Detroit Tigers Minor League Moves

So, sometimes we are a little late on our “breaking” news. I wouldn’t exactly put this in the category of missing a Mark Buehrle signing or anything however, so hopefully you will forgive us here at MCB. The Tigers added a couple of players recently to their minor league mix, Omir Santos and Jerad Head.

Omir Santos should be familiar to die hard Tigers fans. After all, he did put a Tiger uniform last season and played for the big club. I can understand if you blinked and missed it though, Santos hasn’t exactly played a ton of games in the majors over his career, and in 2011 he appeared in just 11 games, getting 22 at-bats. Santos is what he is though, a guy that can be called up in case of injury, play a little defense and not embarrass himself completely in the batters box. In parts of 3 major league seasons, Santos has hit .252 actually. He should be a nice veteran presence to some of the younger pitchers in the Tigers minor league system.

The second guy signed on a minor league deal recently, Jerad Head is an outfielder that has come to the Tigers from the Cleveland Indians organization. Let’s get to know him a little bit.

Head is a 29 year old outfielder, who plays on the corners. Not particularly a good athlete, Head does have some ability with the bat. His past 3 seasons spent in AA or above, have yielded at least a .282 batting average, and in 2010, he hit .299 overall for the season. Head does possess some power in his bat, hitting 24 home runs for the Columbus Clippers in the International League in 2011. It was the highest output of his career, and it looks like Head has chosen the path of trading off a little bit of contact for hitting homers.

Head doesn’t strike out an eye-popping amount by any stretch of the imagination, though there is plenty of swing and miss in his game. A right handed hitter who is too pull happy, Head typically walks about 1/3 as much as he strikes out. Not a particularly good ratio, and will probably keep him out of the big leagues for any regular amount of time. He was signed as a free agent out of Washburn University, so the 24 at-bats he got in Cleveland last year is somewhat in a victory in itself. At least he can say he made the major leagues.

While the signings aren’t earth shattering by any stretch, these kind of minor league moves are essential to the core of a teams systems. Players like Head and Santos can provide maturity and experience to the Tigers system which often is invaluable in minor league club houses. They also have roster flexibility and allow the Tigers to move more premium prospects as they see fit, and put them in positions to be successful. Basically, these are the kind of moves that every team does, and the Tigers are no different.

Welcome back Omir, and welcome Jerad Head.