Format = Position Player | Age on 4/1/2024 | Highest Level Played | Estimated Time of Arrival
1. RHP Jackson Jobe | 21 | AA | 2024
Hey all you cats and kittens. These tigers are so loaded that you can pick any of three guys to lead off their prospect list. I’ll bet their top three lands between 15th and 35th on just about every public-facing list. Jobe gets the opening chapter here because he pairs impeccable command with incredible spin rates. His four-pitch mix is headlined by a slider he revs up over 3000 RPMs. In 64 innings across three levels in 2023, he posted an ace-level 0.98 WHIP and a preposterous 84-to-6 strikeout-to-walk rate. He took just one turn at Double-A but threw six shutout innings. He’ll probably look ready for the rotation in spring training but will probably wind up taking ten or fifteen turns in the minors before a mid-season debut.
2. 2B 3B Colt Keith | 22 | AAA | 2024
The first thing you notice about Colt Keith is his chest. Sorry, I don’t mean to put that on you. The first thing I notice is his chest. Shoulders. Upper arms. This dude is big, is what I’m saying. He’s listed at 6’2” 211 lbs and looks every bit that with some change, and it’s pretty much all muscle. The strength allows him to fire a tick late and still punish pitches to the opposite field. His swing is perfect for it. He’s always under control and flick-barrels off-speed with ease. He can also fire a tick early and absolutely wallop a pitch he can pull. I’m thinking of one screaming line drive off a low-inside-happy-zone pitch against Harrisburg that’s still going. You can just see everyone in the right-field stands watching and watching as the camera lingers and looks for the ball it lost off the bat. In 126 games across two levels in 2023, Keith hit 27 home runs and slashed .306/.380/.552. The Tigers have been playing him at second base, where he’ll be an All-Star if he can field at even a slightly below-average level.
3. OF Max Clark | 19 | A | 2028
Here’s what I wrote about Clark in Prospect News: Top 15 For Dynasty First-Year-Player Drafts:
“Hit just .154 in 11 games at Low-A, but who cares. There’s a lot to love about Clark, but we’d be wise to ignore the Corbin Carroll comps. That’s a generational talent.”
The Carroll thing might prove prescient, but it feels a little white lefty runs fast recency bias type logical fallacy for me to put any real stock in it. Makes sense to comp it for the broadcast audience, I guess. Clark’s quite a bit bigger than Carroll, who is listed at 5’10” 165 lbs to Clark’s 6’1” 205, so there goes that. But I like Max Clark a lot as a prospect. How could you not? He’s fast and strong and left-handed and plays good defense in centerfield. The baseball world is his oyster. Or, Clark bar. Those’re underrated.
4. OF Parker Meadows | 24 | MLB | 2023
RosterResource has Meadows in centerfield and leading off, and while we could quibble about his place in the batting order, it’s pretty clear that the club sees Meadows as a big part of its plan in 2024. Watch them sign Cody Bellinger tomorrow and blow that sentence back where it came from. In 150 games between Triple-A and the majors, Meadows hit 22 home runs and stole 27 bases. His wRC+ outcomes of 99 and 94 won’t knock your socks off, but they’d be enough to keep the 6’5” lefty in the lineup most nights because he’s a solid defender in center field.
5. 3B OF Justyn-Henry Malloy | 24 | AAA | 2024
A right-handed hitter at 6’1| 212 lbs, Malloy’s carrying trait might be his patience at the plate. He’s a corner-only defender with plus power and just enough contact ability to hold down a major league spot if he gets a long enough runway for his plate skills to settle in. He hit 23 home runs in 135 Triple-A games, slashing .277/.417/.474 with 110 walks (18%) and 152 strikeouts (24.9%). That line was 30 percent better than league average, which is basically where Malloy has lived at every level since being selected by Atlanta in the 6th round of the 2021 draft.
6. 2B Jace Jung | 23 | AA | 2024
A left-handed hitter at 6’0” 205 lbs, Jung hit 28 homers in 128 games across two levels in 2023, slashing .265/.376/.502. He hit 14 home runs at each level but did so in just 47 games at Double-A. The 12th overall pick in 2022, he’ll be running right behind Colt Keith if Keith can’t figure out how to cook at second base. Have I mentioned that this system is loaded? I don’t think I have, but I’ve been thinking about it all week. They should be in contention next year at the latest.
7. OF Justice Bigbie | 25 | AAA | 2024
Bigbie steps in with a tall, relaxed stance and preternatural ability to swat line drives line drives through the right-center-field gap. He’s actually somewhat normal sized for a ballplayer at 6’2” 200 lbs, but his power has been ticking up as he’s worked to pull the ball more. In 115 games across three levels, he slashed .343/.405/.537 with 19 home runs and six steals.
8. SS Kevin McGonigle | 19 | A | 2027
The 37th overall pick in the 2023 draft, McGonigle features great hands on both sides of the ball along with above average speed and the ability to turn into a cat. He slashed .350/.438/.475 with more walks (18) than strikeouts (10) in 21 games across two levels. Feels like a fast mover and a wide-awake sleeper for First-Year-Player drafts.
9. 2B SS Wenceel Perez | 24 | AAA | 2024
Perez posted a 124 wRC+ in 35 Triple-A games by slashing .264/.394/.493 with three home runs and six home runs with a 16.9-to-18.1 walk-to-strikeout rate. That line is a good reproduction of general outcomes throughout this minor league climb. The upside might not be monstrous here, but he’s a capable up-the-middle defender with great plate skills and a solid hit tool. It’s easy to envision Perez sneaking into a lineup spot and holding it for several years.
10. RHP Ty Madden | 24 | AA | 2024
Madden settled in throughout the year and put up video game numbers from July onward, recording a 2.63 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 61.2 innings across 11 starts. His full-season WHIP was 1.28, but over that second half it was 1.12. A dominant college pitcher at Texas, the 6’3” 215 lb Madden went 32nd overall in the 2021 draft and felt like a steal at the time. He can get whiffs atop the zone with his fastball commands a diverse pitch mix that will be part of this big league pitching staff at some point in 2024. Could be very early if he starts this coming season the way ended the last one.
Thanks for reading!
