Detroit Tigers: 2021 Minor League Roster Season Preview

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For anyone who follows the Detroit Tigers minor league system, it has been since 2019 fans have seen them in action and a lot has changed.

For one, outside of a few glimpses in summer camps, minor league coverage has been hard to come by. Unless you are hardcore in the minor leagues and followed this along, a few Tigers prospects like Kody Clemens and Trei Cruz were playing in the Constellation Energy League. That league’s sole purpose was to provide a place for independent league players and minors to get some game action.

As Chris Brown discussed back in December, MLB wanted to have few teams, more control, and a shorter draft. With that, a reassembled minor league system came about. Here is how the new structure for the Detroit Tigers.

Low-A: Lakeland Flying Tigers

High-A: West Michigan Whitecaps

Double-A: Erie SeaWolves

Triple-A: Toledo Mud Hens

The Tigers let go of their short-season affiliate in the New York-Penn League, the Norwich Sea Unicons. You may be more familiar with them as the Connecticut Tigers and they changed their name to the Sea Unicorns before the start of the 2020 season. Unfortunately, the opportunity to see future Tigers as Sea Unicorns never happened but they will carry on in the Futures League.

Household names

Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, Jose De La Cruz, and Bryant Packard are among the names that Detroit Tigers fans expect to see in Detroit within a few years. The excitement for these towns to start the season after a long absence was felt when I went to see the alt-site Tigers two weeks ago. When I spoke to one usher in section 110 at Fifth-Thrid Field, It marked the first time in the ballpark since August of 2019 and he said he was just excited to see action on the field.

Without further ado, we start where our contributor Dan Hasty will be broadcasting games from this season. This roster has the potential to make noise in the Midwest League. (As of this publishing, the only roster that was not made public is the Lakeland Flying Tigers)

West Michigan Whitecaps

The Whitecaps have several new changes taking place in addition to being the new High-A affiliate. The new name of the stadium is the Lake Michigan Credit Union Ballpark (LMCU) and they will be playing teams in six-game series that will start on Tuesdays and run until Sunday with Mondays being an off-day and this is the first season for former Tigers catcher Brayan Pena as the team’s manager.

The Whitecaps have the potential to have a high-powered offense lead by several positional players. Let’s breakdown the roster:

West Michigan Infield:

Spencer Torkelson: 1st round ,2020

Rey Rivera: 2nd round, 2017

Andre Lipcius: 3rd round, 2019

Jack Kenley: 8th round,2019

Corey Joyce: 12th round, 2019

Trei Cruz: 3rd round, 2020

Rivera, Lipcius, and Kenley spent time in West Michigan in 2019 with Rivera even seeing time in right field. This will be a good challenge for Torkerson and Cruz, who are two of the four 2020 draft picks at West Michigan.

West Michigan Catchers:

Chris Proctor: 13th round, 2018

Eliezer Alfonzo: IFA ,2016

Dillon Dingler: 2nd round, 2020

Alfonzo and Dingler are expected to provide some offense punch behind the plate for the Whitecaps. Dingler has good speed on the base paths and enough athleticism that he played center field at Ohio State.

West Michigan Outfielders:

Danny Cabrera: 2nd round, 2020

Parker Meadows: 2nd round, 2018

Bryant Packard: 5th round,2019

Kona Quiggle: 16th round, 2019

There was a story about Packard starting the season at first base but according to the official roster, he is listed in the outfield. Regardless, the Whitecaps bring him and Meadows back with 2nd round draft pick Danny Cabrera out of LSU.

West Michigan Pitching Staff:

Beau Brieske 27th Round, 2019

Yaya Chentouf 36th Round, 2018

Sandel DeLaCruz NDFA, 10-17-16

Chavez Fernander 35th Round, 2018

Ruben Garcia MiLB Rule 5, 2019

Zack Hess 7th Round, 2019

Garrett Hill 26th Round, 2018

Xavier Jaiver NDFA, 10-31-14

Sam Kessler 34th Round, 2019

Chance Kirby 25th Round, 2018

Keider Montero NDFA, 8-25-16

Franklin Perez Houston Trade August 2017

Angel Reyes 19th Round, 2018

Jesus Rodriquez NDFA, 7-3-14

Zac Shepard NDFA, 7-4-12

Hugh Smith 6th Round, 2018

Jared Tobey 30th Round, 2018

Brendan White 26th Round, 2019

A few of these names have pitched in West Michigan before but notable names that stand out are Franklin Perez and Zack Hess, who Tigers fans both saw at summer camp at Comerica Park in 2020.

Check out the West Michigan schedule and schedule a trip west this season. Their roster has plenty of upside that is worth checking out.

Toledo Mud Hens

Toledo did not experience too many changes outside of roster construction from 2019 and their schedule like West Michigan is the same in which they will have six games at a time versus their opponents with Monday nights off. In fact, it will be the same for Erie and Lakeland as well. As noted in the press release, the 2021 roster has eight of the Tigers’ Top 30 prospects according to MLB.com. Tom Prince is the new manager at the helm.

Here is the Mud Hens Opening Day Roster when they start the season on the road against the Nashville Sounds on May 4.

Toledo Mud Hens Infielders:

Renato Nunez

Kody Clemens

Isaac Paredes

Zack Short

Brady Policelli,

Aderlin Rodriguez

Daniel Pinero

Nunez is back in Toledo after clearing waivers. Rodriguez, a career minor leaguer who was signed in the winter, can play first or DH. Short has already seen time in Detroit this season and along with Paredes, should be one of the first to get a call up if something happens in up I-75.

Toledo Mud Hens Outfields:

Daz Cameron

Derek Hill

Christian Stewart

Toledo Mud Hens Catchers:

Jake Rogers

Dustin Garneau,

Eric Haase

Haase will get time also at first base and in left field.

Toledo Mud Hens Starting Rotation:

Matt Manning

Drew Hutchinson

Wily Peralta

Erasmo Ramirez

Logan Shore

Rony Garcia

Manning is the clear headliner here and along with Shore and Garcia, are among the Tigers who were in the system last season. Hutchinson last week in Toledo was sitting around 92-94 MPH and Peralta was getting back into shape down in Lakeland. It is a veteran rotation that should keep the Mud Hens in playoff contention.

Toledo Mud Hens Bullpen:

Nolan Blackwood

Beau Burrows

Drew Carlton

Jason Foley

Kyle Funkhouser

Joe Jimenez

Miguel Del Pozo

Ian Krol

Robbie Ross

Locke St. John.

St.John, a former Tigers farmhand who was a Rule 5 pick by the Texas Rangers is back in the organization as well as Ian Krol. Like the rotation, this is a veteran bunch with Del Pozo and Ross also being the new faces that came from outside of the organization for Toledo. Joey Wentz and Danny Woodrow will start the season on the IL for Toledo.

You can find their schedule here.

Erie SeaWolves

Similar to the Toledo Mud Hens roster, the SeaWolves, who will be playing in their newly upgraded First Energy Stadium, have a veteran feel to it with Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, Ryan Kreidler, Brad Bass, Angel DeJesus, and Max Green making their Double-A debuts.

6-4, 298 lb right-handed batting Kreidler, who spent time in the Tigers alternate site squad this past month, jumps from Low-A ball in 2019 to Erie. He showed some power in the spring and a good eye at the plate.

Look out for lefty Max Green, who throws in the mid-’90s. James Chipman, the Director of Scouting at Prospects Live has been impressed by his makeup.

“Handedness and velocity should give him a shot. Green worked this past off-season with former big league southpaw Joe Beimel to polish command and add a slider to his repertoire. The development of the newly tuned slider or perhaps adding a change-up is paramount to eliminate the large 25-30 mph velocity gap between his two pitches. Role-30 likelihood; squint your eyes and dream and there’s some role 40 potential. Overall, a solid lotto ticket to keep an eye on.”

He was on an episode of the “Marchant Orders” podcast talking about his off-season approach so highly worth checking that out.

Erie SeaWolves infield:

Cole Peterson

Josh Lester

John Valente

Yariel Gonzalez

Drew Ward

Peterson, who has one of the better defensive profiles in the Tigers system, starts the season in Erie. As you may recall in 2019, Peterson went up three levels to Toledo. Valente is a 21st round pick from 2018 to go with Lester as the Tigers draftees in Erie.

Gonzalez and Ward both were minor league free agent signings. Gonzalez spent some time in the Cardinals organization and Ward with the Nationals.

Erie SeaWolves outfield:

Riley Greene

Kerry Carpenter

Dylan Rosa

Jacob Robson

Robson last played in Erie in 2018. He spent time in the Australian Winter League this past off-season to get some reps in and most recently at the Tigers alternate site. All four outfielders have been drafted by Detroit.

Erie SeaWolves Rotation:

Pedro Payano

A.J. Ladwig

Paul Richan

Elvin Rodriguez

Ricardo Pinto

Erie SeaWolves Bullpen:

Ethan DeCaster

Billy Lescher

Gerson Moreno

Wladimir Pinto

Brad Bass

Angel DeJesus

Max Green

Cale Coshow

Henry Martinez

Mark Leiter Jr.

Pinto is a minor league free agent who has 32 innings of work in the majors between two stops in Tampa and Philly. Payano also spent a cup of coffee in the majors with the Rangers in 2019. Ladwig has been with the Tigers organization since 2014.

Coshow, Martinez, and Leiter Jr were signed as minor league free agents to add some depth to the SeaWolves roster. Leiter Jr’s father, Mark, Sr, pitched for the Tigers from 1991 to 1993.

The SeaWolves seem to be a roster in transition as there is not a lot of the top prospects in Erie, minus Riley Greene. They could see the likes of Bryant Packard and Spencer Torkelson by the middle of the summer.

Check out the SeaWolves schedule here.

Notable missing names

Missing among the names on these three rosters are Nick Quintana, Gage Workman, Colt Keith, Zac Houston, the reliever who was last seen in Toledo in 2019, Urlich Bojarski, Jose King, Kingston Linak, just to name a few.

Overall, Toledo and West Michigan should compete for a playoff birth based on their offense but the impression here is the Tigers seem to be short on organizational arms outside of Manning and Perez. Franklin Perez’s velocity dropped in spring training so that is a player to look out to see how he is progressing.

Three players to look out for that I think may rise up in the system quickly

Trei Cruz

Andre Lipicus

Dillon Dingler

Lipicus may end up being a utility player but his swing has changed since college, making it shorter and not as long may help up get up the organizational ladder quicker and his ability to play multiple positions. Cruz has shown good range in the infield and his placement at High-A shows what the Tigers think of his ability. Dingler seems like the real deal from all accounts down in Lakeland so looking forward to checking out how he handles High-A.

If you missed our Top 20 prospects list, it breaks down some of the names on here, and I along with a few others on the MCB squad will be providing video from the Tigers Minor League Report YouTube channel and Twitter all summer long.

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