Baseball America names Devon Travis and Steven Moya top Detroit Tigers Prospects
As is always the case for national ranks of the Detroit Tigers’ minor league system, Baseball America did not have high marks for the beleaguered farm system. Nonetheless they identified Devon Travis, Steven Moya and Buck Farmer as the top three prospects for the franchise.
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Baseball America had this to say about the prognosis for the Tigers in the long-term and short-term.
Few prospects in the organization have star potential. The pitchers are a mix of possible back-end starters and relievers. The position players are more steady than special, with Devon Travis blocked at second base by Kinsler. Steven Moya is an exception, with his electric power combined with a reckless offensive approach making for a high-risk, high-reward player. Derek Hill has exciting tools, but he’s a 2014 high school draft pick who struggled in his pro debut.The Tigers have the talent to compete next year for their fifth straight AL Central crown, but the competition in the division has become stiffer with the emergence of the Royals. The talent level is still is still high in Detroit, but it’s no longer an easy call to forecast them as AL Central favorites.
They also ripped the trading of Doug Fister for minimal return and notated the loss of several top prospects from a year ago in the David Price and Joakim Soria July acquisitions.
The Tigers had hopes that Travis could possibly be converted to center field this offseason in hopes of a long shot opportunity at the position come Opening Day. Any fleeting hopes of that happening were quashed when Travis underwent core muscle surgery thus missing fall and winter ball.
The experiment is slated to continue in Spring Training.
Moya continues to turn heads in the Arizona Fall League and collected several honors this past season in the minors, including AA league MVP and All-Star game MVP awards.
Farmer had a cup of coffee with the Tigers last season and may be in the mix for the fifth starter once the inevitable happens and Max Scherzer officially departs.
The rest of the top ten is as follows:
- 4. Derek Hill-OF
- 5. Domingo Leyba-SS/2B
- 6. Kevin Ziomek-LHP
- 7. Robbie Ray-LHP
- 8. Hernan Perez-SS/2B
- 9. James McCann-C
- 10. Tyler Collins-OF