Five Things We Liked From Last Week, March 28th

Welcome to “Five Things We Liked From Last Week”, a weekly list of… five things we liked from last week:

1. Opening Day

In the words of former catcher Hamilton ‘Ham’ Porter: “Plaaay baaall!!”

After 5 long months since the last time the Detroit Tigers suited up for a meaningful game, the regular season is finally and mercifully upon us.

Last night’s game was a proverbial nail-biter, and the Tigers hung in all the way until the end, ultimately losing 5-4 to the LA Dodgers. While the outcome wasn’t great, there were some good signs, namely Spencer Torkelson’s big night at the plate, a solid night from the bullpen, and some excellent defense from 5^th string centerfielder Ryan Kreidler.

Tarik Skubal admitted after the game that his pitch execution wasn’t up to his normal standard, but the stuff looked sharp. It’s a long season, and although the Tigers dropped game one, the season is still full of promise.

2. Opening Day Roster

It is very natural to put a lot of stock into any team’s Opening Day roster, but also important to note that throughout the season, the roster is in constant flux. That side note is even more important for the 2025 Detroit Tigers.

The Tigers open the season with 3 major members of the team starting the year on the injured list: Parker Meadows, Matt Vierling and Alex Cobb. That sounds like a lot, until you start to look around the rest of the league, and quickly realize that all teams are dealing with injuries.

In last week’s “Five Things”, we made a roster prediction, with the caveat that it would certainly be wrong. Spoiler alert: it was.

Outfielder Manuel Margot was signed by Detroit on Sunday, which threw a wrench in the roster prediction. Margot should get the bulk of the starts in right field against lefties for now, and should be serviceable in that role.

Wednesday saw a trio of unexpected moves as Andrew Chafin, Jason Foley and Justyn-Henry Malloy were all optioned to AAA Toledo; which meant that not only Brant Hurter and Brenan Hanifee grabbed the last two spots in the bullpen, but Ryan Kreidler and Spencer Torkelson made the Opening Day roster as well.

Chances are the roster will change soon. But for now, look for there to be a lot of moving parts in the Tigers’ lineup especially.

3. We Need To Talk About Kevin

This past Sunday, in the Grapefruit League finale, Kevin McGonigle got two plate appearances against one of the best pitchers in the game, Aaron Nola. It went well. He not only took a walk off the Philadelphia Phillies’ ace, but also smoked an impressive 406 foot home run with a 111.3 mph exit velocity.

McGonigle’s big day put a bow on an impressive first spring training for the youngster, who led the Tigers with a 1.338 OPS in 13 spring plate appearances.

I think now is the time we need to talk about Kevin.

Since the year 2000, when everyone’s computers spontaneously combusted, there have been 88 Major League hitters who have put up 35 fWAR or more. 35 of them were primarily 2^nd basemen, 3^rd basemen or shortstops.

I took a look at their age 19 seasons so you don’t have to, in order to get a feel for how Kevin McGonigle’s age 19 season stacked up against the game’s best non-first base infielders over the past 25 years.

Of the 35 non-first base infielders who put up 35+ fWAR since 2000, 10 of them played the majority of their age 19 season at the A-ball level, just like Kevin McGonigle, which gives us an oranges-to-oranges comparison. Here’s how McGonigle’s age 19 season looks compared to this group (please note that I had to use OPS+ for some of the less-younger players instead of wRC+, which are notated by an asterisk; the 2 numbers are strongly correlated):

McGonigle’s 150 wRC+ ranks 3^rd amongst this prestigious group, his 12.9% BB% ranks 2^nd, his 8.9% K% ranks 3^rd, and his .143 ISO ranks 6^th. In other words, pretty, pretty good.

What this all means for McGonigle’s future is TBD, but here’s a bold prediction: Scott Harris will be approaching K-Mac about an extension ahead of next season, like he did with Colt Keith prior to Keith making his MLB debut.

4. Prospects we’re looking forward to seeing this season: Jake Miller

Jake Miller, like Troy Melton from last week’s “Five Things”, was selected in Al Avila’s final draft with the Tigers back in 2022, joining the org as an 8^th round pick. Just like with Melton, Avila may have given the Tigers a solid parting gift in the form of a legit pitching prospect.

Miller didn’t see much action the year he was drafted, appearing in just 5 games. In 2023, he dealt with injuries and only appeared in 12 games. However, his ’24 season was lights out. In just over 87 innings split between A-ball, High-A and AA, Miller’s numbers were outstanding: 1.85 ERA / 2.50 FIP, an excellent 30.4% strikeout rate, a miniscule 5% walk rate, a solid 43.9% GB rate, and just .52 HR/9 allowed.

The Tigers utilized Miller in more of a bulk relief role in 2024, but that plan could change if the left-hander continues to put up strong performances over the course of multiple innings. His ’25 season got off to a solid start as Miller looked very good in the Spring Breakout game. Over two innings, Jake allowed two hits and one run while striking out three; and sat 92-96 with the fastball while displaying a solid changeup and sweeper with good command.

The Tigers’ system is currently known more for hitters than it is for pitchers, but Miller is a darkhorse candidate to rise the prospect ranks in 2025, and give Detroit another viable starting pitching option (or weapon out of the ‘pen) as soon as 2026. Please check out our own Rogelio Castillo’s writeup of Jake Miller in our top prospect reports.

5. Prospects we’re looking forward to seeing this season: Owen Hall

Since Scott Harris, Jeff Greenberg, Mark Conner and company have arrived in Detroit, there has been a heavy emphasis on drafting high schoolers; which is a positive development in this view. One such prepster drafted was Owen Hall, who the Tigers picked up with the 49^th overall pick in the ’24 draft.

Hall didn’t see any official action in 2024, so all we have to go off of is his pre-draft scouting reports. Just kidding; we actually have some video from Hall’s offseason training program courtesy of TigersTorkmoil on X. In the video, Hall was sitting in the 95-96 mph range with the heater, and breaking off some dirty sliders with solid spin rates. Come for the pitching, stay for the jumpy dog in the background.

Outside of maybe Jackson Jobe, Hall has as much potential as any pitching prospect in the Tigers’ system. It will be fun to monitor his progress in the upcoming season.