Detroit Tigers should sign top prospect Kevin Maitan

Impact potential

While prospects like Candelario and Paredes have certainly improved the organization’s outlook, Detroit will still need more young position players to pair with the aforementioned group and prospects closer to the Majors like Christin Stewart and Mike Gerber.

As it would happen, a potential impact prospect recently became available.

The Atlanta orginization was recently under investigation by Major League Baseball for violating international signing rules.

Below is part of Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred’s statement on the violations.

“As a result of the 2015-2016 circumvention, the Braves were able to sign nine high-value players during the 2016-17 signing period who would have been unavailable to them had the Club accurately accounted for its signings during the 2015-2016 signing period. These players were Juan Contreras, Yefri del Rosario, Abrahan Gutierrez, Kevin Maitan, Juan Carlos Negret, Yenci Pena, Yunior Severino, Livan Soto and Guillermo Zuniga.”

Manfred also detailed other violations, including “package agreements” in both 2016 and 2017 for three other players.

In short, Manfred announced that the players would be hitting the open market as free agents.

“In order to remedy these violations, I am releasing these players from their contracts with the Braves and declaring them free agents eligible to sign with any other Club.”

There’s obviously a lot to unpack there, but the most significant part is that Kevin Maitan is now a free agent.

Ceiling

Maitan, a potential impact player once he reaches the Majors, was ranked by MLB.com as baseball’s 38^th-best prospect.

Meanwhile, Scout.com’s ScoutingBaseball rated the infielder as the 39^th-best prospect, while Baseball America had Maitan as the game’s 77^th-best prospect as of February.

The moral of the story here is that Maitan has a chance to be really, really good.

Sure, he only hit .241 with a .629 OPS in 176 plate appearances split between the Atlanta’s affiliates in the Gulf Coast League and the Appalachian League.

But he was also playing against competition that was on average 2.4 and 3.3 years older than him.

Did I mention he was only 17? Yes, Maitan is only 17. His 2017 production might not jump off the page, but the fact he’s so advanced for his age speaks to his upside.

So how good could the now-former Atlanta prospect be?

Lofty comparisons

MLB.com’s MLB Pipeline wrote about Maitan’s ceiling in their profile of the prospect, comparing him to players like Miguel Sano, Miguel Cabrera and Chipper Jones.

Meanwhile, FanGraphs broke down Maitan’s swing in a piece published in February.

“His left-handed swing is of the traditional, low-ball variety and has a beautiful high finish. The bat is quick into the zone and long through it, producing gap-to-gap contact right now that should move toward and over outfield fences as Maitan matures. From the right side, Maitan’s wrists are a little looser, his weight transfer more explosive and comfortable, his hands more surgical and his bat control more advanced.”

Getting the chance to sign a young player with that much upside doesn’t exactly come around everyday, or every season for that matter.

The Detroit Tigers should obviously jump at the chance to sign the former Atlanta prospect to a contract.

Kevin Maitan is perfect fit for the Detroit Tigers rebuild

In a post on MLB.com, columnist Jonathan Mayo explained how the teams could sign Maitan and the other prospects who are no longer Atlanta farmhands and are now international amateur free agents again.

Teams would need to use their bonus pools to sign the players.

“Any team wanting to pursue any of these prospects will get a little help. Major League Baseball has given an exemption to any team signing players who become free agents. The first $200K of the subsequent bonuses for any of the 12 former Braves prospects will not be subject to signing pools. In addition, as a special stipulation for these players, teams have the option of counting the bonus toward the current (2017-18) signing period or the following (2018-2019) one, though teams can’t combine pool money.”

Detroit generally hasn’t splashed the cash in international free agency.

However, the opportunity to sign a player with Maitan’s ceiling now is too good of an opportunity to pass up—especially considering the team can use the next signing period’s bonus money to ink the free agent.

While not all prospects pan out, the fact that the 17-year-old has already been compared to Miguel Cabrera only speaks to his promising upside.

The timeline

Considering Maitan is still a teenager and years away from the Majors, he fits perfectly with the Detroit Tigers rebuild.

In an ideal world, a core featuring the likes of Michael Fulmer, Perez, Candelario, Stewart, Daniel Norris, Burrows, Matthew Boyd, Gerber and Joe Jimenez will make strides and expedite the rebuild significantly.

However, the team has a wave of elite prospects in the lower minors who could form an exciting core in their own right.

In terms of reaching the Majors, the timelines of Manning, Faedo, Paredes, Paredes, Funkhouser, Cameron, Rogers, Derek Hill, Sam McMillan, Baez, Jose Azocar and Alcantara line up more with the ex-Atlanta minor leaguer than prospects like Perez, Stewart and Gerber, who could all debut in the Majors at some point in the next calendar year if not by 2018 at the latest.

Long-term, a left side of the infield featuring Paredes and Maitan holds plenty of appeal.

The same can be said of a middle of the order that features the two along with power threats like Stewart and Rey Rivera.

A potentially significant boost to the farm system

Not only has Avila and the rest of the front office beefed up the Detroit Tigers’ farm system and considerably brightened the team’s future by adding prospects like Perez, Manning, Faedo, Paredes, and others through trades and the draft, but the executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager will have the chance to add another potential impact player for the future when the Tigers have the first-overall selection in the 2018 draft.

It could be Brady Singer, Faedo’s college teammate at Florida and fellow starting pitcher.

It could be a high school starter like Kumar Rocker or Ethan Hankins or it could be a position player prospect like shortstops Nick Madrigal or Brice Turang.

The pick could also be a player who jumps to the front of the queue after establishing himself as the top talent.

Whichever prospect the Detroit Tigers select, said prospect will improve the organization’s long-term outlook significantly.

Next: Why the Tigers should sign Matt Albers

The Tigers’ farm system is on the rise as it is, but adding Maitan and a first-overall pick before next July—not to mention any prospects picked up in offseason trades—will only hasten Detroit’s return to the mountain top in baseball.