The Detroit Tigers Guide To The Sweet 16

Detroit Tigers Sweet 16 Matchup 4: Syracuse vs. Houston

Notable Detroit Tigers:

Syracuse: Glenn Borkhuis, David DeLuca, John Larkin

Houston: Larry Coker, Kyle Dowdy, Bryan Pounds, Joe Wood

Syracuse has a rich athletic history, but it isn’t a big baseball powerhouse. The Detroit Tigers have only drafted three players from the Orange, and none of them made the big leagues. Of the three, DeLuca was the only player to have any kind of baseball career, tossing 485 minor-league innings and reaching Double-A Montgomery three times before retiring.

There have been a handful more Houston Cougars who found their way to Detroit but again the MLB success is minimal. This Larry Coker is not the former head coach of the Miami Hurricanes, and this Joe Wood is not the great dead-ball era hurler Smoky Joe Wood. Bryan Pounds never made the bigs despite having a great last name for a hitter. Kyle Dowdy was a 12th-round pick for the Tigers in 2015, but he was sent to Cleveland as part of the Willi Castro trade, and his only MLB time came with the Texas Rangers in 2019.

Winner: Houston has no problem.