The Tigers announced today that they’ve signed No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize. He’ll be introduced today at a press conference. Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports (via Twitter) that the former Auburn ace received a $7.5MM signing bonus. That’s a new record bonus for the current draft structure, though it still checks in south of the full slot value of $8,096,300. Mize was advised by and is now represented by the Bledsoe Agency.
Mize, 21, was the consensus top talent in the 2018 draft class. He topped pre-draft rankings from Baseball America, MLB.com, Fangraphs and ESPN, and virtually every mock draft leading up to the draft itself had projected that the Tigers would select him. He’ll instantly become one of the game’s top pitching prospects (and top overall prospects) and will give the Tigers a potential fast-moving, high-end pitching talent to add to their minor league ranks.
In his junior season at Auburn, Mize pitched to a 3.30 ERA with a ridiculous 156-to-16 K/BB ratio in 114 2/3 innings of work. He works with a fastball that reaches 97 mph but sits more in the 93-95 mph range and draws exceptional reviews for his ability to command that pitch as well as a splitter that both MLB.com and Baseball America rate as a 70-grade pitch (on the 20-80 scale). Mize also began throwing a cut fastball this year — another pitch that has quickly earned plus ratings — and throws a slider as well.
The rebuilding Tigers have begun to amass an impressive collection of arms that could be in the Majors by 2019 and certainly by early 2020. Detroit has selected a pitcher with its top pick in each of the past four drafts, and those arms — Alex Faedo (2017), Matt Manning (2016) and Beau Burrows (2015) — are widely ranked as the organization’s Nos. 2-4 prospects. Their top prospect, prior to signing Mize, is right-hander Franklin Perez — another highly touted arm whom the Tigers acquired from the Astros as the centerpiece to last summer’s Justin Verlander blockbuster. With Mize now joining that quartet, and Michael Fulmer and Matthew Boyd controlled for four years beyond the current season, the Tigers have the makings of an impressive up-and-coming pitching staff on which their fans and front office can dream.
Step one. Now move onto releasing Victor and trading Iglesias…a free agent this off season and whatever other pieces can be moved. Liriano was traded last year for a guy in the Blue Jay lineup everyday who is producing. Go get em Al.
The Blue Jays ate all of Liriano’s contract as well as Nori Aoki’s contract in order to get Teoscar Hernandez. They effectively bought him from Houston for about $6MM (plus a free roll of the dice on Liriano).
General point being — I wouldn’t expect that kind of return for Liriano in 2018.
Liriano is also very inconsistent. He seems to be drastically affected when a unfamiliar face behind the plate if catching.
I doubt he brings back anything other than a lottery ticket
Is there anything sillier than the 80-20 scale? Intentional jargon invented by scouts to separate themselves from the layman.
I’ll vote for Quarterback Rating.
It’s actually quite useful. A 50 is considered major league average and each 10 point increment represents one standard deviation better or worse than average
It isn’t very fan friendly. A lot of baseball stats make sense to dedicated fans but not casual fans.
agreed
The 20-80* scale is actually quite useful. 50 is major league average and each 10 increments is 1 standard deviation from the mean. In this case Casey Mize has a 70 fastball which means his fastball is 2 standard deviations away from the mean (91 mph with average movement), or in simpler terms “much better than MLB average” and is around top 10% in MLB. For reference Jordan Hicks or Aroldis Chapman have both 80 fastballs.
Of course it is designed to separate themselves from the layman, because the layman isn’t responsible for decisions worth millions of dollars. The laymans job isn’t evaluating talent.
Any Joe Nobody can sit there and describe something as “good”. But that doesn’t mean Joe Nobody can scout.
Would you do the financial statements for a billion dollar company and just write “even” on a piece of paper? No, you gotta quantify.
It’s good to be a Tigers’ fan right now. Happy for you guys. Love Avila’s long-term plan for the future. Curious to see what Iglesias gets.
welllll not right now but in a year or 2 – yeah there could be some major fun.
I down-voted myself because meant to say: “must* be good to be a Tigers’ fan right now.” Lol! Not a Tigers’ fan. Haha ;P
With regards to your comment, I definitely think in a year, when all cash comes off the books, they have power to surprise, and maybe even make a splash.
Last year Martinez 18M — Even J. Zimmermann, one most untradeable contract, sunk cost in MLB, gets easier to trade:
After 2018, Zimmermann loses full NTC, gets a 10 team no trade clause, and 2 yrs left on 5 year 110M contract, signed w/ DET.
Noice
Nice in theory hope it buffs out…till then the only thing that can save Detroit is Robocop.
I’ll buy that for a dollar.
Tiger fans should be happy; Avilla is turning that moribund franchise around quicker than might be expected. Away from “power bats/power arms” under DD, to “hitters who can hit/pitchers who can pitch”.
Ya, Mize isn’t Strasburg; who is? But he’s easily projectable as a #2 guy. As are some of the other pitchers developing.
Tigers could be back quicker than you think. And Gardy is the transition manager par excellance. They play hard; they play smart. Lots of 190M payrolls out there who do neither.
Pretty sure Mize projects to be a top of the rotation guy. Who would he be number two to? Number one overall picks project to be your aces, or they wouldn’t be the number 1 pick.
Appel went 1-1 in a previous draft. He was never projected to be an ace.
It really depends if you’re working with a strong or weak draft class.
If Mize’s splitter is as good as the scouts rate it and he continues to develop his breaking stuff, I dont see how #1/ace isn’t his ceiling.
With his control, he is going to have a great chance to move quickly through the minors.
It all begins with pitching. Get a lot of high ceiling talent and see which guys pan out.
The Tigers future Pitchers and Catchers look hopeful; they still need to develop middle infielders.
The player I want to see moved is Nicholas Castellanos. His defense is actually worse that the statistics reveal. Someone will want him for his bat.