The Tigers will be on the clock with the top pick in the shortened, five-round MLB draft tomorrow night, and although general manager Al Avila unsurprisingly declined to tip his hand in speaking with reporters today, Lynn Henning of the Detroit News writes that Arizona State first baseman Spencer Torkelson is expected to be the pick “unless something bizarre occurs.” Torkelson has long been regarded as a potential, if not likely No. 1 overall pick, having put together an outrageous NCAA career at the plate (.337/.463/.729) while wowing scouts with elite power, a keen eye at the plate and a potentially strong hit tool. Detroit has the second-largest bonus pool in this year’s draft, due largely to the No. 1 overall selection’s $8.415MM slot value.
Even beyond the selections the Tigers will make over the next two days, though, Avila feels the club will be well-positioned to lure in undrafted amateurs, Henning’s colleague Chris McCosky writes. Bonuses for undrafted players are capped at just $20K, so the Tigers won’t be able outbid other teams, but Avila touts the manner in which his organization has embraced “modern technology” as both an advantage for luring undrafted players and preparing for the draft in general. The club’s bolstered analytics department proved vital for draft preparation in the absence of conventional scouting opportunities, Avila says. He adds that the team’s recruiting message and the clear opportunities at the MLB level both work in their favor as well.
This marks the second time in three years that the Tigers have landed the No. 1 overall selection. In 2018, the top pick led Detroit to former Auburn ace Casey Mize, who now joins fellow Tigers farmhands Matt Manning and Tarik Skubal among baseball’s premier pitching prospects. Each had been ticketed for Triple-A, but Avila acknowledges that the likely lack of a minor league season has at least led to discussion about some of the organization’s top pitching prospects beginning to log innings at the MLB level in 2020.
Avila cautions that “no final decision” has been made and call the debate a “work in progress.” The Tigers, of course, still view their rebuild as an ongoing process and likely won’t be inclined to rush any of their prized arms to the Majors. The determination surely depends on what other developmental opportunities present themselves, too. While virtually everyone expects the minor league season to be canceled, there’s been talk of a potentially expanded Arizona Fall League format and the advent of a Florida Fall League, which could give high-end prospects like Mize, Manning and Skubal some much-needed developmental reps against similarly touted minor league hitters.
Can MLB draft picks be traded during the draft? I know they’ve been traded before the draft in the past like in the Goldschmidt Trade.
Only competitive balance picks can be traded. Not sure if it can happen during the draft itself.
Effective this year and next, not even the CB picks can be traded. The picks that WERE traded going into this draft were traded pre-Covid.
It would be fun, but unnecessary for them to do. Draft day trades are fun to debate, mock, and wonder during the NBA and NFL drafts, not to mention being used as a trade chip throughout the year in those leagues.
I don’t know that it would make sense because more elite talent is found throughout the MLB draft than the NBA and NFL drafts. Best way to get your franchise QB is in the first round. Best way to get an All-Star is in the NBA lottery.
All-Stars, MVPs, and Cy Young winners are littered throughout the MLB draft.
An overwhelming majority of MVP, Cy Young winners, and all stars were selected very highly in the amateur draft.
Martin > Torkelson
Agree
Shhhhh. Don’t give the Tigers any ideas,
Sure a guy with a lower OBP and SLG is better.
Al Avila is bad at making fake profiles.
I disagree. Martin’s a good player; but Torkelson is a special type of hitter, which you don’t find as easily. I know he’s a 1B, and some people don’t buy into taking 1B high. I don’t care about position. I want the best player- and I think it’s Torkelson.
i just never trust power to translate. it seems you have more cases of guys developing power that didnt have it before than power-first guys whose power translated to the next level.
It depends on your team’s preference. Do they want a Pete Alonso or a Justin Turner (younger Justin Turner than now)? Of course, there are no guarantees in the draft, but it seems like they are going to both be very good players.
That’s a pretty fair assessment. To me, there isn’t a wrong choice- I just think Torkelson is the best choice.
I totally agree. I remember the year the Tribe took Lindor in the 1st Round and the book on him was that he was a special player with the glove who could hit for average and had the defense to stick at short, but uncertain if power would develop.
Power frequently is the last tool that develops, so always pick the more well-rounded, higher upside guy. Power can be very misleading when a kid is 17, 18, 19 years old.
Unfortunately Martin doesn’t have the glove to stick at short while ch is why he was move to CF. Doesn’t necessarily have the stick for the OF.
Wrong. Torkelson will be the greater impact bat but Martin is a more well rounded player. Both will likely have solid careers but Torkelson also fills a gaping hole in the Tigers organization regarding power.
Even before the enhanced analytics dept., Detroit has had the great honor of employing David Chadd. His worked was usually traded away while going for a WS title, but we’re seeing a strong foundation being laid out for the Tigers. A couple more years of suck left, but they’ll be ready to challenge the Chisox talented youth movement with one of their own by 2022.
Great honor? Is he the Roman emperor or something?
Yeah. You’ve never heard of Emperor Chadd?
He’s had a far bigger impact on the league than given credit for. Look him up. Surprised he’s not a GM yet.
Avila will some how screw this guy up. Maybe by switching him to a new position like they have done with others in the past. Not recently cause it seems all they did was draft pitchers
The GM screws up players? Does he touch them or something.
#TorkForShortstop
If Torkelson ever were to play SS, that would likely mean the Tigers have very offensively productive options for 1B,DH,LF,3B and perhaps even 2B (on occasion, Torkelson played CF in college, by the way). The farm seems to be stacked with pitching. Therefore, I might even like the idea…
Gruß,
BSHH
He’s a future DH
He’s not. He may not have the most range over there, but he fields the position well.
Let’s not forget Jeter didn’t have the greatest range for a SS, but he put together a HoF career.
It just comes down to if you can live with a couple extra grounders slipping through a year, and I think the bat more than makes up for that
Nah, it just means Miggy signed another 10-year extension.
Agree
So I’m sure we all want our team to grab scads of those Undrafted Free Agents for 20K. Really? How many post Round 5 guys make the Show? I know, there’s some, but some isn’t a lot.
With (in most cases) 2 fewer minor league teams for each MLB to provide players for, I think a lot of fans are going to be dissapointed their team didn’t start running around signing every UDFA.
That’s not even true… in Baseball TONS and TONS of guys taken after the 5th round make it to the majors. This year with there being only 5-rounds there are potentially going to be TONS of potential big leaguers available as UDFA — the only thing is a lot of the best ones will probably try their luck in college either instead of going straight from HS to the pros or by giving another year in college a shot. But saying none of the undrafted guys are worth anything is just asinine — there are tons of top prospects and current ML’s taken way past the 5th round. It’s not like the NFL or NBA where only the top draft picks wind up being stars. In Baseball tons of players get drafted in the 10th/12th/15th rounds and wind up being big time MLB contributors.
Define Tons. If you are referring to the actual weight of the players, yea, probably. But according to a study presented at SABR in 2017 by Richard Karcher, 24.4% of 6th round players ever play in the majors, and only 10.6% play for at least 3 seasons. The numbers only get worse from there. So the hit rate on 6th round or greater is not that good, but worth taking a look at some and signing a few. The question is how many guys will want to sign for $20K? Given the NCAA is allowing guys to return for another year of eligibility, I can see a lot of guys going back and seeing if they can improve their draft stock.
What are the percentages for the first 5 rounds. About the same.
plenty. every year you have multiple rounds past 5 with multiple players alone in them getting to the Majors, and even a few stars.
Any team that doesn’t sign as many of these UDFAs as they can ink is foolish. You could go up and down every ML roster and probably find 2-3 guys who were unheralded late rd picks, or undrafted. Being that the system has been set where there is the 20k cap, you don’t even have to outbid. It’s a complete no-brainer, to me.
It’s not a no-brainer, because this year, if you sign them, they must immediately go onto the 40 Man. Money is not the issue. Roster space is.
Where’d you see that they must go on the 40 man roster? I’ve not seen that anywhere.
Wow I really didn’t know much about Skubal but looking at his minor league numbers thus far he looks like he’s going to be a nasty ML pitcher some day. if he can keep up anywhere near the K numbers he posted in AA last season he’ll be one hell of a pitcher. And given those K numbers… I’d have to assume if for some reason starting doesn’t work out. He seems like he could be an elite RP too
9th round pick – so gems can be found late
Great honor? Is he the Roman emperor or something?
Tigers would have to make room on the 40 man roster if they want all three to play in the majors.