Amidst the crushing emotion following last October’s 15-inning AL Division Series loss in Seattle, Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris gave a glimmer of hope for the future.
“I expect the players that posted dominant years in Double-A to factor into our big league team next year,” Harris said at his end-of-season media session. “I think a lot of these guys are going to be in Major League camp. You’re going to see them firsthand, and more importantly, they’re going to get a lot of experience being around the big league coaches and the big league players, so that when they ultimately get to the big leagues, they're more comfortable, and we have an environment ready for them that allows them to jump onto this team and make this team better immediately.”
On Wednesday, the Tigers made it official: Top prospects Kevin McGonigle, Max Clark and Josue Briceño will be in Major League camp as non-roster invitees. They’re first, second and third, respectively, on MLB Pipeline’s most recent Tigers prospect list, and they all sit within the top 40 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list released last month.
Infielders Max Anderson (No. 9 prospect) and John Peck (No. 16 prospect) will join them in camp as non-roster invitees. Add in catchers Thayron Liranzo (No. 5 prospect) and Eduardo Valencia (No. 23), infielder Hao-Yu Lee (No. 6), right-handers Ty Madden (No. 15) and Dylan Smith (No. 20) and left-hander Jake Miller (No. 19), all of whom are on Detroit’s 40-man roster, and 11 of the Tigers’ Top 30 prospects will be part of their 63-player Major League camp.
McGonigle, Clark and Briceño are the faces of the next wave of Tigers talent, and arguably the first wave of a Tigers farm system that underwent a revamping under vice president Ryan Garko and took on new importance under Harris. Clark, McGonigle and Anderson were the Tigers’ first Draft picks under Harris and vice president Rob Metzler, selected third, 37th and 45th overall, respectively, in 2023. Their climb up the organizational ladder coincided with that of Briceño, a 2022 international amateur signing under then-GM Al Avila, international operations director Tom Moore and Latin American operations director Miguel Garcia.
“I know we're excited about some young players who have gotten into Double-A and Triple-A,” manager A.J. Hinch said at the Winter Meetings in December. “We had Lee last year in big league camp. Max Anderson came over in big league camp. Obviously McGonigle is going to get a lot of attention internally, externally, because he's a terrific prospect. Some will factor in sooner than others, but it's something that we will sort out.
“They'll get a lot of at-bats in the spring. We'll have them prepared to compete for any opportunity. That may be during the spring. It might be during the first week of April. It might be later in the summer.”
Of the prospects who received non-roster invites, McGonigle and Anderson are in the best position to compete in camp for Major League jobs, if not on Detroit’s Opening Day roster then sometime during the season. McGonigle slashed .305/.408/.583 last year with 31 doubles, 19 home runs and 80 RBIs in 88 games across three levels, culminating at Double-A Erie. He has a chance to break into the big leagues as a shortstop, but could become a long-term fixture at second or third base if he doesn’t stick at short.
“I do think Kevin's getting a little bit of a raw deal in the general media about his ability to play shortstop,” Harris said at the Winter Meetings in December. “He's going to play a lot of shortstop in Spring Training. You guys are going to see it.”
Harris was noncommittal at the time about McGonigle’s chances to compete for a job in camp.
“Part of it depends on the makeup of the team. Part of it depends on Kevin's preparedness to be on the Opening Day [roster],” Harris said. “There are a lot of factors that go into it.”
Anderson is the most advanced prospect of the group, having spent the final two months of last season at Triple-A Toledo. He hit .296/.350/.478 between the Mud Hens and Erie with 31 doubles, 19 home runs and 88 RBIs in 122 games. His ability to crush left-handed pitching (.341 average, 1.017 OPS last year) gives him an opportunity to forge a role sooner rather than later as a lefty-busting infielder to replace Andy Ibáñez.
For Clark, No. 10 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100, the invite is an opportunity to make an impression on Tigers coaches and lay the foundation for his case to make a push for a call later this year. The potential five-tool center fielder with an impact left-handed swing hit .271/.403/.432 last year with 17 doubles, five triples, 14 homers, 67 RBIs and 19 stolen bases between Erie and High-A West Michigan.