AZ)
  32. Parker Markel – RHP, 18, Mountain Ridge HS (AZ)
  33. Cody Keefer – CF, 18, Davis Senior HS (CA)
  34. Derek Kline – RHP, 21, Millersville University (PA)
  35. Patrick Biondi – CF, 18, Divine Child HS (MI)
  36. Benjamin Crumpton – SS, 18, Lakeside HS (AR)
  37. Daniel Canela – C, 18, Florida Christian School (FL)
  38. Tarran Senay – OF, 18, South Park HS (PA)
  39. Chad Duling – SS, 18, Bishop Carroll Catholic HS
  40. Ben Bechtol – C, 18, Neshannock HS (PA)
  41. Larry Balkwill – C, 17, Ursuline College Chatham (ON)
  42. Nicholas Avila – RHP, 20, Central Florida Community College
  43. Andrew Allen – 1B, 19, Central Arizona College
  44. Charles Markson – 18, Whitefish Bay HS (WI(
  45. James Brennan – RF, 18, Suffern HS (NY)
  46. Nathan Goro – 3B, 18, Lafayett HS (MO)
  47. Kevin Chambers – RHP, 19, Capistrano Valley HS (CA)
  48. Jake Porcello – RHP, 18, Seton Hall Prep School (NJ)
  49. Cameron Giannini – RHP, 17, Hargrave Milittary Academy
  50. Nicholas Rosthenhausler – LF, 20, South Mountain Community College
2009 Season

The Tigers take Jacob Turner 1st

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The Tigers went with high school right hander Jacob Turner. Turner went to Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis and Baseball America has him ranked as the top high school right hander in the draft. He is advised by Scott Boras and is said to be seeking Porcello money and he’s got that commitment to North Carolina in his back pocket as well.

Tyler Matzek was the higher rated prospect on many boards, but Jim Callis reported on MLB’s draft coverage that he was looking for unprecedented money. Even though they didn’t go for Matzek, the Tigers didn’t exactly go with a signability pick.

Keith Law had Turner ranked 7th overall and said he second only to Stephen Strasburg in terms of consistent velocity.

There is a conference call at 8:25 and I’ll add more to this report as I spend some more time googling (notes are below the video now). In the mean time here is a nice profile piece that paints a very favorable picture and some video of Turner at work.

Conference Call Notes

Some notes from the conference call with David Chadd and Jacob Turner:

  • Chadd: Has been following Turner since last June on the showcase teams as well as the spring. Turner meets the profile for the organization (excellent athlete, lots of power, fastball up to 96, control of all his pitches, strong make-up)
  • Turner: As a baseball fan he knows about the Tigers but wasn’t worried where he’d be drafted and was focusing on his season.
  • Chadd: Thinks the delivery is sound with clean arm action and 3 pitch mix. He doesn’t anticipate much tinkering and is real high on his make-up.
  • Turner: All spring he viewed North Carolina as Plan A. Now he’s viewing the Tigers as another option.
  • Chadd: The draft was quite unsettled, right up until their pick, but they were excited when Turner was available.
2009 Season

Baseball Amateur Draft – Tigers Mock Draft Roundup

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5:03pm Jim Callis has locked in the first 8 picks and says the Tigers will have their choice between Tyler Matzek, Jacob Turner, Shelby Miller, and Michael Leake depending on how much they want to spend.

The Tigers will have the 9th pick in the draft today. I can’t speak with much authority about the pool of players they will be selecting from. Amateur baseball is something I just don’t have the depth or breadth of knowledge to talk about. So I’ll look to the experts. Here are what some of the mock drafts are saying about the Tigers pick:

Jonathon Mayo – MILB.com

9. Detroit Tigers: Jacob Turner, RHP, Westminster Christian Academy, MO
Staying put with this pick as it’s still a definite possibility. Two of the Draft’s wild cards, Scheppers and Tate, could feasibly find a home here. For now, though, Turner remains the pick.

BaseballAmerica.com: Draft:John And Jim’s Fantasy Draft (not a mock draft, that’s farther down the page)

9. TIGERS (Jim). Here’s where it gets tough, because Texas high school lefty Matthew Purke is the best player on the board. The Tigers haven’t been afraid to spend big to get players such as Justin Verlander, Andrew Miller and Rick Porcello, and they’re happy with how all three of those guys have turned out. But Purke’s father apparently wants Porcello money ($7 million) for his son, and while Matthew is very talented, that’s at least twice what I’d want to pay him. I’m not ready to pull the trigger on St. Paul Saints (American Association) righthander Tanner Scheppers yet either. He has thrown hard this spring, but he had serious shoulder issues a year ago, and shoulder issues scare me. I’m going to go for a little gamesmanship here, because there are a couple of players I like that I don’t think you’re going to pop, so I’ll take Texas high school righthander Shelby Miller. He’s got the best high school fastball in this draft, and that works for me.

MLB draft: Keith Law’s mock draft 3.0 – ESPN

9. Detroit Tigers Jacob Turner, RHP, Westminster Christian Academy: They’re also on Tanner Scheppers, and they’re having Reymond Fuentes in for a workout today. Mike Trout was rumored to be in the mix here a month ago.

SportingNews.com – MLB Draft Blog

9. Detroit Tigers
Jacob Turner, Westminster Christian (St. Louis) HS, RHP
Scott Boras representation won’t scare off Tigers, who have paid over slot for Rick Porcello and Casey Crosby.

BaseballAmerica.com: Draft: Mock Draft: Mock Draft 4.0

9. TIGERS. Late word is that Detroit won’t have a blank check to sign its favorite player who falls because of signability, which would have been Matzek, Turner or Purke. The Tigers could draft Crow and dig in, assuming he won’t want to head back for a second season in independent ball. Candidates for a slot deal include Lipscomb lefthander Rex Brothers, Trout and James.
Projected Pick: REX BROTHERS.

Minors

One less inefficiency to exploit

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When the Tigers pulled off the Cabrera/Willis trade, Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller were the two key pieces. They had something in common – they slipped to the Tigers due to signability issues. The same thing happened in 2007 with Rick Porcello and the Tigers hungrily snapped him up, and like with the aforementioned players, were willing to go above slot to sign him. When the Tigers made the trade it was assumed that they would be able to replenish quickly due to Mike Ilitich’s willingness to spend for premium talent in the draft – but it appears that there will be less talent slips.

Peter Gammons notes that the small market teams have realized that the draft is the best chance to be on a level (or at least level-ish) playing field with the big spending teams. They can’t get the same free agents, but they can get the same quality of entry player. Gammons lists the top 10 teams in terms of signing bonuses to top 10 picks:

Royals, Rays, Red Sox, Giants, Pirates, Brewers, Rangers, Twins, Orioles and Astros

Many of these teams are the ones that were passing on the Maybins, and Millers, and Porcellos in past years.

This was a concern I had when the deal was initially made. That the league would see the Tigers were able to make the trade by spending big on the draft, and big on the draft is much more affordable than big on the free agent market.

As for the Tigers, they ranked in the bottom 7 in draft bonuses (or is it bonii?) in 2008. At the time I wondered if it was a matter of them saving money for international signings, which haven’t been formally announced by the team to the best of my knowledge but TigsTown notes that there had been 7 as of August 1st. I have no idea how much they spent, or how it compares to past years. It’s possible that the organization felt this wasn’t the draft to invest in, and that the players didn’t warrant the slot busting bonuses. Or because so much depth had been traded away, they wanted to avoid the risky picks for a year to get a quick infusion. Or the worst case scenario, the spending at the big league level may have taken a chunk out of David Chadd’s budget.

Regardless, and I don’t say this to diminish the work that Chadd and his staff do, the Tigers probably can’t rely on other teams passing on talent at the same rate they did in 2005 through 2007. Then again, the Tigers performance this year is dictating that they’ll have a chance at a pretty good player as they move down the standings and up the draft order.

2008 Season

Tigers ink Ryan Perry

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The Tigers have signed first round pick Ryan Perry to a $1,480,000 signing bonus. There was no slot busting drama this year with Perry signing for about the same amount as the guys immediately above and below him in the draft.

Reportedly the Tigers would like to bring up Perry when the rosters expand on September 1st. In the meantime he’ll head to Lakeland. I’d guess that he pitches out of the bullpen the remainder of this year.

2008 Season

Tigers sign 24 draft picks

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The Tigers made quick work out of locking up a number of their draft picks. Included are 6 of their top 10 picks. Also, quite a few of the later round (30th round+) were inked.

4 Brett Jacobson RHP 6-6 205 R/R 21 Vanderbilt University (TN)

5 Alex Avila C 5-11 210 L/R 21 University of Alabama

6 Tyler Stohr RHP 6-2 210 L/R 21 University of North Florida

7 Jade Todd LHP 6-2 190 R/L 18 Shades Valley HS (AL)

8 Andy Dirks CF 6-0 195 L/L 22 Wichita State University (KS)

9 Anthony Shawler RHP 6-3 192 R/R 21 Old Dominion University (VA)

14 Tyler Conn LHP 6-1 180 L/L 22 University of Southern Mississippi

16 Thad Weber RHP 6-2 205 R/R 23 University of Nebraska

17 Robert Waite RHP 6-3 210 R/R 21 University of California-Riverside

19 Ben Guez CF 5-11 180 R/R 21 College of William & Mary (VA)

21 Adam Frost SS 5-11 165 R/R 21 St. Norbert College (WI)

23 Mike Gosse 2B 5-7 165 L/R 22 University of Oklahoma

24 Carmelo Jaime 2B 5-9 170 S/R 22 Miami Dade Community College

25 Billy Nowlin C 6-1 210 R/R 21 Golden West College (CA)

26 Brent Wyatt SS 5-10 185 S/R 23 Lewis & Clark State College (WA)

28 David Stokes RHP 6-8 245 R/R 21 Liberty University (VA)

29 Keith Stein CF 5-10 185 L/R 22 Sam Houston State University (TX)

30 Tyler Weber C 6-3 220 R/R 22 Wichita State University (KS)

31 Trevor Feeney RHP 6-1 185 R/R 21 Northern Illinois University

32 Mark Sorensen RHP 6-3 205 R/R 22 Michigan State University

34 Bryan Pounds 3B 6-0 195 R/R 22 University of Houston (TX)

35 Dan DeLucia LHP 6-4 220 L/L 23 Ohio State University

36 Steven Gilman RHP 6-1 194 R/R 22 Yale University (CT)

37 Nick Cassavechia RHP 6-0 185 R/R 22 Baylor University (TX)

2008 Season

Tigers Draft Results

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We’ll use this post to track the draft. I’ll be largely unavailable this afternoon/evening, but will try to chime in.

First Round: Ryan Perry RHP Arizona

The Tigers went with collegiate right hander Ryan Perry with their first round selection. Perry has a high 90’s fastball, a change up and a slider. He’s 6′ 4″, 200lbs and 21 years old.

He pitched as a reliever, but we’ll see if the Tigers keep him in the pen or if they make a starter out of him.

Baseball America thinks that if he signs quickly he could be in the Tigers pen later this year.

Baseball Prospectus notes the following about Perry:

Perry is a story, let me tell you. Ryan Perry was, simply, not good enough to earn an invitation to the Cape Cod League last summer. However, when a different Arizona reliever needed to drop out of the league, Arizona coach Andy Lopez pushed for the Orleans Cardinals to take Perry instead. They did, and Perry might not have thrown a fastball less than 95 mph all summer.

Catcher target Jason Castro went early. And relievers Josh Fields and Andrew Cashner went in the 2 picks prior to the Tigers.

Analysis: Take it with a grain of salt because I’m not particularly informed. But with Casey Kelly and Shooter Hunt still on the board I would have preferred going a different direction. Perry got rocked as a starter this year and if they spent the pick on a reliever I’m disappointed.

Second Round: Cody Satterwhite RHP Mississippi

Satterwhite sounds a lot like Perry. He’a a 6’4″ college junior with electric stuff, but who has gotten hit a little more than he should. He pitches in the low to mid 90’s and has a good but inconsistent slider along with an inconsistent delivery.

Third Round: Scott Green RHP Kentucky

An even bigger right hander at 6′ 7″ but this seems to be a full potential pick. He hasn’t put together a solid track record at the collegiate level. His fastball is high 80’s to low 90’s with a meh slider and below average change. Oh, and he’s had TJ surgery already. I don’t really get this pick.

Fourth Round: Brett Jacobson RHP Vanderbilt

Hey, it’s a big tall (6-6) right handed college pitcher. A high 80’s fast ball with deception and a big curve and decent change.

Fifth Round: Alexander Avila C Alabama-Tuscaloosa

Yes, that is the son of Al Avila. BA says he’s being drafted more for his bat which has good power potential.

Sixth Round: Tyler Stohr RHP North Florida

Yeah, another collegiate right hander who struggled in the rotation and had some success in the pen.

2008 Season

Draft talk

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With the draft coming up next month, speculation about who the Tigers might be able to grab is picking up. With the 21st pick a lot will be out of the team’s control and given the volatility of a draft where signability is as big of a concern as playing ability, it can often be a fruitless effort.

Take 75 North has been scouring mock drafts to see who might be available and has written a few snapshots of some possible targets.

Lynn Henning does some research of his own and doesn’t see the Tigers blowing apart the slotting system like they did the last 3 years with Maybin-Miller-Porcello. But that might have less to do with the type of players involved rather than a change in philosophy. Henning notes catcher Jason Castro and reliever Andrew Cashner as potential options.

Baseball America’s first mock draft has Castro going to the Cubs 2 picks before the Tigers selection. And they have Cashner going 1 spot after the Tigers select prep righty Tim Melville. But they note that the Tigers might extend for high school first baseman Eric Hosmer if Scott Boras driven demands make him available that late.

Regardless, in an earlier interview with JP Morosi scouting director David Chadd indicated that the Tigers would just go with the best player available.

“My approach is we’re taking the best guy on the board,” Chadd said.
“We’re going to line it up how we see it, evaluate it and get the best
players up there accordingly. Those other issues, we’ll have to sit
down with Dave and discuss later.”