The Detroit Tigers Winning Organization

It’s a good time to be a fan of the Detroit Tigers organization, from the big leagues all the way down the minor league ladder.

The 2025 season could not be going much better for the Detroit Tigers organization.

Not only does the big league team have the best record in the baseball, but the Double A Erie SeaWolves, High A West Michigan Whitecaps, and Low A Lakeland Flying Tigers are all in first place in their respective leagues as well. The Triple A Toledo Mud Hens are also 33-24, while the rookie ball Complex League Tigers are 12-8.

Add it all up, and the Detroit Tigers organization has the best overall record in baseball.

There have been many individual success stories up and down the organization, but we wanted to dig a little deeper to find out how all of these Tigers affiliates are doing so well, and see if any trends have emerged organizationally. (All stats as of Monday morning.)

AAA Toledo Mud Hens

Hitting:

281 Runs (9^th place out of 20)

.236 BA (18/20)

.338 OBP (13/20)

.388 SLG (14/20)

52 HR (14/20)

257 BB (2/20)

564 K (20/20)

Pitching:

3.85 ERA (4/20)

8.3 H/9 (6/20)

9.0 K/9 (15/20)

3.7 BB/9 (3/20)

0.7 HR/9 (2/20)

The Dirty Birds are winning through their pitching staff, which ranks 4^th in the league in ERA, while limiting hits, walks and home runs. The offense is currently slightly above average in runs scored despite ranking towards the bottom of the league in most major categories outside of walks.

AA Erie SeaWolves

Hitting:

274 Runs (1/12)

.260 BA (1/12)

.340 OBP (1/12)

.422 SLG (1/12)

49 HR (2/12)

186 BB (5/12)

373 K (1/12)

Pitching:

2.82 ERA (1/12)

6.8 H/9 (3/12)

9.5 K/9 (6/12)

3.1 BB/9 (1/12)

0.6 HR/9 (1/12)

The veteran SeaWolves squad is a well-rounded team, leading the league in both runs scored and runs allowed. They rank 1^st in all the slash categories offensively, and also rank towards the top of the league in most major pitching categories outside of strikeouts.

+A West Michigan Whitecaps

Hitting:

293 Runs (1/12)

.257 BA (3/12)

.362 OBP (2/12)

.409 SLG (2/12)

47 HR (1/12)

150 BB (3/12)

477 K (9/12)

Pitching:

2.99 ERA (2/12)

6.9 H/9 (2/12)

9.2 K/9 (6/12)

3.5 BB/9 (1/12)

0.7 HR/9 (9/12)

The Whitecaps are arguably the most highly regarded of all Tigers minor league affiliates prospect-wise, and like the Erie SeaWolves, are winning through both hitting and pitching. They rank 1^st in the league in runs scored and 2^nd in the league in runs allowed, with only strikeouts being an issue on both sides of the ball (an elevated home run rate is also slightly plaguing the pitching staff).

A Lakeland Flying Tigers

Hitting:

219 Runs (10/10)

.222 BA (8/10)

.326 OBP (8/10)

.331 SLG (9/10)

31 HR (8/10)

212 BB (9/10)

483 K (6/10)

Pitching:

3.94 ERA (3/10)

8.4 H/9 (9/10)

8.6 K/9 (9/10)

3.6 BB/9 (1/10)

0.7 HR/9 (7/10)

Like the Toledo Mud Hens, the Flygers are winning via their pitching staff, which currently ranks 3^rd in the league in ERA, despite ranking towards the bottom of the league in several categories outside of walks. The young Lakeland offense has struggled a little so far this year, but it’s understandable as several players are in their first full year of full season ball.

FCL Tigers

Hitting:

104 Runs (6/15)

.236 BA (8/15)

.341 OBP (12/15)

.372 SLG (5/15)

16 HR (1/15)

80 BB (12/15)

184 K (12/15)

Pitching:

3.82 ERA (4/15)

7.4 H/9 (2/15)

8.2 K/9 (13/15)

4.0 BB/9 (3/15)

0.6 HR/9 (11/15)

The Complex League Tigers currently have the 4^th best record in their league, on the strength of an above average offense and pitching staff. Home runs and slugging in general are really buoying the offense, while limiting hits and walks is helping the pitching staff, which ranks 4^th in the league in ERA.

Now that we have an idea about how each affiliate is winning, let’s put this all together in a few handy-dandy charts, to see if any trends emerge throughout the organization, using league-wide rankings:

Offensively, despite being in the middle of the pack overall in batting average, Tigers affiliates are doing fairly well in the runs scored department, outside of a youthful Lakeland roster. Home runs and slugging in general have been a positive outside of Lakeland and Toledo, which has helped boost scoring in the organization.

One surprising trend is in the strike zone department. During Tigers President of Baseball Ops Scott Harris’ initial press conference, he mentioned wanting to dominate the strike zone as an organizational mantra. But thus far in the 2025 season, Tigers affiliates are struggling a little in that area. Strikeouts are a concern up and down the minor leagues outside of Erie, while again outside of Erie and also West Michigan, on base percentage is an overall area of concern as well.

As you can see above, pitching has been a major strength for Tigers affiliates during the 2025 season, and is a major factor in how much the Tigers organization is winning. Every Tigers minor league team ranks in 4^th place or higher in ERA in their league.

Tigers affiliates outside of Lakeland are doing well in limiting hits, which has contributed to the low ERAs across the system, despite some issues with the long ball outside of Erie and Toledo. But just like offensively, strikeouts are a slight concern from the pitching staffs across the organization.

Perhaps the biggest trend we can learn from this exercise is in the walks department pitching-wise. Erie, West Michigan and Lakeland currently rank 1^st in their leagues in walks per nine, while both Toledo and the FCL Tigers rank 3^rd in their league. This meshes with Scott Harris’ strike zone ethos, as not giving away free bases is clearly an area of focus for the Tigers organization. (The big league squad ranking 5^th in baseball in BB/9 is further evidence of this.)

Overall, offensively, Tigers affiliates are doing pretty well in scoring runs, despite surprisingly generally not being great at managing the strike zone, at least so far this season. The real strength in the Tigers minor leagues has been on the mound, where an ability to limit hits and especially walks has led to Tigers affiliates doing very well in preventing runs.