All-Stars show why the Draft is crucial to Tigers' success 

The Tigers head into Saturday’s MLB Draft picking outside the top 20 for a second consecutive year. But for a glimpse of why the Draft remains vital for Detroit’s fortunes, look no further than next week’s All-Star Game.

The Tigers are sending three players to the Midsummer Classic, all voted onto the American League reserves by player vote. All three were drafted and developed within the Tigers farm system. Only one of them was a top-30 overall pick, or even the Tigers’ top selection that year. They’re the first trio of homegrown Tigers position players to make an All-Star team since Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker and Lance Parrish in 1985.

Riley Greene, the fifth overall pick in the 2019 Draft, is the first Tiger to make three straight All-Star teams since Miguel Cabrera from 2010 to 2014, and joins Hall of Famer Al Kaline as the only Tigers outfielders ever to earn three straight All-Star selections.

Kevin McGonigle was the 37th overall selection in the 2023 Draft. He becomes the second All-Star from that year’s Draft class, joining top pick Paul Skenes, and the first Tigers player to become an All-Star in his debut season since Mark Fidrych 50 years ago.

Dillon Dingler was a second-round pick in the 2020 Draft. He becomes the first Tigers All-Star catcher since Alex Avila started the game in 2011.

• Day 1 picks: 22, 61, 69, 125
• Bonus pool allotment: $9,165,100 (22nd-highest)
• Last year’s top pick: Jordan Yost, SS, pick 24 … Yost was a surprising pick at that spot, an athletic but undersized shortstop out of Sickles HS in Tampa. But Yost -- Detroit's No. 7 prospect -- added strength in the offseason, worked on his swing and made a big impression in Spring Training, including a grand slam for the Tigers in his Grapefruit League debut. He has more than held his own at Single-A Lakeland with outstanding zone control.
• Breakout 2025 pick: Ben Jacobs, LHP, pick 98 … A high-strikeout lefty at Arizona State, Jacobs (Detroit's No. 15 prospect) fell to the third round, which has become a sweet spot for the Tigers for pitching. His ERA in his first pro season is high thanks to a pair of recent rough outings for High-A West Michigan, but Jacobs’ strikeout rate has translated to the pros.

All this puts the importance in greater focus as president of baseball operations Scott Harris, assistant GM Rob Metzler and director of amateur scouting Mark Conner embark upon their fourth draft together. Together, they’ve built an organization and farm system well stocked in hitting talent, including an AL Rookie of the Year candidate in McGonigle, a top prospect in Max Clark and budding shortstop prospects Bryce Rainer and Jordan Yost.

So, what’s next?

The Tigers pick 22nd, two spots higher than last year. They’ve used their top pick on a left-handed hitting, up-the-middle position player out of high school in each of their previous three Drafts under Harris, Metzler and Conner. It’s a clear trend that has produced for them, though they were linked with interest in right-handed hitting prep shortstop Konnor Griffin in 2023 before the Pirates selected him two picks ahead of Detroit, which drafted Rainer instead.

If the Tigers stick with their trend, they should have no shortage of options. They’ve been linked in mock drafts with speedy outfielder Trevor Condon, slugger Landon Thome (son of longtime Tigers nemesis Jim Thome), big sweet-swinging infielder Bo Lowrance and California shortstops Tyler Spangler and Archer Horn. Aiden Ruiz is a switch-hitting shortstop who also fits the profile.

And yet, if there’s a weakness in the Tigers system, it’s a relative lack of top pitching prospects, something that could become an increasing concern in the next couple years. Detroit has a good foundation of homegrown starting pitchers for next year with Troy Melton, Keider Montero, Ty Madden, Jackson Jobe and Reese Olson, the latter two currently recovering from surgery. But it’s hard to identify a surefire Major League starter currently in the system. Just 11 spots on the current Tigers Top 30 prospect list are held by pitchers, none higher than eighth, and just two -- Andrew Sears and Jaden Hamm -- have thrown a pitch above High-A ball. Harris said after last season that the team needs to do better developing young pitching.

Detroit’s pitching development strategy has centered on drafting undervalued pitchers in the middle rounds. Malachi Witherspoon, last year’s second-round pick out of Oklahoma, bucked that. Could the Tigers get more aggressive and use a first-round pick on a pitcher for the first time since Jobe and Madden in 2021 under Al Avila, David Chadd and Scott Pleis? Some, such as The Athletic’s Keith Law, have wondered as much if Coastal Carolina right-hander Cameron Flukey falls that far after missing much of this past season.

MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo tied the Tigers to potential interest in hard-throwing prep lefty Brody Bumila in his latest mock draft. It would not be a stretch for Conner, who drafted another prep lefty, MacKenzie Gore, third overall in 2017 while with the Padres.