Detroit Tigers 2025 Top Prospects: 40-36

Detroit Tigers Top Prospects for 2025

Right now the Detroit Tigers farm system is as good as it has ever been. National prospect outlets are consistently placing five to seven Tigers prospects on their top-100 lists. And there are a handful more players just on the outside, making for a system that is likely among the five best in all of baseball. So we got a little ambitious.

Welcome to Tigers Minor League Report’s top 40 prospects in the Detroit Tigers system.

This is our largest list yet, and as you’ll see below, we get a little liberal with the term prospect. But that’s sort of an artifact of how we do our rankings. This year Chris, Jerry, and Rogelio each made individual lists of 50+ players, then averaged the lists to get final rankings. We actually ended up with 46 players who got at least two votes, and another 28 who received one vote.

As always, we remind you that prospect lists are merely snapshots of a moment in time. In this case, it’s a picture of the system as we head into spring training 2025. We recognize that baseball is a game of adversity and adjustments, and our next re-rank is bound to look different.

And speaking of different, we’re switching things up a bit this year. We still have our prospect list, and we plan on offering full scouting reports as well. But this year we’re also offering player capsules, five at a time. These are part biographical, part recap, and part scouting report. We hope you like them!

40 – Izaac Pacheco – INF

Votes: Chris (39), Jerry (51), Rogelio (33)

At the end of the 2022 season we had Izaac Pacheco ranked as the 6th best prospect in the Detroit Tigers system. He was 19 and coming off a strong first full season of professional ball, with a loud end-of-year stint in High-A West Michigan. But Pacheco has been stuck in the mud ever since. In 200 games over the past two seasons, mostly with the Whitecaps, he has batted just .216 with 19 home runs and a 32% strikeout rate. Perhaps most troubling, his swing-and-miss rate keeps climbing each season. It was 13% in 2022, jumped to 14.5% in 2023, and ballooned to 17.3% last year.

Pacheco still owns prodigious raw power, but he is held back by a grooved swing and poor pitch recognition. He still has the tools to be a solid defender at third base, though he isn’t quite as consistent as he needs to be. He also added a little first base to his résumé in 2024, and more defensive versatility never hurts. The 2025 season is huge for Pacheco. If he struggles again in High-A it may signal the end of his professional career. That said, he is still just 22, and any positive movement with his hit tool could help resuscitate his prospect stock.

Izaac Pacheco launches his 6th home run of the year to give the Whitecaps an early 1-0 lead. @ThatDanHasty on the call. pic.twitter.com/2RmgW1XnmA

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) September 5, 2024

39 – Jake Holton – 1B

Votes: Chris (44), Jerry (31), Rogelio (39)

Jake Holton plays the wrong position. That’s not to say he’s a bad first baseman. Quite the contrary, he’s a very good defender at first, and as a former pitcher he is also gifted with a strong arm. Holton takes walks, he hits for solid average, and he has plus raw power. But he can’t really play any position other than first — he hasn’t seen time in the outfield since 2022 in West Michigan — and neither his hit tool nor his game power are quite good enough to project him as a big leaguer. He is a great player for the organization, and he has been a huge part of Erie’s back-to-back Eastern League titles. But it would probably take an emergency to get him to Detroit.

Jake Holton with an absolute rocket of a 2-run homer to left. @Greg_Gania calls it. pic.twitter.com/WXlWKYW4sM

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) July 10, 2024

38 – Patrick Lee – OF

Votes: Chris (NA), Jerry (47), Rogelio (24)

Patrick Lee is more than a good story. He is that, of course, having played his college ball at NAIA William Carey before the Tigers signed him out of the independent Frontier League last May. He was a key part of Lakeland’s first-half playoff push, and then a fixture in the West Michigan lineup for two months, before settling in as a valuable bench piece for Erie at the end of the season. Lee stands out most for his speed. His home-to-first times tend to hover in the average range (about 4.3 seconds), but he’s an easy plus runner underway, and he’s an aggressive, intelligent baserunner who puts a ton of pressure on opposing batteries.

That speed also extends to the outfield, where Lee shows the reads and range to handle center field. He’s also a former pitcher with an absolute cannon of an arm that is a true weapon in either corner. He doesn’t project to produce much in-game power, but there’s enough thump in his bat to keep pitchers honest.

The big question is whether Lee will be able to hit. His swing is at times visually reminiscent of former Tigers outfielder Austin Jackson. But last year Lee struggled against velocity, batting just .150 against fastballs in Low-A, and his strikeout rate skyrocketed as he climbed the ladder and faced more pitchers who could locate their secondary pitches. He hasn’t seen much premium stuff in his career, and there’s a chance he could improve with more experience. But for now he looks more like strong organizational depth, with a chance to come up as an emergency 5th outfielder.

Congratulations to Patrick Lee on his first High-A hit, which just happens to be a 3-run bomb to the opposite field. @jgoldstrass on the call. pic.twitter.com/wvhlVzygwu

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) June 26, 2024

37 – Yosber Sanchez – RHP

Votes: Chris (48), Jerry (22), Rogelio (NA)

Yosber Sanchez originally signed with the Texas Rangers organization in 2018, but he threw just over 30 innings for them before being released in late 2022. The Tigers astutely signed him as a free agent the following May, and he has been excellent ever since. Sanchez posted a 1.92 ERA in 61 innings between Lakeland and West Michigan last year, with 82 strikeouts to 30 walks.

His fastball sits in the upper 90s and has touched 100 MPH, though it can flatten out and get hit hard at times. His best pitch is his mid-80s slider, which flashes as a plus offering with good depth and sharp, late break. He also has a throws a cutter and a changeup, which seemed to be points of emphasis for him in High-A. Sanchez has kept his walk totals manageable so far, but they could rise if advanced hitters chase his slider less often. He’s probably ticketed for Double-A in 2025, and he has a ceiling as a solid middle reliever.

Got a pretty good look at reliever Yosber Sanchez tonight. Below-average command/control, but showed four pitches:
FB – 96-97, T98
CT – 91-92
SL – 83-85
CH – 81
Here he gets Jonny Butler looking at a slider and Henry Bolte looking at a fastball. pic.twitter.com/l0zoZoSj2W

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

36 – Eliezer Alfonzo – C

Votes: Chris (47), Jerry (28), Rogelio (30)

It has been a slow climb through the Detroit Tigers system for Eliezer Alfonzo. He lost most of 2022 to injury, but otherwise he has essentially moved one level a year since 2017. Last season he was the primary catcher for Erie before being supplanted by Liam Hicks late in the year. Alfonzo’s instincts and skills reflect his upbringing in a baseball family — his father spent six years catching in the big leagues. But his tools are all fringy or below-average.

Alfonzo’s pure bat-to-ball skills, from both sides of the plate, are his best attribute. His swing-and-miss rate was just 5.6% in 2024, second in the system to Kevin McGonigle. Unfortunately, the ease with which Alfonzo makes contact also leads to a good amount of chase, and only average walk rates. He has gotten stronger and learned to pull the ball better, but his power is still below average. Alfonzo is a decent receiver behind the plate, and he blocks well. And though he shows an accurate throwing arm, he consistently produces below-average pop times in the 2.05 range. It all adds up to make him a quality minor leaguer, but probably not a future Tiger.

The SeaWolves were down to their final out, but then Eliezer Alfonzo launched a 2-run shot to tie the game. It’s his 7th home run of the year. @Greg_Gania on the call. pic.twitter.com/sUCTkQl5bC

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) July 26, 2024

Check back soon for out next five prospects!