The 2005 Draft Shaped a Decade of Detroit Tigers Success
We’re kicking off our Draft Month here at Tigers Minor League Report. No, it’s not actually a month long (the MLB Draft takes place on July 13-14). And yes, we have already done a little 2025 Draft coverage. I did a basic overview. Joe took a look at the past two drafts to find trends. And Ashley plumbed her scouting sources for draft prospects the Detroit Tigers might be looking at this year.
Now we’re about to move our draft coverage into overdrive. Why do we care so much about the draft? Just take a look at the list of our top 39 Detroit Tigers prospects. It includes nine players taken in the 2023 draft, and eight players from the 2024 class. Tomorrow’s top Tigers prospects are today’s top draft prospects.
But, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we’re going to start by looking into the past. Two decades ago, to be exact. To right before the Tigers began off their last run of sustained success.
The 2005 MLB Draft Class
The strength of draft classes can vary pretty wildly, but on average every three drafts produce about five future Hall of Famers. You can usually expect one Hall of Famer to get selected in every draft. Right now it doesn’t look like we’ll see a Hall of Famer from the 2005 class, though never underestimate the nostalgia of future voting committees.
But 2005 has a strong case as the best draft class of the 21st century. And it is arguably the deepest draft class ever.
The 2005 crew includes 19 different All-Stars, from mainstays like Troy Tulowitzki, Michael Brantley, and Ryan Zimmerman, to one-time participants like Jed Lowrie, Ricky Romero, and Gaby Sanchez. Eight players from the 2005 class earned Gold Glove awards, led by eight-time winner Alex Gordon, and seven players took home at least one Silver Slugger. Ryan Braun and Jeremy Hellickson won Rookie of the Year awards. And Braun and Andrew McCutchen each claimed an MVP.
There were 19 players drafted and signed in 2005 who went on to produce at least 10 career WAR. That’s tied with 1968 class for the most in draft history. The average draft class produces 13 such players. The average first round sees about 2/3 of its selections reach the Majors, and ultimately produces about 233 total WAR.
In 2005 there were 48 players taken in the first round, and 37 (77%) reached the majors. And the 2005 first round is one of just three in history to produce more than 400 WAR. The other two were 1985, which included Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, and Barry Larkin, and the 2011 class, which was very good, but included 60 picks in the first round.
So the 2005 draft class is an all-time great. People who followed it knew it had a chance to be special. And the Detroit Tigers had the 10th overall pick.
The 2005 Detroit Tigers Draft Class
The Detroit Tigers 2005 draft was helmed by new Scouting Director David Chadd. A former All-American at Kansas State, Chadd had deep connections in the Great Plains and loved taking players from that area. And 2005 offered a perfect target for him in the form of a big, strong pitcher who owned a 33-7 record and 2.18 ERA over three years at Wichita State: Mike Pelfrey.
What’s more, even though Pelfrey was considered a top talent in the draft, he was poised to slide because his agent Scott Boras was demanding a large signing bonus. Alas, the New York Mets sniped Chadd and the Tigers, taking Pelfrey with the 9th pick. So Detroit was left to settle for a five-tool outfielder out of the North Carolina prep ranks. His name was Cameron Maybin, and Baseball America considered him the 3rd best prospect in the draft.
We could go ahead and list every player the Tigers selected in the class, but it’s a little more fun to add some narrative. The Tigers lost their 2nd-round pick in 2005 because they signed Troy Percival in free agency. But, as would become their usual tactic, the Tigers and Chadd took a boatload of college players.
It’s hard to argue with the results for 2005, though. The Tigers selected 14 players who would eventually make it to the big leagues. That group includes three high schoolers who didn’t sign in 2005: infielder David Adams, righty Zach Putnam, and some third baseman named Alex Avila. Also among that year’s eventual big leaguers is a quartet of players who won’t come up again in our story, but may be familiar to a particular vintage of Detroit Tigers fan: Jeff Larish (5th), Clete Thomas (6th), Michael Hollimon (16th), and Will Rhymes (27th).
Trader Dave and the First Wave
A funny thing happened in 2006: the Tigers suddenly turned into a very good team. General Manager Dave Dombrowski loved to use prospects as currency, and once the wins started piling up, he started shopping.
The first 2005 draft pick to go was 3rd rounder Chris Robinson. A catcher from the University of Illinois, Robinson was considered a solid defensive backstop with good contact skills but below-average power. When the Tigers lost starting second baseman Placido Polanco to a separated shoulder, Dombrowski moved into action. Sort of.
The return for Robinson was Neifi Perez, who hit .186 in parts of two season for the Tigers. His most memorable contribution was on defense, where he helped preserve Justin Verlander’s first no hitter. Robinson played in just 8 MLB games, but he did hit a home run.
Detroit’s magical 2006 run came to an abrupt halt in the World Series, when the offense managed a paltry .581 OPS. Dombrowski sought another big bat for 2007, and his answer was Gary Sheffield. To land Sheff from the Yankees the Tigers had to part with right-handed pitcher Humberto Sanchez, who was considered a top-100 prospect.
The Tigers also added two more right-handed pitchers to the deal, both taken in the 2005 draft. Kevin Whelan was their 4th rounder out of Texas A&M, and Anthony Claggett was Detroit’s 11th-round pick out of UC Riverside. The three pitchers in that deal combined to throw 6.2 innings for the Yankees. Whelan even found his way back to the Tigers for one fairly ugly outing in 2014.
Gary Sheffield had a good 2007 season with the Tigers, batting .265/.378/.462 with 25 home runs and 22 steals. But that wasn’t enough to get Detroit to the playoffs. So Dave Dombrowski leveraged talent from the 2005 draft once again to make one of the biggest trades in franchise history.
On December 4th, 2007, the Tigers traded six players to the Florida Marlins to land Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. Maybin was one of the two big pieces in the deal. He had raced through the minors and made his MLB debut earlier that season, famously hitting a home run off Roger Clemens in just his second big-league game.
The other member of the 2005 draft class in that deal was right-handed pitcher Burke Badenhop, who the Tigers landed in the 19th round out of Bowling Green State University. Badenhop went on to have a solid career, producing a 3.74 ERA in 418 games over eight seasons.
Power Moves
With Sheffield, Cabrera, and shortstop Edgar Renteria joining a lineup that already featured Curtis Granderson, Carlos Guillen, Magglio Ordonez, Placido Polanco, and Ivan Rodriguez, among others, the 2008 Tigers were poised to be an offensive juggernaut. And they did end up with the 4th best offense in baseball that year. Unfortunately, they also forgot how to prevent other teams from scoring. Detroit’s 4.91 team ERA was the 4th worst in baseball, and they also graded out as the second worst defensive team.
One of the few bright spots for the Tigers in 2008 was their 12th round pick from the 2005 draft, outfielder Matt Joyce. The Tigers released Jacque Jones in early May in 2008, and Joyce was called up from Toledo. He proceeded to hit 10 home runs in his first 36 MLB games. No one in Detroit Tigers franchise history has reached double-digit home runs faster.
But, as we mentioned, offense wasn’t the issue for the Tigers. So after the season Dombrowski traded Joyce straight up to the Rays for right-handed starter Edwin Jackson. It was a trade that worked out excellently for the Tigers. Jackson proceeded to have the best season of his career, making the All-Star game and posting a 3.62 ERA over 214 innings.
The 2009 season ended in heartbreak, and Dombrowski made the decision to rebuild on the fly. That meant saying goodbye to Edwin Jackson, and welcoming in Austin Jackson. All Austin did was hit .293 while playing elite defense in center field. He’s one of two players in Detroit Tigers history to produce 5+ WAR in his rookie season. And when was Austin Jackson drafted? In the 8th round of the 2005 draft.
After a year of finding their bearings, the Tigers returned to active playoff contention again in 2011. But they needed starting pitching help. Justin Verlander was amazing, but Max Scherzer hadn’t quite figured it all out yet. Rick Porcello ate innings, put did so with a 4.75 ERA. And the rest of their starts went to Brad Penny, Phil Coke, and a series of rookies.
So Dombrowski put together a package of prospects and landed Doug Fister in a trade from Seattle. One of the main prospects in that deal was outfielder Casper Wells. Drafted in the 14th round in 2005 out of Towson University, Wells showed flashes of all five tools. He’s one of just four Tigers minor leaguers to produce a 20-20 season in the last 50 years, and he posted a 123 OPS+ over 100 games with the Tigers. Fister, meanwhile, produced 9.9 WAR for the Tigers over the next 2.5 years.
Desperate Times
The Detroit Tigers were arguably the best team in baseball from 2011 to 2014. But some cracks began to show in 2014, and rivals were pushing. The upstart Kansas City Royals were nipping at Detroit’s heels. And the Oakland A’s made a splash by acquiring Jon Lester and Jeff Samardzija at the deadline. Dombrowski needed to make a move. The result was one of the more surreal moments in recent Tigers history.
Austin Jackson, Detroit’s starting center fielder, who owns the 12th highest career WAR of anyone from the 2005 draft, was traded in the middle of an at-bat. The deal helped the Tigers land David Price, who was pivotal in getting the Tigers back to the postseason. But it was a sign Detroit was growing desperate to win.
Then, in 2015, shortly after the 10-year anniversary of the 2005 draft, the Tigers began to dismantle. A season full of injuries and underperformance, particularly from the pitching staff, let Detroit to sell at the trade deadline. And just over a month later Dave Dombrowski was fired. Al Avila moved up to General Manager, and Chadd became his Assistant GM.
And the Tigers quickly went back to the 2005 well. After dealing for closer Francisco Rodriguez, Avila traded a pair of relievers to Atlanta for Cameron Maybin. Their first rounder was back, playing center field at Comerica Park like the team once envisioned.
And then, in early December, Chadd finally got his man. It took ten years, but Mike Pelfrey was a Detroit Tiger, signing a two-year, $16-million deal. Pelfrey was not good with the Tigers, going 4-10 with a 5.07 ERA over 119 innings in 2016. Detroit released him at the end of spring training in 2017.
One More Try
The last big echo of the 2005 draft came in the form of a stunning free agent signing in January 2016. Owner Mike Ilitch gave Avila the go-ahead to sign Justin Upton to a 6-year deal worth nearly $133 million. Upton was taken first overall in the 2005 draft, with some scouts comparing him to Ken Griffey Jr.
Upton never quite lived up to that hype, but he did have an outstanding career. He retired as a career .261 hitter with 325 home runs and 151 stolen bases, good for 32.1 WAR. He didn’t exactly get off to a great start with the Detroit Tigers, though. In fact, he was one of the worst players in baseball all the way to mid-August. Then Upton went on the heater of all heaters, hitting .318 with 18 home runs over the final 38 games of the season. He nearly dragged the Tigers into the playoffs by himself.
And Upton continued his strong play in the 2017 season. He made his 4th All-Star team, and by Baseball Reference WAR (5.6) it was the best season of his career. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Upton had an opt-out in his contract after the 2017 season. And by the end of August Avila made the decision to tear it all down. Upton was traded to the Los Angeles Angels for pitchers Grayson Long and Elvin Rodriguez.
Cameron Maybin found his way back to the Tigers one last time in 2020. But he played just 14 games before being traded away again. And that was it for the 2005 draft.
They never did win the World Series, but the Detroit Tigers run of success from 2006 to 2016 stands as one of the best in franchise history. And the 2005 MLB draft played a huge role in all of it.
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Rogelio Castillo 
Jerry McKennan