Detroit Tigers: Mikie Mahtook is perfect example of why team should take fliers on young talent

Detroit Tigers fans have seen Mikie Mahtook thrive in his first season in the Motor City. Brought in as part of an under-the-radar deal, Mahtook is the perfect example of why the Tigers should buy-low.

Detroit Tigers front office members have found a few gems in the outfield over the past few seasons.

First there was J.D. Martinez, who signed with the team after being let go by Houston.

Martinez turned in an ISO north of .200 and never saw his wRC+ dip below 135 in his time with the Tigers.

In two of his three full seasons in Detroit, the outfielder had WAR stats of 4.0 and 5.0.

It also didn’t hurt that he mashed 99 home runs for Detroit.

Mikie Mahtook hasn’t quite reached Martinez’ level in terms of impact and WAR, but he’s off to an excellent start.

Mahtook and Martinez are obviously different players, but Mahtook is faring well in his first season in Detroit.

Mikie Mahtook

Acquired for minor league reliever Drew Smith, the ex-Rays player is hitting .288 with a .338 on-base percentage and a .464 slugging percentage. He’s sporting a 1.6 WAR, a 112 wRC+, a .341 wOBA and a .176 ISO.

A former first-round pick, Mahtook flashed talent in the Majors with Tampa Bay, notching a .970 OPS, 19 RBI, nine home runs, five doubles and four stolen bases in 114 plate appearances.

That was in part fueled by a .338 BABIP, but the talent was there.

However, Mahtook struggled in his second season. He batted just .195 with a .523 OPS, 12 extra-base hits and 11 RBI in 196 plate appearances.

Again, this was partly due to his BABIP, which ended up at .287.

Detroit acquired Mahtook following that season, and he’s now flourishing with the Tigers.

Players like Martinez and Mahtook aren’t going to become available on a consistent basis in Major League Baseball, but the Detroit Tigers should still be taking fliers off players hitting waivers, or players who can be acquired in minor trades.

It’s what good teams do

Good teams around Major League Baseball seem to always be taking fliers on players to add depth.

The reigning World Series champion Chicago Cubs do this, as do the red-hot Los Angeles Dodgers.

These teams find useful contributors to fill out rosters.

Sure, Chicago and Los Angeles have young, impact players that they will continue to build around, but their entire rosters aren’t entirely comprised of young stalwarts.

The team’s respective rosters are partially filled out with under-the-radar additions.

Hector Rondon, who saved 18 games for the Cubs in 2016 and has turned in a SIERA under 3.00 in each of the last three seasons was a Rule 5 draft pick.

Meanwhile, Dodgers’ third baseman Justin Turner, who currently leads the National League with a .336 batting average, signed with Los Angeles in a relatively unheralded deal after three seasons with the Mets.

Infielder and outfielder Chris Taylor, who is sporting a .923 OPS and a 4.5 WAR, in 2017 was acquired from Seattle for a pitcher with 12.2 career innings in the Majors and a 5.23 lifetime ERA at Triple-A.

Boston and Houston

The American League’s best have also acquired talent by buying low on players, in a manner of speaking.

Boston brought in catcher Sandy Leon from the Nationals after Leon had appeared in just 34 games over a three year period for the National League East franchise.

Leon turned in a 2.4 WAR for Boston last season, and is currently splitting time with Christian Vazquez behind the plate for the pennant-chasing Red Sox.

Over in Houston, the American League-leading Astros have two key hurlers on the team’s pitching staff who were acquired via waiver claim.

Right-hander Will Harris was selected off waivers from Arizona, while starter Collin McHugh was snagged off waivers from Colorado.

Harris owns a 2.23 ERA, a 3.07 FIP and 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings in 169.2 frames since joining Houston.

Over in the rotation, McHugh has pitched to a WAR of 3.0 or above in each of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 campaigns.

Detroit Tigers and waiver claims

In terms of claiming players on waivers, a team must have a free 40-man roster spot or else they need to remove a player from the 40-man unit to make room.

As it stands, it isn’t as if the Detroit Tigers have a full 40-man roster.

The team currently has 39 players on the 40-man roster. Detroit could be saving the open roster spot for a prospect not on the roster who will be called up in September.

That being said, the 40-man roster count could conceivably go down as well.

Detroit could try and sneak Arcenio Leon (12.15 ERA in 6.2 innings for Detroit, 5.24 ERA currently for Toledo) or another struggling pitcher through waivers.

Regardless of the state of the 40-man roster, the Tigers should be looking to take fliers on players via waivers.

Considering the Detroit’s low spot in the standings, Al Avila and company are high up the totem pole when it comes to priority for players designated for assignment by other teams.

Depth

The front office should be using this to their advantage to find added depth ahead of the 2018 campaign.

Not only can Detroit find talent via waiver claims, but the team can also find depth pieces via the waiver process.

If a team claims a player who was recently designated for assignment and later designates the same player for assignment, they can try sneaking him through waivers.

Should this happen, the franchise has a depth piece to stash in the high minors.

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The Tigers have been burned by lack of Major-League ready depth in the past, but with waivers claims, the team should be able to add better depth for the future as the team’s reconstruct the roster.