Picking 24th overall, this year marked the latest the Tigers have picked since 2012, when the signing of Prince Fielder meant they didn't get to pick until #91 overall. A casual draft fan who tunes in for the event might look at this class and see a whole lot of "over-drafting" given where many Tigers players were picked and where they were ranked on public boards, including my own. In reality, Detroit really forged its own path here, targeting outlier traits such as Jordan Yost's bat to ball, Michael Oliveto's raw power from the catching position, Malachi Witherspoon's arm strength, and so on and so forth. They also saved money for their first five picks before dumping their savings into fifth rounder Ryan Hall, seventh rounder Cale Wetwiska, and eleventh rounder River Hamilton, among others. It's a fairly prep-heavy class for an organization in the middle of a banner season at the major league level pushing its chips in to capture some future stars.
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Note that the number before a player's name indicates their draft position. For example, "2-50" would indicate that a player was taken in the second round with the fiftieth overall pick.
1-24: SS Jordan Yost, Sickles HS [FL]
Slot value: $3.73 million. Signing bonus: $3.25 million ($476,300 below slot value).
My rank: #63. MLB Pipeline: #50. Baseball America: #82.
Kevin McGonigle's immediate success in pro ball aided a number of hit-over-power infielders in this class, not the least of which may be his first round successor in Jordan Yost. At first he didn't stand out in Florida's always-loaded recruiting class as a slap hitting skinny kid, but he showed up for his senior year looking much more like a professional ballplayer. He really started to fill out his 6' frame, adding impact to what is no longer just a slap profile. It's a gorgeous left handed swing that naturally shoots line drives around the field with grace and consistency, combining with a professional approach at the plate to create a potentially plus hit tool with very limited swing and miss. The power bumped up from well below average to simply below average in 2025, as he's still skinny but now has enough juice to get it up over outfielders heads and ambush a few baseballs over the right field wall when he gets an opportunity. The offensive profile reminds me a bit of Derek Curiel, who had great success in his freshman year at LSU this season. Defensively, Yost's plus speed gives him plenty of range at shortstop while his glovework helps make plays on all the balls he gets too. While he doesn't have the cannon arm of many big league shortstops, it gets the job done and he has a real shot to stick at the position if he keeps working. If not, the profile fits just fine at second base. The upside here is that of a high on-base type that can pop for 10-15 home runs per season at peak, though I do envision single digit totals some years given the lack of projection on his skinny frame. Drafted 24th overall, his $3.25 million signing bonus was closer to the slot value for the #28 pick.
CBA-34: C Michael Oliveto, Hauppauge HS [NY]
Slot value: $2.83 million. Signing bonus: $2.45 million ($377,300 below slot value).
My rank: #99. MLB Pipeline: #219. Baseball America: #117.
There are late risers in every draft class, then there are guys like Michael Oliveto who rocket up draft boards so quickly in the final weeks of the cycle that public lists might even miss them. That was the case with Michael Oliveto, who found himself outside MLB Pipeline's top 200 prospects and Baseball America's top 100, though industry chatter was that he could go much higher and he did. He wasn't much of a prospect early for much of his high school career and wound up committing to Yale where he could pursue high status academic endeavors. However, when he showed up at the World Wood Bat Association Championship in October and went 8-13 with five extra base hits against top pitching, scouts sat up and took notice. He continued performing this spring then put on one of the most impressive showings of the MLB Draft Combine in June, leading top brass to pay additional heed to the name their Northeast area scouts had been pitching. Oliveto already has a big league body at 6'3", 185 pounds, with additional room to fill out further. He showed off his power back at WWBA, throughout the spring, and then on the biggest stage yet at the Combine just before the draft. It's a violent, leveraged operation from the left side that could give him plus power in time. His hit tool is not nearly as proven, as scouts are mostly riding off that thirteen at bat WWBA sample and he didn't face the strongest competition on Long Island this spring. That said, he's done everything he needed to in the opportunities he's had, and the Tigers are clearly confident. Defense has been another spot of varying opinions. He's a reasonably good blocker with natural actions, but he seems to move a bit slowly back there catching Long Island pitching so he'll need to get quicker and twitcher to handle higher velocity. There is some arm strength here but, like Jordan Yost, it's not the cannon of some of his counterparts. There is upside here of a 25+ home run threat behind the plate, something that simply does not come around every day, but lots of work to get there. His slightly below slot bonus was closer to the slot value of the #41 pick.
2-62: RHP Malachi Witherspoon, Oklahoma
Slot value: $1.45 million. Signing bonus: $1.45 million.
My rank: #120. MLB Pipeline: #121. Baseball America: #93.
The Witherspoon twins have been on a journey. Coming out of Fletcher High School in the Jacksonville area, Malachi was considered a top prospect for the 2022 draft and ranked #167 on my board. He and his brother Kyson both made it to campus at Northwest Florida State JC, where Malachi's command struggles limited his innings and Kyson stepped forward as the better prospect of the two. Both brothers transferred to Oklahoma for their sophomore season, where Kyson rocketed towards becoming a first round pick of the Red Sox in this draft. Malachi was a bit quieter, but his big arm and improved polish attracted suitors in its own right and here he went about a round or two earlier than many expected. The fastball sits in the mid 90's and touches 99 at peak with some hop, though it has routinely played below its velocity and gotten barreled up, with his 5.09 ERA in 2025 marking a career-best. He can really rip through a breaking ball with a plus slider with hard snap and an above average curveball. The changeup is more inconsistent but flashes average or better potential. It's an uptempo delivery with some effort that has lead to below average command throughout his career, an additional factor that has caused his stuff to play down. Still, the 6'3" righty is a great athlete and plenty physical, giving the Tigers confidence they can streamline his delivery and get him closer to average command. Most analysts have Witherspoon pegged as a reliever with a deep, high octane arsenal, though in investing in him the way they did, the Tigers likely see a starting pitcher. There is a lot of upside here for an arm that won't turn 21 until mid-August, putting him (and his twin brother) among the youngest college juniors drafted. I initially had Witherspoon ranked a bit higher and am feeling a little bit of remorse for dropping him down over those relief concerns.
3-98: LHP Ben Jacobs, Arizona State
Slot value: $780,600. Signing bonus: $722,500 ($58,100 below slot value).
My rank: #96. MLB Pipeline: #107. Baseball America: #119.
Ben Jacobs is a fun arm that could turn out to be much more than what he might look like to the naked eye presently. He began his career at UCLA but barely pitched as a freshman, so he transferred to Arizona State as a sophomore and has been a reliable starter for the Sun Devils for two seasons. He sits in the low 90's with his fastball and touches 96 at peak, a fairly average velocity band for drafted talent, but the pitch plays up with carry and hop out of the hand. Like Malachi Witherspoon, he has strong feel for spin and shows two distinct breaking balls in a big curveball with nice finish and a shorter, tighter slider that could both be above average pitches. He's broken out some very solid changeups as well, rounding out a full, pro-ready arsenal. The 6'1" lefty moves well on the mound with an athletic delivery that bodes well for future velocity gains and command, though at this point that command is fringy and has led to a 4.99 ERA over three college seasons. Jacobs has the size and arsenal to start, and under Detroit's tutelage he shuold be able to hone his command just enough to make it work. If he can't, he'll have a lot of weapons to serve to hitters in short stints, but the Tigers believe in the Southern Californian as a starter.
4-129: LHP Caleb Leys, Maine
Slot value: $577,400. Signing bonus: $574,900 ($2,500 below slot value).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: unranked.
This one is completely off the beaten path, but the Tigers have proven in this draft that they're not concerned with general prospect consensus. Caleb Leys jumped straight into the Maine rotation as a freshman in 2022 and spent two years racking up 137 innings for the Black Bears, then missed the entire 2024 season with Tommy John surgery. Back healthy in 2025, he again pitched a full season and this one was his best yet, helping him bring home the America East Pitcher of the Year award on the back of a 2.69 ERA and a 74/27 strikeout to walk ratio over 67 innings. Leys sits in the low 90's with his fastball and touches 95 at peak, while his tight, above average slider helps him miss bats at a reasonable clip. The distinguishing factor here, however, is the outlier extension he creates with his 6'1" frame, getting way down the mound due to excellent lower half athleticism and flexibility. Despite the extension, he has a relatively high release point and the fastball lacks life out of his hand, so the Tigers player development staff will have a very interesting project on their hands. Oftentimes you can teach better movement profiles, but you can't teach a kid to extend over seven feet down the mound. Leys has fringy command that has been inconsistent at Maine, but given his athleticism he should get closer to average command as he gets farther from surgery. Aside from the Tommy John, he has been completely healthy for three of his four seasons and totaled 204 innings in that time. If he can bring his fringy changeup along and keep throwing strikes, he could be a back-end starter. If the Tigers can find more hop for his fastball, perhaps more. Despite being a senior sign, the Rhode Island native was young for the class and only turned 22 just before the draft.
5-159: RHP Ryan Hall, North Gwinnett HS [GA]
Slot value: $430,600. Signing bonus: $997,500 ($566,900 above slot value).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: #271.
After saving money with their first five picks, the Tigers dumped much of those savings into fifth rounder Ryan Hall here, paying him early third round money (roughly the slot value of the #81 pick) to sign away from a Georgia Tech commitment. An ultra athlete, Hall was the starting quarterback at North Gwinnett High School in the Atlanta suburbs and the athleticism is apparent on the baseball field, as evidenced by this play on a comebacker in April. He experienced a bump in stuff this spring, too, as his fastball comfortably sat in the low 90's and touched 95 with life in games. His slider varies in shape between a deeper, two-plane offering and a tighter sweeper, but regardless it looks like an above average pitch as he learns to control its shape. There is a reasonably solid changeup in there as well, giving him three big league pitches. The 6'1" righty repeats his delivery well and has the look of a potential mid-rotation starter if everything breaks right, though of course as a teenager who has never focused on pitching full time (he is also a talented hitter with an explosive right handed swing), a lot of refinement will be needed. The Tigers are banking on the athleticism, youth, trajectory, and natural ability to carry him to a higher ceiling than most public draft boards envisioned.
7-219: RHP Cale Wetwiska, Northern Oklahoma JC
Slot value: $261,300. Signing bonus: $647,500 ($386,200 above slot value).
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: unranked.
Two rounds after spending more than half a million over slot on Ryan Hall, the Tigers gave several hundred thousand more above slot value to seventh rounder Cale Wetwiska, giving him fourth round money to keep from a Dallas Baptist commitment. If the picks above this were off the beaten path, this one may be the most of all given how much the Tigers paid him. Wetwiska, who went unranked on most every public board, spent two years at Northern Oklahoma College - Enid, a small JuCo in, well, Enid, Oklahoma that plays its schedule against other local JuCos with names like East Central, Pratt, Labette, and Carl Albert State. He's been good, but not great for the Jets, working his way into the rotation and finishing his two years with a 4.28 ERA and a 114/62 strikeout to walk ratio over 113.2 innings. The fastball sits in the low 90's and reaches 95 at peak, showing plenty of life through the zone as he extends down the mound. There is a hard upper 80's cutter that has been inconsistent, but flashes late cut and depth, while his changeup shows great fading action to the arm side. Fringy command has held him back to this point, which is unsurprising for a college sophomore who only turned 20 in April, but he's athletic and balanced on the mound with a good chance to streamline things in the Tigers organization. This is another #4 starting pitching prospect to throw into a pool of Tigers arms that's getting deeper and deeper.
8-249: OF Nick Dumesnil, Cal Baptist
Slot value: $216,800. Signing bonus: $214,300.
My rank: #62. MLB Pipeline: #118. Baseball America: #53.
It was certainly surprising to see Nick Dumesnil fall this far in the draft, especially given that he wound up signing for slot value in the eighth round rather than brandishing some big bonus demands that could have been thought to have artificially pushed him down. A relatively unheralded recruit, Dumesnil barely played as a freshman at Cal Baptist but still hit .333 in limited action off the bench. Taking on a full time role as a sophomore, he exploded in 2024 hitting .362/.440/.702 with 19 home runs before ascending even further in the elite Cape Cod League, slashing .311/.378/.489 with wood bats against the best pitching he'd ever faced. Coming into the season, he was considered a potential first round pick with a spot in the teens a real possibility. While his numbers took a step back from 2024, they were still solid and he took home WAC Player of the Year honors, but scouts came away much (apparently, much much) less convinced that offensive prowess could carry over to pro ball. Dumesnil produces a ton of bat speed from the right side, showing above average power in games with an explosive, whippy right handed swing that works to all fields. While he has always been an aggressive hitter, his approach played up on the Cape where he had no issues facing some of the top pitchers in college baseball. Still, he chased at a high rate in 2025 and his contact and strikeout numbers suffered because of that, leading some scouts to slap below average grades on the hit tool. Meanwhile, he is a plus runner with strong instincts that went 26 for 27 in stolen base attempts in 36 games on the Cape, outrunning strong-armed catchers with ease. That speed translates on defense, where he has shown well in center field both at Cal Baptist and on the Cape. Pessimists still see a left field profile given his fringy arm strength and the high athletic standard of big league center fielders. A move to left field would put more pressure on the bat, especially that questionable approach, though in a fourth outfielder role even a pessimist should be fine with his center field defense on a non-regular basis. The Southern California native has a lot of parallels to Mike Sirota, himself a small school outfielder who entered his draft year a potential high first round pick before struggling with swing and miss as a junior. Sirota wound up drafted by the Reds and has since been traded to the Dodgers, where he has shown extremely well in the low minors so far. Dumesnil will hope to follow that path.
11-339: RHP River Hamilton, Sam Barlow HS [OR]
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: $497,500 ($347,500 against bonus pool).
My rank: #123. MLB Pipeline: #99. Baseball America: #171.
Using up the rest of their bonus pool here, the Tigers are buying low on a big time talent in River Hamilton, paying him fifth round money to pitch for them in Detroit rather than for the other Tigers in Baton Rouge. Hamilton has long been a famous name in this class and at points earlier in his high school career was considered a potential first round pick. That momentum began to slow last summer and he's battled injuries throughout his senior season, leading to this fall we see here. When healthy, the fastball sits in the low 90's and peaks at 96 with riding and running action to help it carry past barrels. He shows an above average slider that gives him a second out pitch for pro ball, while his changeup is more advanced than that of many high schoolers and could become a third above average pitch in time. All of this comes from an ideal pitcher's frame at 6'3", 195 pounds, with tons of projection that could get him consistently into the mid 90's in time. He's a good mover on the mound who has long shown feel to land all three pitches where he needs them, though that delivery looked a little stiffer this spring as he's battled to stay healthy. Detroit will undoubtedly handle the Portland-area native carefully as he bulks up and hopes to put his injury issues behind him, and the payoff could be huge. A fully healthy River Hamilton is probably one of the most complete high school pitching prospects in the country once you get outside the top couple of rounds, with a chance to become a mid-rotation starter in time.
14-429: 1B Beau Ankeney, Loyola Marymount
Slot value: up to $150,000. Signing bonus: $150,000.
My rank: unranked. MLB Pipeline: unranked. Baseball America: #395.
Beau Ankeney began his career at Grand Canyon, but appeared in just five games – without a hit – over his first two seasons before breaking into the starting lineup as a junior. He transferred to Loyola Marymount for his senior season in 2025 and broke out with the best year of his career as one of the best hitters in the WCC. Listed at 6'4", 235 pounds, Ankeney is an imposing presence in the box and he lives up to it with plus-plus raw power that helped him crush 22 home runs in 57 games in 2025. It's a violent right handed swing that sends baseballs impressive distances, the kind of real, big league pop you don't often find in the fourteenth round. His hit tool is fringier, with a relatively aggressive approach and fringy bat to ball leading to some elevated whiff and strikeout rates, though he did keep the latter under 20% in 2025. In order to reach his ceiling as a power hitting bench/platoon bat, he'll need to stay in his zone more effectively as opposing pitcher gets better and better. His glove won't help him, as he is confined to first base or, if you want to stretch it and accept below average range, left field.
