The preliminary rosters for the 2026 Spring Breakout series were released earlier today, and the Detroit Tigers have a list of 40 interesting players. This will be whittled down to 23-27 players for the actual game, which takes place on Friday, March 20th at 7:35 PM ET in Bradenton, FL. Thanks in part to many generous donations from our readers, Tigers Minor League Report will be there.
Much has been made about this being a matchup between Kevin McGonigle and Konnor Griffin, the top two prospects in all of baseball. Both players are having monster springs, and you don’t have to go far to see their highlights.
But for this piece we are going to pass over the top prospects a bit and focus on some of the lesser-known names. We’ll discuss who made the roster, who didn’t make the roster, and then take a quick look at the Pittsburgh Pirates prospect group.
Detroit Tigers Spring Breakout Roster
You can take a look at the official player pool here. We also posted our roster predictions on Twitter before the reveal, if you feel like holding our feet to the flames. And if you aren’t in the mood to click on a link, feel free to squint at the tweet below.
Here we go, the full 40-man player pool for the Spring Breakout game. pic.twitter.com/YJaYv9sNJK
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) March 5, 2026
Who Made the Tigers Roster
Most of the big names are here, including McGonigle, Max Clark, Josue Briceno, Thayron Liranzo, and Hao-Yu Lee. Now, Lee recently suffered an oblique injury in the World Baseball Classic, which means he is highly unlikely to play in this game. And unfortunately Josue Briceno’s wrist ailment may have him out for half of the season or more.
The Youth Movement
The Spring Breakout will be our first chance to see 2025 first-round picks Jordan Yost and Michael Oliveto in a game setting. We’ll also see Cris Rodriguez in a game outside of the Dominican Summer League for the first time.
Cris Rodriguez officially has our attention. This time he takes a 99 MPH fastball from Kevin Defrank and blasts it over the left field wall at 109 MPH. It’s his 2nd home run, and 7th extra-base hit, in his first 6 pro games. pic.twitter.com/NfZu9u9w8u
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) June 9, 2025
We’ll also throw out a couple of 2024 draft picks we’re eager to see after their first real offseason. Infielder Jude Warwick, one of our gut feel guys from before last year, had a strong FCL campaign but struggled after moving up to Lakeland. And right-handed pitcher Lucas Elissalt was terrific in Lakeland, but had some trouble with walks after being promoted to West Michigan.
Lesser Known Names
Let’s do some quick bullet points on players who maybe haven’t received a ton of coverage:
Ricardo Hurtado – C – Hurtado had a fascinating 2025 season. His combined OPS for the months of April, June, July, and August was .805. But his OPS in May was .275. He’s got power and a strong arm, but plate discipline and overall defense are areas for improvement.
Woody Hadeen – IF/OF – There’s a little bit of Trei Cruz in Woody Hadeen’s game. He’s a switch hitter who spent the vast majority of his time in the middle infield in college. But the Tigers tried him in the outfield last year and he looked like a natural. He has 30-grade raw power, but he’s a plus runner, and he has some of the best bat-to-ball skills in the system.
Ben Malgeri – OF – Malgeri has spent most of the last three seasons in Erie. He’s a well-rounded outfielder who cut his strikeout rate drastically in 2025, and our friends at Down on the Farm think he’s a sleeper in the system.
Max Alba – RHP – Alba has been on the edges of our radar for a few years now. He doesn’t wow with velocity, but he gets a ton of spin and carry on his fastball, he has a variety of secondary offerings, and he throws a lot of strikes.
Dariel Fregio – RHP – The Tigers signed Fregio out of Indy Ball last year and he had an excellent first pro season, posting a 1.82 ERA over 39.2 innings. He had less success in the Arizona Fall League, but few pitchers do. He throws a low-90s sinker, but his best offerings are his high-spin slider and his split-change.
Tanner Kohlhepp – RHP – Kohlhepp has always been a stuff monster, but he has also struggled to stay healthy and throw strikes. He found the zone more often last year, though it was the heart of the zone a bit too often. He fires a mid-90s sinker, a short slider, and a true outlier changeup with more spin than most breaking balls.
Carlos Marcano – RHP – Marcano will be an interesting player to watch. He made his stateside debut at just 18 back in 2022, and for most of the last four seasons he has been a fairly pedestrian A-ball sinker specialist. But he missed almost three months of action last year, and when he returned to the mound his average fastball had jumped from 92 MPH to 95 MPH. We’re very curious to see if that velo bump sticks.
Trevin Michael – RHP – Michael was Detroit’s 10th-round-pick in 2022, and he has become a reliable minor-league strikeout artist for the organization. Now 28, Michael has a tough path to reach the majors, but he can really spin the ball and he can command multiple breakers.
Hayden Minton – RHP – Minton falls into the less common sinker/curveball/changeup phylum of pitchers. But the curve is pretty good, and he’s one of the best strike throwers in Detroit’s system.
Who Didn’t Make the Tigers Roster
The biggest name missing is Bryce Rainer, a consensus top-50 prospect in baseball. We won’t speculate on the reason for his absence, but he had shoulder surgery last June. It’s probably safe to assume the Tigers don’t want to take any chances with his recovery. The same goes for fellow shortstop Franyerber Montilla, who injured his knee last July.
But where are the starting pitchers!? Where’s Andrew Sears? And what about Kelvis Salcedo? And Owen Hall? And Malachi Witherspoon? And ANY of the arms from the 2025 draft!?
Settle down. Minor-league spring training is just like big-league spring training. Starters are building up their workload and on a set schedule. So it probably just happens to be the length day for Elissalt, Minton, and Rayner Castillo, and not any of those other players we mentioned.
We will say, it’s probably not a great sign for former big-money international signings Cristian Santana and Roberto Campos that they didn’t make the 40-man player pool here. Campos has at least gotten into a few spring training games. But unfortunately it may be the end of the line for Santana.
Know Thy Opponent
Konnor Griffin is obviously the headliner here, but the Pirates have a number of other very fun prospects. Outfielder/First Baseman Edward Florentino was one of the biggest prospect risers in all of baseball last year, and he boasts an impressive mix of power, patience, and speed. Outfielder Jhostynxon “The Password” Garcia gives them another near MLB-ready hitter in the lineup. Former Michigan State infielder Mitch Jebb is a pesky hitter who shows zero power but makes a ton of contact. And for sheer freak show purposes it’s hard to beat Tony Blanco Jr. He’s built like a power forward, and he has as much raw power as anyone in baseball.
Thinking of Tony Blanco Jr. for the 40th time this offseason
(This was 119.8 MPH)pic.twitter.com/bnpu3bJxdW
— Running From The OPS (@OPS_BASEBALL) February 3, 2026
But it’s the mound where this Pirates group really has the potential to shine. It starts with Bubba Chandler, who is one of the top pitching prospects in baseball and is likely to join the Pirates rotation out of camp. Behind him they have Seth Hernandez, the top high school arm in the 2025 class, and arguably the best high school pitching prospect since Jackson Jobe. They also boast back-end starter types in the funky lefty Hunter Barco and command righty Thomas Harrington. And for fun they can bring out Antwone Kelly and Wilber Dotel, who both reach the upper-90s and have multiple useful secondary offerings.
Seth Hernandez was up to 101 MPH in the Dominican Republic with his 70-grade fastball and displays a CB with up to 3,000 RPMs, a CH with/ late fade, good arm action, and also has SL/FC manipulation.
Very low effort + extremely polished for his age. pic.twitter.com/4HlesUNqa2
— Running From The OPS (@OPS_BASEBALL) December 24, 2025
It promises to be a fun game, with plenty of future MLB talent on the field. And we’re going to do our best to bring you tons of exclusive coverage of the whole affair.
Rogelio Castillo 
Jerry McKennan 
Colin Arthur