Detroit Tigers Top 25 Prospects: May Stats

Let’s see how the top Detroit Tigers prospects performed in May

Last month we did a full update to our list of the Detroit Tigers top 25 prospects. We could do that again for June, because there have been some definite movers. But for now we think it’s best to save our next update until after the draft. But it’s still worth it to see how the players are performing, so let’s do that.

I’m addicted to posting tables, but this time they would’ve been too unwieldy. Instead, I’ve simply taken a screenshot of our spreadsheet and tweeted it. Hopefully you’ll be able to see them all.

Here’s how the position players on our Top 25 Tigers prospect list performed in May: pic.twitter.com/eYnrY33cKX

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) June 2, 2023

• That’ll do, Colt Keith. That’ll do.
• It was a tough month for Parker Meadows and Justyn-Henry Malloy, which partially explains Toledo’s 6-20 record in May. It’s also worth noting that both hitters have strange reverse platoon splits this year. Meadows is hitting just .221 with a .692 OPS against right-handed pitchers, but he’s batting .286 with an .864 OPS against lefties. And Malloy’s splits are even more drastic. He owns a .316 average and .964 OPS against right-handed pitchers, but is batting just .180 with a .699 OPS against southpaws.
• Roberto Campos‘ traditional stats don’t look terribly impressive, but the advanced stats are awfully nice for a teenager in a pitcher-friendly league.
• Izaac Pacheco and Jace Jung both had pretty disappointing months for West Michigan. Both are struggling to make consistent contact, though Jung is off to a great start in June.
• Dillon Dingler is striking out a bit too much, but he’s taking his walks and doing a lot of damage when he does make contact.
• Cristian Santana and Andre Lipcius continue to have utterly bizarre seasons.
• Wenceel Perez‘s power hasn’t quite returned, but he’s doing a bit of everything else. And he’s made a nice transition to center field after throwing issues forced him off second base.
• Josh Crouch has seemingly taken his demotion to West Michigan well, which is good to see. But we need to see him handle Double-A pitching at some point.

And here are the May numbers for the pitchers on our list of the Top 25 Detroit Tigers prospects: pic.twitter.com/SLxJFPXXck

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) June 2, 2023

• It’s been a tough go for the top two active pitching prospects on our list. Wilmer Flores continues to deal with diminished velocity, though his stuff looked crisper in his most recent outing. And Ty Madden hasn’t been able to rediscover the dominance he flashed in his first start of the season.
• What a strange month for Brendan White. His strikeout and walk numbers make him seem utterly dominant, but he managed to give up 29 hits in just 70 plate appearances. Opponents posted a 1.237 OPS against him.
• Keider Montero‘s struggles in his first taste of Double-A are somewhat understandable. He has also put together two of the better starts of his career, including setting a new career-high with nine strikeouts last night.
• We’ll discuss Reese Olson more in a post coming later today.
• Brant Hurter just keeps getting the job done. Right now his numbers in Erie stack up with any of the best SeaWolves pitchers over the last 20 years, including Jair Jurrjens, Drew Smyly, Casey Mize, and Matt Manning.
• Troy Melton and Garrett Burhenn continue to pitch well, and both seem to be making positive strides in refining their secondary offerings.
• Jackson Jobe and Dylan Smith remain injured, so we didn’t include them here. Until now, I guess.