Detroit Tigers 2025 Top Prospects: 5-1

Detroit Tigers Top Prospects for 2025

Welcome to Tigers Minor League Report’s top 40 prospects in the Detroit Tigers system. This is our final article breaking down the top 40 list, five players at a time.

A reminder that Chris, Jerry, and Rogelio each made individual lists of 50+ players, then averaged the lists to get final rankings. And this year we’re doing player capsules, which are part biographical, part recap, and part scouting report.

You can read our previous posts here: 40-36, 35-31, 30-26, 25-21, 20-16, 15-11, 10-6

5 – Josue Briceño – 1B/C

Votes: Chris (6), Jerry (5), Rogelio (6)

Josue Briceño signed for a fairly large bonus in 2022, but put up underwhelming stats in the DSL that summer. He first drew our attention the following season when he got off to a torrid start in the FCL. He cooled off slightly, but never really stopped hitting, even after a late-season promotion to Low-A Lakeland. That performance, along with his size, position, and some video, led us to rank him in our top 30 before the 2024 season.

But even we couldn’t have predicted his meteoric rise last season. The hype really began in the Spring Breakout game, when he crushed a 111.7 MPH double off then top-100 prospect Mick Abel. Then Briceño got off to an excellent start in Lakeland, batting .306/.405/.426 (141 wRC+) through his first 28 games, with an average exit velocity over 90 MPH. But then he hurt his knee, and missed more than three months of action. He wasn’t quite the same hitter when he returned, and the Tigers sent him to the Arizona Fall League to get more at-bats.

That was a pretty aggressive assignment for a young man who had just turned 20. And all Briceño did was put up arguably the most epic performance in AFL history. He batted a ridiculous .433/.509/.867 with 10 home runs and 27 RBIs to take home the first ever AFL Triple Crown. That’s how a player with just 40 games of experience in Low-A makes it onto top-100 lists.

Briceño has a near ideal mix of power, patience, and hitting ability. He is a hitter with power, rather than a true power hitter, and his swinging strike rate (7.5%) in-zone swing rate (74%) and chase rate (23%) were all well above-average. He makes consistent hard contact, and he spent his rehab time getting a little more athletic in his lower half, which helped him hit the ball in the air more often. There are still some scouts concerned that Briceño’s power comes from brute strength, as opposed to bat speed, and that he might struggle against consistent premium velocity.

And defense is a big question mark. It would be nice if Briceño could catch, but he needed a ton of work behind the plate before his injury. He only played first afterward, and he probably won’t ever be more than an average defender there. So there’s a ton of pressure on Briceño’s bat. But the good news is he has plenty of upside with the stick. A realistic ceiling could be something like Nathaniel Lowe or Brandon Belt.

As the weather turns cooler, Josue Briceño keeps getting hotter🔥

The @tigers‘ No. 9 prospect is now batting an @MLBazFallLeague-best .439/.505/.866 after his 5-hit, 4-RBI performance! pic.twitter.com/hJ1U9BUw81

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) November 13, 2024

4 – Hao-Yu Lee – INF

Votes: Chris (8), Jerry (4), Rogelio (4)

We appear to be on a bit of an island with Hao-Yu Lee, though we aren’t entirely sure why. Last year, as a 21-year-old, he hit .298/.363/.488 in 87 Double-A games, good for a wRC+ of 141. In the last 20 years the only other Tigers prospects to perform that well at that age were Riley Greene and Colt Keith. Every recent player near his age with similar production in Double-A has been a top-100 prospect. Some even in the top ten. But, for some reason, Hao-Yu Lee doesn’t get mentioned.

Certainly there’s more to prospect rankings than stats. But Lee passes the visual test, too, at least to us. He’s a good athlete, though we’d describe him as more explosive than smooth or fluid. He shows above-average power, and plus power to the pull field, with above-average bat-to-ball skills. He’s also an average runner, with the instincts and aggressive mindset to steal 15+ bases a year.

That aggression applies to every aspect of his game. Advanced pitchers may be able to exploit his tendency to hunt for early fastballs by getting him to expand the zone against breaking balls. But he has a solid two strike approach, and is happy to punch the ball the other way. He’s a fiery competitor who might occasionally yell at an umpire or the opposing team. 

Lee probably isn’t a future gold glover. But he’s perfectly acceptable at 2nd base, with average range and a solid glove. We’d love to see him get more chances at third base, and we think he has the pure arm strength to make it work. But he uses a max effort delivery that seems to cost him accuracy. The only real questions we have about Lee are related to his health. He has missed at least a month of game action in each of his three full seasons. But if he stays healthy, we think he has a chance to be an above-average regular in the mold of Gleyber Torres or Isaac Paredes.

Hao-Yu Lee with a bases-clearing double high off the wall in left center to put Erie up 5-0. @Greg_Gania on the call. pic.twitter.com/pkR6dF27dB

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) July 28, 2024

3 – Max Clark – OF

Votes: Chris (3), Jerry (3), Rogelio (2)

There’s nothing Max Clark can’t do on a baseball field. He was drafted as a potential five-tool player with an advanced feel for the game and a transcendent personality. And he showed flashes of his superstar potential last year. He is among the best prospects in all of baseball, and it’s important to emphasize that before we get a little nitpicky.

Clark seemingly spent the first part of 2024 trying to find his best swing. Early on he was struggling to hit velocity, and was making a lot of soft groundball contact to the left side of the infield. Fortunately he’s a well above-average runner and was still able to leg out a good amount of infield hits. He was a little passive at times in Low-A, with an in-zone swing rate of under 61% in Lakeland. And that came with an equally low chase rate.

So Clark’s early-season production was a little deceiving. He boasted a 119 wRC+ on June 9th, but that was thanks mostly to a 15% walk rate. His isolated power (ISO) was just .096. And then the switch flipped. After June 14th Clark posted a 137 wRC+, with a .181 ISO, while climbing up to High-A West Michigan. He hit all kinds of pitching, batting at least .280 against four seamers, sinkers, sliders, and changeups in Lakeland. He had some trouble with sliders, but finished the year with an excellent 8.5% swinging strike rate. By the end of the season he was consistently driving the ball to all fields.

Clark showed flashes of his power potential. He posted a .990 OPS against left-handed pitchers. And he finished with 75 RBIs thanks to an advanced feel for situational hitting. He also stole 29 bases on 33 tries, displayed excellent range and a potential plus glove in center field, and even showed off his arm a few times.

There’s still some room for improvement here. Clark hit a few too many grounders, and he could probably stand to pull the ball in the air a bit more often. But fans should probably still be doing backflips about Max Clark. He’s one of the best young hitters the Tigers have had in years, and probably their most exciting overall prospect since Cameron Maybin.

2 – Kevin McGonigle – SS/2B

Votes: Chris (2), Jerry (2), Rogelio (3)

McGonigle is as good a pure hitter as any player to come through the Detroit Tigers farm system over the last 50 years. He does everything well at the plate, with a balanced, whippy swing that produces consistent line drives. He dominated Low-A pitchers, batting .326 while walking 34 times against just 25 strikeouts in 60 games. His average dipped in 14 High-A games, but he ran into a little bit of bad luck, and it was just 42 at-bats. And he still walked 11 times to just 4 strikeouts.

McGonigle rarely ever chases pitches out of the zone, and he finished 2024 with a miniscule 4.6% swinging strike rate. That would be the 3rd lowest in MLB, behind only Luis Arraez and Steven Kwan. And McGonigle already hits the ball significantly harder than either of those two. His overall power production might not show it, with just five home runs and a .143 ISO, but McGonigle has average raw pop in his bat.

He’s also an above-average runner, who stole 22 bases on 24 attempts last year. And though he stumbled on defense in his first few games at High-A West Michigan, he’s a quality defender with the instincts to potentially be an average shortstop. Injuries are a mild concern – he began his season late because of a hamstring strain, and ended it early with a broken hamate bone – but so far there’s no reason to be worried about his future.

There’s a world in which Kevin MgGonigle bats .300 while hitting 20 home runs, stealing 20 bases, and playing average shortstop at the MLB level. That’s a 5-6 WAR player. The more likely outcome is something like a .280 hitter, with 15 homers and 15 steals, while playing above-average defense at second base. That’s still a spectacular, multi-year All-Star.

Three hits and a walk for Kevin McGonigle tonight. He’s now batting .355/.434/.504 on the season. @JoePuccio_ calls it all. pic.twitter.com/JRKiK57oCj

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) June 8, 2024

1 – Jackson Jobe – RHP

Votes: Chris (1), Jerry (1), Rogelio (1)

The Detroit Tigers have never had a more highly rated pitching prospect than Jackson Jobe. Prospect rankings don’t guarantee MLB success, of course, but it’s still a noteworthy achievement. His ascent to this point feels as though it was inevitable, but it’s worth remembering that none of this was guaranteed, and his rise has actually been fairly dramatic.

As a prep player Jobe became known for his hellacious 3,000+ RPM breaking ball. But he was a fairly controversial selection with the 3rd overall pick in the 2021 draft. And his first 18 months in pro ball were kind of rough. He posted a 4.52 ERA in Low-A in 2022, though he did put together three solid outings in High-A at the end of the year. He was generally hanging around the back end of top-100 prospect lists. And then came news of a back injury that might cost him 3-6 months. Some people were upset.

But that was when Jackson Jobe truly transformed. He returned from injury that June throwing harder, with a better fastball shape. His slider was still outstanding, but his changeup was better, and he had added a nice low-90s cutter. He was absolutely pounding the strike zone, and he made his way to Double-A, the Arizona Fall League, and eventually the top-25 on most prospect lists. He faced more adversity last year, with a hamstring injury and a much higher walk rate. But he still found himself in the big leagues in October, pitching high-leverage innings in the playoffs.

Jobe offers just about anything you could want in a pitching prospect. He’s a plus athlete on the mound, and he has consistently shown the resilience and aptitude to overcome adversity and improve. His fastball now sits around 97-98 MPH with excellent shape, and it will touch triple digits at times. His mid-80s changeup plays perfectly off his heater, and he shows plus command of his above-average low-90s cutter.

Oddly enough, his famous sweeping slider is now his least effective pitch. It still looks terrific, but hitters don’t chase it. It appears he has added a more traditional slider this offseason, as well as a curve. His arsenal is good enough as is to survive at the MLB level, but he’ll likely need one of his breaking balls to turn into a bat-missing weapon for him to reach his full potential.

It takes time to become a bona fide ace in the big leagues, but Jobe has the pure talent to reach that level one day. He still needs to go out and do it, and prove he can stay healthy enough to survive a full season. But the ceiling here is enormous, and it wouldn’t shock us at all if he’s competing for Cy Young awards on an annual basis in his prime.

Jackson Jobe works a perfect 9th inning and looks absolutely terrifying in the process. pic.twitter.com/5gNwSEhcuU

— Chris Brown (@ChrisBrown0914) March 12, 2024