Detroit Tigers: 5 Best Late Round Picks in Team History

The Detroit Tigers have had their fair share of late round gems. Here on throwback Thursday, we look at the five best in team history.

As a Detroit Tigers fan, it can be pretty easy to focus on the draft picks that did not work out. Kyle Sleeth, Nate Cornejo, Eric Munson, Ryan Perry, Chance Ruffin and even Derek Hill were all supposed to superstars. However, it’s unfair to only judge a team based on their missteps. After all, every team has them.

So instead of looking at what could have been, let’s use this throwback Thursday to take a look at five times when the Detroit Tigers selected someone who ended up being quite the steal. It’s always nice to find that late round gem, and Tigers fans will certainly hope that a few of their most recent late round picks could develop into that. Mike Gerber and John Schreiber (15th round) and Brock Deatherage (10th round) certainly seem on their way, although they are by no means guarantees.

This post will be similar to this post detailing every one of Detroit’s best picks from each round of the MLB Draft. This is an ‘abridged’ version, which only covers the five best picks.

Below are five players who were taken in the 10th round or later who ended up paying off handsomely for the Tigers.

Joel Zumaya

The Detroit Tigers selected high school right-hander Joel Zumaya in the 11th round of the 2002 MLB Draft. The Tigers were able to come to an agreement with Zumaya, who was from a poor neighborhood near the Mexican border in California.

Zumaya was reaching the high-80’s in high school, but the Tigers drafted him hoping they could tap into some more velocity. Indeed they did, as Zumaya reached triple digits just a few short years later when he made his electric big league debut in 2006.

Zumaya started throughout the minor leagues, but was transitioned into a bullpen role in 2006 after narrowly losing the fifth starter competition to another rookie, Justin Verlander. He immediately slotted into the back of Detroit’s bullpen, posting a masterful 1.94 ERA with a 10.5 K/9 and a 233 ERA+.

Unfortunately, injuries completely derailed Zumaya’s promising career as a lights out reliever.  From 2007-2010, Zumaya tossed just 126.1 innings, racking up a 3.78 ERA and an 8.1 K/9. He was out of baseball by age 26.

Vern Ruhle

With considerably less minor league teams per system, players in the 1970’s were often promoted much sooner than they are nowadays. It is still surprising that right-hander Vern Ruhle made his big league debut in 1974, just two years after being selected in the 17th round of the draft.

Ruhle, like many late round gems, came to the Tigers from a small school. In this case it was tiny Olivet College, where Ruhle is the school’s only big leaguer.

Ruhle was a September darling in 1974, going 2-0 with a 2.73 ERA and a 140 ERA+. He parlayed that into a starting spot in the rotation in 1975, a role he held in Detroit for three seasons. In that time, Ruhle posted a 4.22 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP with 13 complete games and a 93 ERA+.

Ruhle eventually signed with the Houston Astros, where he found quite a bit more success as a swingman. He pitched until he was 35 years old, finishing with 3.73 ERA in over 1,400 career innings. Not bad for a 17th round pick, even if Detroit only got to enjoy Ruhle’s growing pains early on.

Bobby Higginson

The Detroit Tigers selected Temple University outfielder Bobby Higginson in the 12th round of the 1992 MLB Draft. Little did they know, Higgy would become one of the team’s best players of the decade, and one of the best Tigers to never make an All-Star team (thanks to a loaded AL outfield).

Higgy didn’t show a ton of power in the minor leagues, just raw contact skills, solid speed and a cannon for an arm in right. Once he reached the major leagues in 1994, the power really showed up (hmmm). Higgy blasted 14 home runs in 1994, and proceeded to hit 25 or more home runs in four of the next five seasons, with an injury-riddled 1999 season the only exception.

As quickly as his rise happened, it vanished nearly as fast. Higginson was productive in 2002, hitting .282 with 10 home runs and 12 stolen bases. However, he only mustered a .235 batting average and 26 home runs in the next three seasons, and was out of baseball early into the 2005 season.

Higginson was with the Tigers during some of the worst baseball in franchise history, and had just finished up before the magical 2006 season where everything turned around. There are always good players on bad teams, and Higgy is probably Detroit’s best example of that.

Mark Fidrych

Without a doubt the most exciting, electric and memorable player the Tigers have picked up in the 10th or later, Mark ‘The Bird’ Fidrych was a skinny right-handed pitcher that Detroit plugged from a high school in Virginia in the tenth round of the 1974 MLB Draft. No one knew quite what to expect, but few could have anticipated the influence Fidrych would have on the Tigers, and the game of baseball.

In 1976, the 21-year-old right-hander started the season out in Detroit’s rotation. He had one of, if not the most memorable rookie season by a Tigers player of all-time. Fidrych went 19-9 with a league-leading 2.34 ERA, 24 complete games and a 159 ERA+. He was an All-Star, a Rookie of the Year winner and finished second in Cy Young voting.

More than his performance were his antics on the field. Fidrych manicured the mound with his bare hands, talked to the ball, and displayed many other eccentricities that lead to him getting national attention. He earned the nickname ‘The Bird’ thanks to his resemblance to Sesame Street’s Big Bird character, a resemblance that landed him on one of Sports Illustrated’s most memorable covers.

Sadly, much like Zumaya, Fidrych’s career succumbed to injuries rather quickly. After his electric rookie season, Fidrych only made 27 more big league starts across the next four years. He was out of baseball by 25.

Fidrych’s baseball career wasn’t the only thing cut short, as he lost his life in a tragic tractor accident at his home in 2009.

Fidrych will forever be remembered in Detroit Tigers lore, and is without a doubt the best late round pick in Tigers history.

Perhaps Mike Gerber will be Detroit’s next great late-round pick. Maybe it will be Brock Deatherage. Maybe it will be someone none of us are thinking of. That’s the beauty of baseball.