Detroit Tigers: Top Ten Catchers in Franchise History

Matt Nokes

Detroit Tigers: 1986-1990

Matt Nokes was originally drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 20th round of the 1981 MLB draft. He reached the big leagues in 1985 with the Giants, but was traded in an offseason blockbuster to the Tigers.

The Tigers surrendered Juan Berenguer, Bob Melvin and a player to be named later (Scott Medvin) to acquire Nokes, Eric King and Dave LaPoint.

Nokes played sparingly in 1986, going 8-for-24 in limited action behind Lance Parrish, Dwight Lowry and Mike Heath. Parrish signed with the Phillies at the end of the season, and Nokes took the opportunity and ran with it.

Nokes exploded onto the scene in 1987. He slashed .289/.345/.536 with 32 home runs, 87 RBI and a 133 OPS+. That earned him an All-Star nod and the Silver Slugger Award. He also finished third in Rookie of the Year voting and 24th in MVP voting.

That season alone was almost enough to net Nokes a place on this list, as the rest of his time in the Motor City was rather subpar. He hit 16 home runs in 1988 but was a part-time player in 1989, only hitting .250 with nine round-trippers.

He started off 1990 strong, and that was enough for the Tigers to ship him to the Yankees in June in exchange for Lance McCullers and Clay Parker. Nokes spent four years in the Big Apple before splitting the 1995 season between the Orioles and the Rockies.

He finished his big league career with a .254 average and 136 home runs. He had a 9.8 career bWAR, 6.4 of that with the Detroit Tigers and 3.4 of it in his 1987 season. Still, that’s enough for him to crack this list as a top ten Detroit catcher.