Detroit Tigers: Top 20 prospects for 2022 – Part One

Welcome to Motor City Bengals’ Top 20 Detroit Tigers Prospects for 2022.

The Detroit Tigers have seen their farm system change pretty dramatically since March, when we published last year’s list. And there have even been some significant changes since we published our updated list in August.

But our methodology remains the same. Six MCB contributors created independent lists of their top 25 Detroit Tigers prospects, and we averaged those rankings together to get our top 20 prospects.

The contributors who made this list went to dozens of minor-league games last year, and we saw most of these players in person at least once. We don’t say that to claim our list is the best, only to admit our personal opinions might play a larger role here than in other lists you see.

We’ve included a small blurb about each player below the picture, but keep an eye out for upcoming stories on players who just missed our list, as well as detailed profiles on each of the top 20 prospects in the system.

Today’s post will look at the players ranked 20th through 11th in the Detroit Tigers system, and tomorrow’s story with feature the top 10.

Detroit Tigers No. 20 Prospect – Andre Lipcius – IF

The Detroit Tigers took Andre Lipcius in the 3rd round of the 2019 draft, and he had a solid pro debut that year, posting a 108 wRC+ over 67 games at Low-A West Michigan. He quickly hit his way out of High-A West Michigan in 2021, but found the going a bit tougher in Double-A Erie. Lipcius’ stats don’t jump off the page, and if you catch the wrong game he might not look like a prospect at all.

But managers love him because he has a mature approach at the plate, enough power to keep pitchers honest, and he’s an above-average defender at multiple infield positions. It’s a tough profile, because Lipcius lacks the the foot speed to be a regular shortstop, but his instincts, reactions, and arm strength are all above-average, so there’s a chance he carves out a role as a solid utility infielder.

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