Detroit Tigers: Will Daz Cameron make the big leagues in 2019?

The Detroit Tigers have a lot of prospects approaching big league ready. This is a series about those prospects, and when we think they will debut.

Detroit Tigers fans know that rebuilding isn’t easy. This team is not very good right now, and it may be a few years until they are back challenging for the playoffs and the World Series.

However, the most exciting part about rebuilding teams is getting to see prospects make their big league debuts, and watching them (hopefully) grow into star players.

The Tigers have a lot of high-profile prospects, although most of them (Matt Manning, Casey Mize, Isaac Paredes) are a few years away from reaching the big leagues. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be some fun prospect debuts in 2019 though.

We here at Motor City Bengals are going to evaluate prospects who are on the verge of reaching the big leagues. We will take a look at how they performed in 2018, when we think they’ll reach the show, and of course how we think they’ll help the club.

So far we have taken a look at promising young outfielder Jacob Robson, right-hander Beau Burrows, reliever Zac Houston and shortstop Sergio Alcantara. Today, we are going to look at perhaps the most notable Tigers prospect who could debut in 2019; star outfielder Daz Cameron.

Daz Cameron

Cameron was the secondary piece in the July 2017 Justin Verlander trade, which also netted Detroit right-hander Franklin Perez and catcher Jake Rogers.

However, Cameron’s stock has continued to rise since he came to the Motor City. He was electric in 2018, hitting .264/.343/.406 with eight home runs and 24 stolen bases split between High-A, Double-A and Triple-A. He was particularly effective with Double-A Erie, hitting .285/.367/.470.

Cameron continued to impress after getting sent to the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .342 with nine stolen bases in 20 games.

The five-tool outfielder is reminiscent of his dad, the great Mike Cameron, and is performing very well for a 21-year-old. However, the Tigers are not going to rush him to the big leagues. While he did reach Triple-A last season, he only played 15 games at that level – and he hit just .211.

There is a chance he starts next season with Toledo, although I suspect he will be the starting center fielder at Erie to begin the year. It’s not impossible that Cameron comes out and flat dominates, earning himself a September call-up. However, Detroit has plenty of outfielders in the upper minors, and I think they will keep him down to ensure an extra year of team control while he gets more time against pitching in the upper minors.

Don’t be surprised to see him a big part of this franchise starting in 2020.

Cameron is one of many Detroit Tigers prospects who could find their way onto the big league roster in 2019. Rebuilding is hard, but getting to see these guys come to life in the big leagues is one of the fun aspects of this situation.