Detroit Tigers: Young position players needed, regardless of buying or selling

Detroit Tigers general manager Al Avila has done a solid job rebuilding the team’s farm system, but Detroit needs more young position players to be competitive.

Detroit Tigers fans are used to seeing veteran teams.

The Tigers have predominantly been a veteran bunch since Jim Leyland took the team to the World Series.

However, with the Tigers looking to cut down payroll over time, younger players are a must in terms of roster construction.

As of now, Detroit’s “younger players” mainly include 27-year-olds (Jose Iglesias, James McCann, John Hicks and Warwick Saupold) and 26-year-olds (Bruce Rondon, Matt Boyd and Buck Farmer).

Just a small handful of the team is 25 or younger. These include 25-year-olds Nicholas Castellanos, Dixon Machado, JaCoby Jones and Kyle Ryan.

An even smaller fraction of the team is under 25.  Michael Fulmer and Daniel Norris are both 24. Reliever and 22-year-old Joe Jimenez is the only other Tigers player this season under 25.

Moving forward, the team needs younger players, specifically position players.

Avila’s work in the draft as of late has netted the Tigers exciting pitching prospects in Matt Manning, Kyle Funkhouser and Alex Faedo.

Put the trio alongside the likes of Beau Burrows, Sandy Baez, Tyler Alexander, Gerson Moreno, Jairo Labourt among others and the Tigers have the foundation for a solid pipeline of pitchers ready to move through the ranks.

The same cannot be said for position players.