Detroit Tigers Praised for Focus on Youth and Upside in 2024 MLB Draft Selections
The Detroit Tigers are hoping to repeat their surprising late-season surge into the postseason by continuing the youth movement that propelled the team from a trade deadline seller to a surprise Wild Card entrant.
Just one season after debuting multiple position player prospects and top arm Jackson Jobe, Detroit's draft class again loaded up on young talent that has the potential to make a significant impact on the major league roster whenever they're ready.
At the very top of the class, Detroit doubled down on last year's strategy of taking one of the top prep talents, following up their 2023 selection of outfielder Max Clark with 1st-rounder Bryce Ranier, a shortstop out of powerhouse Harvard-Westlake High School in California.
Baseball America, writing their annual "draft report card" article that doesn't actually have grades in it, was impressed with the selection of Rainer. He received multiple superlatives in the piece, from both "best pure hitter" and "best power hitter" to "best defensive player", with BA significantly pointing out exceptional arm strength that had some teams evaluating him as a pitcher rather than a shortstop.
Fellow prepster Owen Hall, a righthanded 2nd-round pick out of Oklahoma, tied with 4th-round collegiate selection Michael Massey for "Best Fastball." Massey also picked up "Best Secondary Pitch" for his slider, although Baseball America noted that it was better in the past at Tulane than in his draft spring at Wake Forest.
Outfielder Jackson Strong, a 7th-rounder out of Canisius College in New York, was noted for his speed with the "fastest runner" nod while also receiving plaudits for his early professional baseball returns. Debuting for Low-A Lakeland and getting into nine games, he put up a .313 batting average and .767 OPS with five RBI and three stolen bases.
Due to the first three picks all being prep products, a demographic that typically requires more development time than their collegiate brethren, Massey was named the "closest to the majors" were Detroit to want to use him as a reliever over a starter.
In his sophomore season at Wake Forest, Massey went 3-1 with a 2.59 ERA and only 3.5 walks per nine innings as a reliever. After moving to the rotation for ten games in his draft year, Massey went 4-2 but with an unsightly 4.76 ERA and 6.4 BB/9. Some of the blame for the underperformance could go to a back injury, one which was finally surgically corrected in early June.