ATLANTA -- The last time the Tigers had to worry about teams picking in front of them in the MLB Draft, they ended up with a surprise when eventual College World Series hero Alex Faedo fell to their pick at No. 18.

“We didn't think Faedo was getting to us,” scouting director Scott Pleis said Friday. “But shoot, we knew him since high school, so we were all aware of his abilities and everything. You just have to be prepared for everything.”

That’s what Tigers officials from general manager Al Avila to Pleis to scouts spent this week doing in Lakeland, Fla. With the fifth overall pick in the 2019 Draft, they have fewer scenarios to envision than they did in '17. But they also have a lot more work than they did with the first overall selection last year, a pick for which Casey Mize emerged in advance as the logical option.

This year's Draft is deep enough that Pleis expects to have a very good player available – maybe more than one -- when they come up on the clock. Who that is remains to be seen.

“I think it's really good where we're at in the Draft with our first pick,” Pleis said. “We're going to have some options, and we're going to have, I anticipate, some pretty good conversations on at least two, maybe three guys that might get to us that we really like.”

Most of the recent mock Drafts have centered on Florida high school outfielder Riley Greene. But those same mocks have generally had stability with the top four picks, with Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman, high-school shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and Cal slugger Andrew Vaughn among them. The fourth player who goes off the Tigers’ board will likely be the key one, whether it’s Greene, Vanderbilt outfielder JJ Bleday, high-school shortstop CJ Abrams or Arizona State outfielder Hunter Bishop.

“We're really happy with what we see,” said Pleis, who obviously wasn’t specifying names on his Friday afternoon conference call with reporters. “There's all kinds of different scenarios, but with what we think is coming our way, I think it's a good Draft up top, so we're in good shape.”

They’re in particularly good shape to grab a position player, something they haven’t done with their top pick since Derek Hill in 2014. Given the concentration of pitching in Detroit’s farm system and Tigers’ admitted search for impact hitters, that route would make sense. However, Pleis isn’t ruling out another pitcher. MLB Pipeline analyst Jim Callis, concidentally, cites the Tigers as one club that could draft Texas Christian left-hander Nick Lodolo.

Though the Tigers have used their top pick on starting pitchers in each of the last four years, all have been right-handers.

“I've heard all the talk about bats and all that kind of stuff, and I understand,” Pleis said, “but it's very important to get the right guy. You don't want to draft by need and pass on somebody that's quite a bit better just because you think you need one thing or another. So we're going to take the best guy that gives us the best impact. That's how we've done it for a long time, and that's how we'll keep doing it.”

The 2019 Draft will take place on June 3-5, beginning with the Draft preview show on MLB Network and MLB.com at 6 p.m. ET on Monday. MLB Network will broadcast the first 41 picks (Round 1 and Competitive Balance Round A), while MLB.com will stream all 78 picks on Day 1. MLB.com will also provide live pick-by-pick coverage of Rounds 3-10 on Day 2, beginning with a preview show at 12:30 p.m. ET. Then, Rounds 11-40 can be heard live on MLB.com on Day 3, beginning at noon ET.

Go to MLB.com/Draft to see the Top 200 Prospects list, mock drafts from Callis and fellow MLB Pipeline analyst and Jonathan Mayo, the complete order of selection and more. And follow @MLBDraft on Twitter to see what Draft hopefuls, clubs and experts are saying.

Zimm-ulated game goes well
Jordan Zimmermann was nearly done with the first 20-pitch inning of his two-inning simulated game Friday afternoon at SunTrust Park when he was trying to figure out why his stuff was unhittable.

“I was expecting them to swing the first inning,” Zimmermann said. “I was about three-quarters of the way through, and I asked [pitching coach] Rick Anderson, 'Are they going to swing or what?’ He said he told them not to swing the first inning. So that’s the inning when I had my best stuff.”

Once they started swinging, they still didn’t do much. But the key was more about Zimmermann throwing off a game mound at something closer to game situations to test the right forearm strain that knocked him out of action in late April.

Zimmermann threw fastballs, sliders, changeups and curveballs. The next step is a Minor League rehab assignment, which he’s expected to begin Wednesday with a start for Class A Advanced Lakeland.

“That’s the biggest thing, just being able to throw pain-free and know that everything’s healed up and it’s all good in there,” Zimmermann said. “I’m excited to, I guess, get out of this weather and go into some hotter weather. But hopefully I’m just down there for a couple starts and I’ll be back.”

Mercer, Harrison to visit specialist
Jordy Mercer (right quad strain) and Josh Harrison (left hamstring strain) will both see Dallas Cowboys team physician Dr. Daniel Cooper on Monday for a second opinion on their respective injuries. Mercer’s rehab assignment at Triple-A Toledo was interrupted by an acute-on-chronic strain of his quad on Tuesday. Harrison has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain, which denotes a tear.

What comes out of that visit could determine more roster moves, as manager Ron Gardenhire tries to figure out how long he’ll have to fill his middle infield spots.

“We have to find out what’s happening with our two middle guys,” Gardenhire said. “We’ll just let the doctors tell us. Mercer has a better chance [of returning in reasonable time] than Harrison, I believe, from what I was told. We’ll try to decide long term what we have to do here.”