Detroit Tigers: MLB.com Releases Top 30 Tigers Prospects

Spring Training is under way for the Detroit Tigers, which means a heavy focus on the Major League roster. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t the right time to look at prospects. MLB.com released their annual list, ranking the Detroit prospects from 1-30.

As Major League Baseball’s offseason comes to a close, top prospect lists tend to rise to the top of the news cycle given the fact that top prospects are sometimes dealt in the winter months.

We here at Motor City Bengals ran our own list a few weeks ago, obviously pertaining to the Detroit Tigers. Now, MLB.com has done the same. The publication released a list of the top 30 Detroit prospects.

MLB.com lists Michael Fulmer, Beau Burrows, Derek Hill, Christin Stewart, Michael Gerber, Kevin Ziomek, Spencer Turnbull, JaCoby Jones, Joe Jimenez and Steven Moya as the team’s top 10 prospects.

While the actual numeric rankings for the players differed, MCB’s top nine also consisted of Fulmer, Burrows, Hill, Stewart, Gerber, Ziomek, Turnbull, Jones and Jimenez. The only difference was for the tenth spot as MLB.com opted for Steven Moya while we went with Dixon Machado.

Overall, MLB.com’s list is pretty close to the pin in terms of ranking the top Tigers prospects. The only glaring omission was that of Paul Voelker. Voelker, a 23-year-old right-handed pitcher owns a 2.19 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 82.1 innings pitched.

We ranked him as the team’s eleventh best prospect, just one place behind Machado. Truth be told, if it weren’t for the presence of Jimenez, Voelker would likely be considered the Tigers’ closer of the future. Like many Detroit pitchers, the 23-year-old is armed with a blazing fastball. He also clearly knows how to strike batters out as evidenced by a 10.7 strikeouts-per-nine-inning rate. 

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While Voelker didn’t make the cut for MLB.com, the publication did give appropriate praise to Mike Gerber, ranking him as the organization’s fifth best prospect. MCB slotted him in at number six. Either way, the outfielder has a bright future.

In 200 minor league games, Gerber is a .294 hitter with 118 runs scored, 50 doubles, 14 triples, 20 home runs, 118 RBI, 25 stolen bases and an .834 OPS. The outfielder wasn’t always the most heralded prospect but, if Gerber can continue to produce, he’ll carve out a role for himself in Detroit with the Tigers.

Other notable names to make MLB.com’s list include starting pitcher Jairo Labourt (#11), reliever Drew VerHagen (#13), starter Austin Kubitza (#17), outfielder Wynton Bernard (#23) and relief pitchers Adam Ravenelle (#24) and Montreal Robertson (#26).

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Bernard should probably be getting more attention. In only 135 games, the outfield prospect hit .301 with 41 extra-base hits and a staggering 43 stolen bases. He has parlayed this success into a spot on the Tigers 40-man roster—not to mention an invitation to Major League Spring Training.