Three Future Detroit Tigers Stars in Top 100 Baseball Prospects
If the Detroit Tigers are to get back to being the contenders they were under newly-minted Hall-of-Fame manager Jim Leyland, they’ll need great talent to come up through the minor leagues.
Fortunately, the Tigers have three potential stars in their system, according to Baseball America.
Pitcher Jackson Jobe is one of baseball’s highest-ranked prospects, coming in at No. 5, while outfielder Max Clark is No. 29 and shortstop Kevin McGonigle is No. 30.
Detroit is one of a handful of teams with at least three prospects in the Top 30. The Baltimore Orioles have four.
Jobe is behind only Washington’s James Wood, Baltimore’s Jackson Holliday, Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero and Washington’s Dylan Crews in the Top 100. He is the highest-ranked pitcher.
The Oklahoma City, Okla., product played his high school ball at Heritage Hall and was named the Oklahoma Gatorade Player of the Year his senior year. The Tigers made him their first-round pick in 2021 (No. 3 overall) and paid him a $6.9 million signing bonus to get him to de-commit from playing college baseball at Ole Miss.
The right-handed pitcher is the son of professional golfer Brandt Jobe and has progressed to Double-A Erie after earning a promotion earlier this year from High-A West Michigan. Combined he is 2-2 with a 1.51 ERA in 11 starts, with 53 strikeouts and 18 walks in 41.2 inning.
If he continues this progress he could figure into the Detroit’s plans in late 2025.
Clark, 19 years old, was the Tigers’ first-round pick (No. 3 overall) last year out of Franklin High School in Franklin, Ind. Committed to playing college baseball at Vanderbilt, Detroit signed him to a $7.7 million bonus after he was named both the Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year and the Gatorade Best Player of the Year (regardless of sport).
In less than 100 pro games he’s already made his way to West Michigan and this season he is slashing .285/.384/.419/.803 with seven home runs and 58 RBI. Clark had such a good first half that he was invited to play for the American League in the MLB Futures Game earlier this month during All-Star weekend.
McGonigle is another 19-year-old prospect who was drafted last year in the second round and signed a $2.85 million bonus. He was the Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year for Bonner & Prendergast Catholic High School.
He just earned a promotion to West Michigan and Baseball America recently selected him as their Tigers midseason organizational player of the year.
He is slashing .322/.405/.464/.869 with four home runs and 37 RBI in 61 games. That was after he batted .315/.452/.411/.863 with one home runs and six RBI in 21 games in Florida last year.
MATT POSTINS